Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 08:56:12 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: EEkid () aol com Date: May 18, 2007 6:05:14 AM EDT To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest
Mr. Weinstein makes an interesting point. Where does censorship end and freedom of speech begin?
Yesterday, I listened to Tony Blair and George Bush meet with the press. During their presentation it was mentioned that there were protesters nearby [in a free speech zone] and that neither candidate knew whether they were in support of the two leaders or speaking out against them. One commented "that's democracy". When we carefully place "free speech zones" such that the world's leaders are isolated from the comments of protesters, haven't we effectively cleansed free speech and made it more palitable for our rulers? Is this what the founding fathers envisioned when they gave our people the right to free speech? Did they envision a world where we can say what we want in designated areas as long as it doesn't interfere with those at the top of government?
During a recently aired episode of Penn and Tellers cable show "Bullshit", they traveled around the country and attempted to get American's to sign a fake petition restricting free speech within 300 yards of the US Capitol building. Stating something to the effect that it would preserve our national heritage. It was amazing that not only were people willing to sign the petition, but they commented that it was the right thing to do. Of course, later in the show they showed people who would not sign it.
When American's are willing to restrict free speech and apparently do not understand the implications of doing so, what does this mean for our country in the long term?
While what "Opie and Anthony" did on the air probably came close to being criminal behavior, after all it did discuss the joy of raping a woman who is a top US public official, is it just a censorship foot in the door? If we can restrict the open speech of a closed for pay media vehicle such as XM, when will they be able to restrict free speech in closed, pay to enter, comedy clubs? Once we have restricted free speech in comedy clubs, what about private clubs, political clubs and finally the homes of Americans?
When Mr. Stern says "If you want free speech, walk in a closet and talk to yourself." he could be predicting a future American tradition of home free speech zones. After all, maybe it would protect our national heritage...
JerryIn a message dated 5/17/2007 12:14:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dave () farber net writes:
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: May 17, 2007 11:16:43 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000239.html Dave, I haven't seen noted here the controversy regarding XM's suspension of the raucous "Opie and Anthony" team for a month (see http://tinyurl.com/22me2z ), over their admittedly vulgar remarks regarding some highly-placed female personages. Apparently the suspension has caused considerable outrage and blowback from many XM subscribers, who thought they were paying XM's non-trivial fees for uncensored programming free of the usual Nanny-FCC constraints. I am not a fan of O&A's style of humor, nor of Howard Stern's for that matter, but Howard nicely crystallized the rapidly declining environment for freedom of speech when he reacted to this case by telling his Sirius audience, "If you want free speech, walk in a closet and talk to yourself." There are two primary forces at work creating an increasingly suffocating situation. One is persons using religious, racial, and related concerns to try enforce a "we'll tell you what you can say" attitude, often with threats of new regulations and laws, which given Congress' willingness to pander is not an outcome to be easily dismissed as unlikely. Related to this is the mess at the FCC, where the enormous amounts of money involved in broadcasting and telecommunications have caused distortions that can impact many facets of our lives in extremely negative ways. In the O&A case, many observers feel -- including myself -- that XM's action is a thinly veiled attempt to garner favor at the FCC for the proposed XM/Sirius merger (to which I'm firmly opposed). There's lots of speech that is crude, obnoxious, and just plain disgusting, even outside of government offices! But that's the price we pay to live in an ostensibly free society, and that freedom is ensconced right there at the top of the Bill of Rights. Holier-than-thou demagogues are now engaged in a concerted campaign to restrict public and even private discourse -- on conventional airwaves, satellite and cable, the Internet, and even on the streets, to meet their small-mind mentalities and restrictions. Preying on the fears of government officials and legislators is key to their modus operandi. We may individually dislike -- even strongly hate -- much of what we see or hear when it comes to speech, but if we let these wannabe moral dictators have their way, we'd better start clearing out some room in our closets right now. As Stern suggested, those may soon be the only uncensored venues left. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, IOIC - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net Founder, CIFIP - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com See what's free at AOL.com. ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 17)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 18)
- Re: Censorship Run Amok: XM, Big Money at the FCC, and the Rest David Farber (May 19)