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George Carlin Responds to Indecency Uproar
Yahoo! News ^
| 3/12/04
| Anthny Breznican - AP
Posted on 03/12/2004 9:14:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - George Carlin (news) famously dissected "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" as a way to explore what everyone was so uptight about.
Thirty-two years later the same debate is still raging, now fueled by Janet Jackson (news)'s Super Bowl flash, the suspension of Howard Stern's raunchy radio show from six stations and new House legislation that would raise a performer's indecency fine from $11,000 to $500,000.
So what does the 66-year-old Carlin think of the current handwringing over what is indecent, profane, obscene, immoral, lewd or insulting?
"More of the same, more of the same. What are we, surprised?" Carlin told The Associated Press on Friday
He blamed it on religious moralism, media commercialism and election-year politics.
"The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things bad language and whatever it's all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition. ... There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. ... It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have."
Mix that with TV or radio, and you've got a problem, he said.
"What I always remind people is, radio and television and as it happens newspapers and magazines too, are advertising media. ... When you have commercialism involved you have the kind of fear that advertisers are very afraid of offending some potential customer. They don't want to lose a sale. So they have this need to inspect and clean up and watch the content in order not to hurt their own sales. It's based on success at the cash register.
"And yet, they're very inconsistent_ on that Super Bowl broadcast of Janet Jackson's there was also a commercial about a 4-hour erection. A lot of people were saying about Janet Jackson, 'How do I explain to my kids? We're a little family, we watched it together ...' And, well, what did you say about the other thing? These are convenient targets."
He also thinks President Bush (news - web sites) is trying to placate right-wing voters.
The U.S. Air Force veteran compared the recent tension with memories of his military experience.
"These bursts of interest and decency are just like when you're in the Air Force, Army and Marines, whatever the discipline in your unit may get a little lax, people live with it, it's fine for months at a time then some colonel notices it and suddenly they crack down ... enforcing all the minor rules and regulations. Then what happens after these bursts of bothering people, that wears off and we get back to normal, relaxed discipline, but things still get done.
"Society can be counted on to let this fade."
___
On the Net:
http://www.georgecarlin.com
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antichristian; bigmedia; bigot; christianbashing; clueless; culturewar; fcc; georgecarlin; indecency; janetjackson; obscenity; permissivesociety; piercednipple; religion; religiousintolerance; responds; superbowl; superbowlstripper; uproar; viacom; viacommie
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To: NormsRevenge
George, you've become old. When you're young, that schtick is that of a wry, ironic cynic. When you're old, you're just a curmudgeon.
2
posted on
03/12/2004 9:16:54 PM PST
by
AmishDude
To: NormsRevenge
Who?
3
posted on
03/12/2004 9:16:55 PM PST
by
Mentos
To: NormsRevenge
bump - George Carlin was the warm up comedian at my high school prom. Gary Plunkett and the Union Gap were the headliners.
4
posted on
03/12/2004 9:17:08 PM PST
by
mcenedo
(lying liberal media - our most dangerous and powerful enemy)
To: mcenedo
Cool, the only comedian that ever visited my high school was George Goebel. He was good.
5
posted on
03/12/2004 9:20:13 PM PST
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi Mac ... Support Our Troops! ... Thrash the demRats in November!!! ... Beat BoXer!!!)
To: mcenedo
Gary Plunkett? LOL!
6
posted on
03/12/2004 9:20:51 PM PST
by
Jeff Chandler
(Why the long face, John?)
To: NormsRevenge
It's a respect issue. Not religious.
7
posted on
03/12/2004 9:22:50 PM PST
by
Spruce
(revolvemonos)
To: NormsRevenge
"The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things bad language and whatever it's all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition. ... There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. ... It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have."
If capping a performance with the exhibition of a mutilated (pierced) nipple is acceptable behavior at family safe entertainment like the Super Bowl, where would Mr. Carlin draw the line?
Are mutilated genitals acceptable for broadcast too?
