I am fairly sure that “I’m going to rape your 8-year-old daughter with a trained monkey” would count as describing sexual activities in patently offensive terms, and would not be allowed when direct use of swear words would not be allowed.
What is the basis for you being sure?
Howard Stern, a well-known “shock jock” spent many years on airwaves regulated by the FCC. He more or less specialized in “describing sexual activities in patently offensive terms” and while he had periodic run-ins with the FCC, he, again, spent many years doing this.
The FCC rule is deliberately written in a vague manner to give the FCC discretionary power. As a practical matter, the seven dirty words are effectively prohibited by FCC and other offensive expressions may or may not be prohibited. Broadcasters occasionally test the boundaries and either get away with it or get slapped down.
Yes, and this illustrates another problem: if we agreed on what to ban, it would make more sense to use discretionary human judgment than rules which might be manipulated or Munchkin-ed. We don’t agree.
I do think it would make sense in the abstract to ban speech if we had scientific reason to think it harmed people, the way we had reason to think leaded gasoline harmed people in the 1920s. But I only know one class of speech where that might apply, and it’ll never get on TV anyway. ^_^
What is the basis for you being sure?
Howard Stern, a well-known “shock jock” spent many years on airwaves regulated by the FCC. He more or less specialized in “describing sexual activities in patently offensive terms” and while he had periodic run-ins with the FCC, he, again, spent many years doing this.
The FCC rule is deliberately written in a vague manner to give the FCC discretionary power. As a practical matter, the seven dirty words are effectively prohibited by FCC and other offensive expressions may or may not be prohibited. Broadcasters occasionally test the boundaries and either get away with it or get slapped down.
Yes, and this illustrates another problem: if we agreed on what to ban, it would make more sense to use discretionary human judgment than rules which might be manipulated or Munchkin-ed. We don’t agree.
I do think it would make sense in the abstract to ban speech if we had scientific reason to think it harmed people, the way we had reason to think leaded gasoline harmed people in the 1920s. But I only know one class of speech where that might apply, and it’ll never get on TV anyway. ^_^