Friday, May 01, 2009

Antonin Scalia is a monkey fighter and he can suck my lozenge

It’s not often I find myself rooting for the Murdoch empire, but when it comes to Fox TV’s challenge to the US Federal Communications Commission policy on swearing, I’m in the same corner as nasty old Rupe.

Essentially, in the wake of St Bono offering up a wee swearie at the Golden Globes in 2003, the FCC elected to operate a zero tolerance policy against bad language on network TV. This extends even to so-called “fleeting expletives”, usually unplanned, unscripted moments on live TV when an inadvertent flip or blimey slips out, the verbal equivalent of Janet Jackson’s nipple. And now the Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to uphold the Commission’s judgement.

The most vociferous of the anti-rudeness judges is the charming Antonin Scalia, who suggests that references to “sexual or excretory activities” trump any footling need to uphold the First Amendment. Now, I’ve never quite understood what’s wrong with sexual or excretory activities. I’m not sure where Justice Scalia thinks his nine children came from: maybe the stork brought them; maybe the same stork then removed all his bodily wastes when he wasn’t looking. But personally, given the choice between Scalia’s bumptious primness, and a clapped-out rock star saying “fuck”, I know which one I find obscene. The only good thing about the man is his passing resemblance to the Angelo Muscat (the butler in The Prisoner).

And without resorting to sneering generalisations, I think it’s useful to point out that on British television, this is a joke; in the States, this is reality.

5 comments:

GreatSheElephant said...

To be honest, in the overall scale of the wickedness Antonin Scalia has wrought I can't help feeling that this is fairly minor. Or at least it has a mildly ludicrous aspect to it which is more than you can say for the rest of his doings.

Rog said...

Monday to Friday plane?!! You have to admit it shows remarkable invention. What a nitwit!

Tim F said...

GSE: Maybe it's the most dastardly thing he's done this week?

A nitwit indeed, Rog. And a farming armhole too.

Christopher said...

Thanks - at last I realise why Stork margarine was so named.

Tim F said...

When I was a kid, Christopher, I really thought it was made from storks.