I've got to drink more coffee. While I have been sleeping or trying to sleep or wishing I were asleep as I ferry my daughter back from her boyfriend's house, I could have been Watching Jimmy Kimmel Live marvelously mocking the FCC's indecency crackdown.
In a running bit that apparently airs weekly, Kimmel and Co. bleep and blur clips "whether they need it or not." Actually, it's "or not."
The hilarious segment, "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship," takes inoccuous clips with words ending in "ck" or "ing" and bleeps them so the subjects–President Bush, Barney the Purple Dinosaur, Mr. Rogers–appear to be swearing like the sort of sailors the FCC would ban from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The segment alone is argument for why it would be impossible for the FCC to fine bleeped language becuase it thought it knew what people were saying.
Take my word for it, it is side-grabbing funny. Don't take my word for it. Check it out on youtube.com.
And while you are there you might stumble across a wicked parody of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," aimed at the FCC. "My country used to be sweet land of liberty, that once was true. Until the FCC, chose what we hear and see on radio and TV. FCC…[followed by a request of the FCC that is both anatomically impossible and cannot be described over the airwaves without a bleep of its own].
It has a couple more verses but they stoop lower than I am going here.
The song is well produced and almost beatific in its delivery, however, though there is also a heavy metal version for those into the Hendricks National Anthem delivery of patriotica. You can find out where to buy a T-shirt or coffe mug with the FCC sentiment boldly displayed.
Coffee Mug? I think that is where I came in.
By John Eggerton
