Comments on: Second Cup Café: Christine Ebersole

Tony Winner Stars in "Grey Gardens" On Broadway

[momx6boys]

Posted by IWM73 at 08:33 AM : Feb 19, 2007 - "All that to say that the FCC doesn't consider this to be an actionable word."

But it didn't say it wasn't an OBJECTIONABLE word. I don't have to look to anyone else, and certainly not the government, to determine what is offensive to me. And by the posts made here in the past few days, I would say there are many, many others (possibly even the majority) who would find it offensive.

[pharmboi-2009]

To those of you who see this as relating to the third commandment "taking the Lord's name in vane," please check with your clergy for clarification of this commandment. Or just do a google search and you will see that almost every minister/priest/biblical scholar agrees that it is a misconception that using god's name this way is what the third commandment is refering to.

Taking the lord's name in vane means to use his name disingenously or dishonestly. This would include doing things in the name of god disingenously, like when terrorist say they are killing people in the name of god. Or discriminating in the name of god.

[iwm73]

For the record, here is the information from the FCC on profanity/indecency: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/oip/FAQ.html#TheLaw.

In a specific decision on the four-letter F-word, this was stated: "6. The Commission defines indecent speech as language that, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast
medium.15"

"Indecency findings involve at least two fundamental determinations.
First, the material alleged to be indecent must fall within the subject matter scope of our indecency definition - that is, the material must describe or depict sexual or excretory organs or activities. . . . Second, the broadcast must be patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.16"

(Reference: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2004/FCC-04-43A1.html)

All that to say that the FCC doesn't consider this to be an actionable word.

[momx6boys]

NYCJoshua, please be careful when you place my name in front of a post. That should only be done when you're directly quoting someone and I didn't say the words that you posted after my name.

And the fact that you didn't even realize ANYONE could be offended by that word speaks volumes and certainlyl doesn't reflect the values of anyone I know.

If anyone needs to pull out of the sand, it certainly isn't me.

Christine may be a brilliant artist, but anyone defending that word in her song by calling it art is beyond ridiculous.

[evans542]

"What is offensive to you may not be offensive to me and vise-versa"
Exactly - who decides ? Me ? You?
Thts why so few words are " banned" . I think just about everyone would agree that the n word is unacceptable on " general" TV and some other 4 letter words. But I would guess many if not most people would find " *******" a mildly offensive oath at the most. I dont think you should decide for me or others what is degrading speech.
By the way , the most offensive degrading speech I heard this week was definitely not Christine Ebersole as Edie Beale . Tim Hardaway was way more disgusting and he didnt use any bad words!

[gdmachine]

Kids have to go to school on Saturdays now? Or is CBS planning on incurring the wrath of the masses by playing the clip over and over and over as a daily sign off message?

[blase6]

Give me a break! On air speech is being censored all of the time. It is not acceptable to say the n word on television or call g-y people f-gs. So why should people be allowed to blaspheme God? How do you determine what to allow and what not to allow. What is offensive to you may not be offensive to me and vise-versa. I believe all of this type of degrading speech should be banned. At the very least, I don't expect to hear it on a morning news program while my children are preparing to go to school.

[evans542]

Blase 6- No one said anything bad about God and if they did he /she could definitely take it. The material merely reflected how the character would speak ( it was a theatrical piece after all ).
You can hear much worse on cable any day. I personally didnt call anyone any derogatory term though it does seem people get in such a tizzie about this issue seems a bit excessive to me
( would that global warming , Iraq, poverty and the sacrifice of this country to the interests of the rich could get such a fever going )
If you are offended , I support you saying something. I also intend to tell CBS that I appreciated seeing a brilliant theatrical piece shown on TV ( after all they could have shown a clip from Ghostrider! ) But I think you folks are periously close to advocating censorship because something offends your particular sensibilities

[nycjoshua]

Posted by Momx6boys at 07:26 PM : Feb 18, 2007- What bothers me about the people who have problems with "language" or say they are "religious" is that they just can't accept that they live in a free culture all ideas are equal. They would prefer a culture that allows them to censor anything idea that doesn't fit into their world view.

Momx6boys, explain to me how it isn't censorship. You are teaching something far more dangerous than any thought that was in that song.

[gdmachine]

Why are so many people jumping on Christine's case? It's not as if she was ad libbing to the cameraman because he was catching her at the wrong angle.