True obscenity
: Everybody’s fussing over protecting children from breasts on TV. But tonight as we drove to dinner, I had to turn down the radio so as not to subject the children to talk of Americans murdered and mutilated and burned and hung to celebration in Iraq. Have we not lost all sense of pesrspective? What is truly obscene?
12 responses to “True obscenity”
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The pictures of the dead, burnt & mutilated bodies of the Americans in Iraq were truly horrible, and those of Ms. Jackson’s exposed breast were not. But the bodies weren’t obscene, because obscenity is generally understood to involve sex. Justified as your outrage is, to misuse the word “obscene” like this merely contributes to imprecise & debased political dialogue. It’s like using “fascist” to mean “person whose political ideas I don’t like.”
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Legally, you’re quite right.
But culturally… #3 at Dictionary.com: “Repulsive; disgusting: -
While I think the uproar over Janet’s breast was ridiculous (and that Justin should have been hit harder for that bit of date-rape fantasy), I don’t know if I’d hold actual news (i.e. war) to the same standards as the Super Bowl half time show. The news is revolting, but these stories need to be told.
And the No. 1 pro-Stern argument can apply here: you can always change the station or turn it off. -
How old are the children and have you thought that perhaps, since it was radio and they were not being subjected to the photos, you should not shield the children from the truth of what happened in Fallujah? If they are over the age of ten or so, and not overly sensitive, I think they should know what is happening. The kids at school will be talking. And as you know, Yahoo had the photos on the web for all to find, so if they use the Internet they probably saw them. Or are you more concerned that perhaps they might be starting to question your support of a questionable, unpopular war of choice that is going from bad to worse? Do you also shield them from the fact that no WMDs were found even though that was the reason we were given for going into Iraq in the first place? Are you shielding them from the fact that somewhere around 350 American-trained Iraqi police officers have been killed in the last year? Kids are smart and very informed these days. I think when you try to shield smart kids from things they can easily check out for themselves you are asking for trouble.
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Jeff, that’s one of the silliest posts you’ve done on this subject. And if I may say so, it’s a cheap shot, insulting to free speech proponents and the dead in Fallujah. Here’s why:
Are Janet’s boobs and dead Americans in Iraq on the same level of discourse? The famous boobie incident is not only obscene but uselessly frivolous. That little stage act added nothing to culture; in fact, I think it took yet another bit of dignity away from it. Now you can say that a child seeing Janet and Justin acting out a stylized rape fantasy won’t do that child any harm, but I can’t see that it will do them any good either, unless you think that the crass way sex is depicted in the popular culture these days is a good thing.
But news of the deaths of Americans at the hands of their enemies is a serious matter, not some icky fantasy that people made up just to scare kiddies. While hearing the details might be disturbing — and I am by no means saying that children under a certain age should hear such things — you can’t place it on the same level as a titty shot on teevee. I think that you’ve been listening to Howard Stern for too long, and you’ve become coarsened as all those stuffy oldsters said would be the results of indulging in low pleasures. -
View from outside the US. As a country you’ve been duped on Iraq and your democracy and freedoms are under attack by your government…but you freak out over a breast. Yes, you’ve lost all perspective. Along the way your reputation has been trashed and you’ve scared the hell out of those who used to respect you. What’s obscene is how few seem to get it.
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Buzzcrash,
The only obscenity is how clueless you are about Americans. Yeah, we just freak out about breasts.
Jeff, I have issues with both being shoved in my kid’s face at times when the “family friendly” sign is supposed to be on. I wish everyone would stop mischaracterizing what the true outrage was over the SuperBowl show.
Grow up and show a little damn discretion like the grownups of previous generations. It’s the bombardament of images that we parents object to, not the occasional breast or violent image. Stop shoving this crap in children’s faces to the point where they have no where to hide.
Children today have a right to at least as decent a childhood as you got to have. Was your mother following you around everywhere protecting you from radio, television, music, magazines, ads, and on and on? I doubt it. Do grownups really need to have access to all things X-rated at all times of the day with no regard for the most vulnerable in our society.
Common sense mixed with a little common decency, that’s what we’re asking for. -
SD,
You know what, I sort of agree with you. Your teen-trash-export Britney Spears was in town last night. Who needs her? Having said that, I’m just suggesting you might have a few more important things to worry about right now. It’s a perspective thing. -
Buzzcrash, where are you? And will you just keep her for us? She’s a bore to the vast majority of us here as well, but remember, her target audience is 13 yr. old girls and she’s made millions off of them. Nobody much over 18 would be caught dead with a Britney cd.
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Buzzcrash,
Along the way your reputation has been trashed and you’ve scared the hell out of those who used to respect you…..we scare the hell out of Europeans? 200+ dead in Madrid, continued threats and manifestos issued by terrorists to European governments, 14 million poorly assimilated Muslims residing in Europe and we scare the hell out of Europeans? More like the terrorists scared the hell out of the Spanish. As far as our reputation being trashed, by that I presume not behaving as Europeans would, thank God, we’re not respected. As time goes on and every election is Europe is preceeded by a demand with death threat, or just death in large numbers, from terrorists, we’ll see who is trashed. It’s hard to take serious the loss of European’s respect when they have so little for themselves. -
OK, now I know you’ve lost your mind. You’re shielding your children from news that Americans are fair game the whole world over, and you believe that boobs and the f-word are more important than that very effing salient fact? How long do you plan to wait before you tell them we’re in the middle of an effing war against our effing way of life? YOU, of all people. You walked out of Ground Zero. Do you think they should NOT know it didn’t stop there?
Buzzcrash, here’s a view from inside the US: you’re an idiot. Britney wouldn’t be playing your podunk Canadian town if there weren’t enough of your fellow frostbacks buying the ducats. Don’t whine to Americans that she’s there raking in the shekels. Quit buying her — she goes away. Very effing simple. -
Buzzcrash: liar. You never “respected” us. We didn’t lose anything but having to look at that polite, barely tolerant mask that hid contempt that was the general European attitude towards all things American. Now we can see the real you. The truth will out, etc. etc.