If the human body is so beautiful, why are these sadomasochists multilating it and then dangling their parts in public?
8
posted on
03/12/2004 9:53:18 PM PST
by
weegee
('...Kerry is like that or so a crack sausage.')
To: NormsRevenge
George Carlin thinks of himself in all seriousness as a sagacious philosopher. But when I read his words I always see revealed a bitterness, the kind of bitterness an old man might have who's been carrying a chip on his shoulder since he was a little kid.
9
posted on
03/12/2004 9:55:54 PM PST
by
beckett
To: NormsRevenge
Thank you, George Carlin, for your ever increasingly obsolete and nihilist point of view.
Carlin has been on a long slide downward since his show on Fox with a small annoying dog as a partner died after one season, fifteen years ago.
He has said years ago that he doesn't vote, and even if he did he shows he's an idiot liberal.
My advice for Carlin is to shut up and take a good sharp look at what is happening in this world and take note of exactly what is wrong with it.
If he looks accurately he will find that what he complains about and mocks has brought the US to be what we are today.
10
posted on
03/12/2004 9:59:16 PM PST
by
perfect stranger
("Don't shoot – I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!" Che Guevara October 1967)
To: AmishDude
66?
The guy looks closer to 86.
To: NormsRevenge
He also thinks President Bush... is trying to placate right-wing voters.While Bush could only placate Carlin by dying by poison, which Carlin thought the funniest thing he could imagine when Bush was elected.
I've a different sense of humor.
12
posted on
03/12/2004 10:07:58 PM PST
by
LimitedPowers
(Citizenship is not a Hate Crime!)
To: Jeff Chandler
Puckett - (Plunkett was the quaterback for the Raiders)
13
posted on
03/12/2004 10:38:04 PM PST
by
mcenedo
(lying liberal media - our most dangerous and powerful enemy)
To: NY.SS-Bar9
"The guy looks closer to 86."
Carlin has admitted to doing so many drugs and for so long he's lucky to be alive; albeit the whole thing aged him into looking like a dried out comical lizard.
14
posted on
03/12/2004 10:47:17 PM PST
by
Meredith
To: Meredith
Carlin has admitted to doing so many drugs and for so long he's lucky to be alive; albeit the whole thing aged him into looking like a dried out comical lizard.Has anyone ever seen Carlin and Imus in the same place at the same time?
MoodyBlu
15
posted on
03/12/2004 10:52:00 PM PST
by
MoodyBlu
To: NormsRevenge
George Carlin Responded to Indecency Uproar by saying, "(&% this ^%($!"
16
posted on
03/12/2004 10:56:56 PM PST
by
Barnacle
(A Conservative Missionary to the Cults of Political Paganism)
To: NormsRevenge
Talking about indecency, anyone see that new animated program on sci-fi channel called "Tripping the Rift". I saw it last night and was shocked. This 3-breasted space alien was humping a robot and pulled off the robot's special appendage that hangs below the waistline belt. That was during her moans and yelling "Oh God" repeatedly. The program was awful. After watching for about 2 minutes, I turned the channel. Nothing about the program was entertaining or funny. It was gross. Worse than Homer Simpson. Very blatant animated pornography.
17
posted on
03/12/2004 11:29:04 PM PST
by
lilylangtree
(Veni, Vidi, Vici)
To: NormsRevenge
These tasteless, self-obsessed 'entertainers' do a better job of proving the need for decency regulations than we could ever hope to with our best arguments.
Twenty years ago, the seven forbidden 'words' were about as shocking as you could get. Now it has degraded to encouraging couples to have sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral and broadcasting the 'stunt' over the radio. Thank G-- those pigs were caught and arrested.
To: NormsRevenge
"More of the same, more of the same. What are we, surprised?" Carlin told The Associated Press
Funny thing is, I thought exactly the same thing of Carlin, et al.
To: perfect stranger
Thank you, George Carlin, for your ever increasingly obsolete and nihilist point of view.
Right on. FReegards.
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