Maybe. America used to have laws governing obscenity in all it’s forms until 40 or so years ago, and the country managed to survive.A point to mull over: Did America have dominant and self-perpetuating cliques in the popular arts who would have a huge score to settle if the law clamped down on them?
It's not that hard to guess what would happen:
- A few Andres Serrano types get thrown under the bus.
- Public statements from moguls pledge co-operation.
- Orders come down from on high to get rid of any obscenities, which would be followed work-to-rule.
- And then, grinding the axe. What better way to do so than to re-cast the so-called 'American Taliban' as evil bullies that are brought to heel? Or as the usual stock villains?
Television in the 1970s, pre-1977, had very little obscenity. You'd be wise to ask around about it did have.
Come to think of it, liberal bias in 1960s news wasn't stopped at all by those laws - nor by the Fairness Doctrine, either.