Couch potatoes, it's time to drop the remote.

[undeRliRcs]

Couch potatoes, it's time to drop the remote. E-mail the FCC. Stop the Parents Television Council before it gets beyond the TV.

Tim Goodman

Monday, December 13, 2004

My vote for best media/television story of the year goes to one you may have missed. Mediaweek reported on Dec. 6 that of all the "indecency complaints" to the Federal Communications Commission in 2003, a startling 99.8 percent of them came from one conservative group, the Parents Television Council.

And through October of this year, apart from complaints over Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction," a full 99.9 percent of the complaints about indecency have again come from the Parents Television Council. That means a small group of highly mobilized conservative watchdogs has essentially driven the "moral values" campaign directed at the FCC.

Hey, blue staters, this is a much smaller picture than you ever imagined. Forget about looking at that depressing election map and feeling overwhelmed, like you're on a cultural island apart from the rest of the country. The sad fact is, while you've been pouting -- and prior to that, when you were watching Jon Stewart and gloating -- you let a small group of reactionary conservatives set the agenda.

In short, you've fallen asleep at your Mac, friends. In the land of the tech savvy, you've been e-mailing among yourselves instead of sending off missives to FCC Chairman Michael Powell. You've missed a chance to say, "Hey Mike, I'm an adult who knows how to work my television's remote control. I may not like everything I see, but I want you to know that I am disinterested in creating some McCarthyesque chill factor in the creative community. Yours sincerely."

What's the use of all that wireless capacity, that lust for cool tech, if you're going to surf EBay instead of, say, dictate the national debate on indecency?

The Mediaweek story, a beautiful pinprick into the hype-filled balloon of rampant American worries about morality, can be read by clicking here.

Or just type this into your search engine: "Mediaweek, incompetent Michael Powell, gutless FCC, Parents Television Council killing the First Amendment, much ado about people who don't like nipples or gays or art."

That might get you some hits to start with.

If 2004 was the year the Culture War became a scene out of "The Lord of the Rings," we now know that scare tactics and chest-pounding about moral values came from the finger-clicking of a relative few and found their way up through the FCC and out of the mouth of President Bush. Just remember, you might feel like you're in Helms Deep right now, but when you look out at the vanquishing horde of conservative watchdog goons, it's really just a CGI illusion.

Which means there's hope in beating back the censorship rampage of a very tiny minority.

The Mediaweek story said that the number of complaints to the FCC in 2003 totaled 240,000, which was up from a mere 14,000 in 2002. People complaining to the FCC in both 2001 and 2000 numbered about 350 in each year. So, let's see, that's roughly the amount of people in three BART train cars on your morning commute.

Representing the entire country.

Until the Parents Television Council got wise to the Internet, of course. The Mediaweek story said Powell went to Congress in 2003 and played the town crier, saying there was "a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes."

Except there wasn't. The FCC -- no surprise to anyone who knows this bunch of Play-Doh-spined public servants -- were used.

Now the PTC and Powell have responded to the Mediaweek story by saying, "Hey, it doesn't matter where these complaints about indecency came from. These are still Americans being outraged."

But you know what? Yes, it does matter. Because the FCC is supposed to be a sounding board for people who view a TV show, are upset about the content and seek a place to complain outside of the network that aired it. But the process is being hijacked by people who in all likelihood aren't even watching the shows but are responding to a group that tells them the content is wicked. Meanwhile, thinking people with minds that actually open and function are not sending in e-mails to Powell that say, "I saw something I didn't think was appropriate for my kids, so I changed the channel. I handled it. No need to start a holy war about it. I'm looking forward to 'Deadwood' on HBO. You should TiVo it if you haven't already. Anyway, have a nice day."

If the FCC takes action only after the public complains -- and it's clear now that only members of the Parents Television Council are complaining -- then to counterbalance their worries about what constitutes indecency, less reactionary viewers will now have to rise from the couch and join the debate.

So much for television being passive, escapist entertainment.

And goodbye to the quaint notion that you can vote with your remote. Apparently, freedom of choice is out of vogue. Using the government to tell everyone else what they can and can't watch is the new black.

I loathe politics. On all sides. I'd rather do almost anything than involve myself in that tainted, broken process. But neither do I want the Parents Television Council wagging the tail of the dog that bites the writer's hand in Hollywood.

So I'm going to write an e-mail to Michael Powell (you can, too, right here) and tell him these things:

-- "I'm a relatively upstanding citizen. I have two small kids. They only watch what I let them.

-- "I know how to use my TV remote. I know how to turn my television off.

-- "On my television, I like violence. I like nudity. I like guns going off. I like people having sex. I like swearing. I like shows with gay people in them. I like shows where gay people have sex. I like shows where gay people shoot guns. And swear. I like stuff that blows up.

-- "I also like 'Little Bear.' And shows about architecture and design. And C-SPAN. If that helps.

-- "I hope this e-mail offsets another from the Parents Television Council. I hope you get a lot more just like this. Because I want the PTC out of my living room. I've got a sneaking suspicion they're going to end up in my bedroom.

"Yours sincerely."

Source here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...DDG79AA71B1.DTL

[Dashel]

Don't forget that they are an offshoot of the general 'Traditional Values Coalition' and other ****tards of that bent.

[threetonesun]

I thought this was going to be a story about fat people.

The FCC and PTC will get away with this because the people in charge of television don't care anymore. We've seen this before, in music in the early 90s and in tv. The response was more outrageous music, and cable television gaining in popularity. About the only people pushing the bar now are HBO. You think the Sopranos is popular because it's a good show? Hell no, it's because it has titties and guns, that's what people want. But the standard cable channels, outside of maybe Comedy Central, really are fine with sticking to non-offensive programing and avoiding any controversy.