Where the F*CK is the FCC?
Curse words are not our problem.
First, I must confess something. I don’t want to try and wiggle out of it later, pretending I’m nicer than I am.
There are days, and today is one of them, when I wake up wondering what to do about stupid people. They seem to have hijacked everything, and nobody is stopping them.
There. Guilty as charged. I think people are idiots and need protection from themselves.
I have a lot of evidence to support my case.
Take today, for instance.
There’s a hurricane in danger of wiping out a lot of the west coast of Florida, a state with a Republican governor. He signed a bill this year that deletes most mentions of climate change from state law.
His party is full of climate change deniers who insist on our continued reliance on fossil fuels.
This hurricane is stronger than most. And much of its strength is directly linked to a warmer ocean temperature.
Ninety percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening; yet they elected Governor DeSantis anyway.
And yet, we’ve gotten afraid to say words like stupid. We’re afraid we’ll be criticized or punished for using such a word. We’re afraid because we’re all in sixth grade.
Our society is a middle-school lunchroom.
As the internet developed, so did conspiracy theories. Many Americans lost sight of something:
There is a thing called a fact.
Fact (n.) a thing that is known or proved to be true.
People have been led to believe they have a choice about facts. They do not. Facts exist whether we believe them or not.
One of those facts is humans cause climate change.
Educated scientists have studied and presented the data. They know a lot more about it than I, because:
I’m not a climate scientist.
Because of their work, I understand the warmer ocean temperatures we’ve contributed to out of laziness and attachment to convenience are partly responsible for the strength of Hurricane Milton.
I do not cleave to the 3% of scientists who don’t believe in climate change. There are always people in the last 3% of their graduating class.
The truth is most of these deniers are either attached to fringe groups or are funded by the energy industry, like Willie Soon, who was paid over 1.25 million by three different groups. The ultra-conservative Koch Brothers had a climate disinformation machine.
These “campaigns” are crimes against humanity.
This may seem a non sequitur, but it’s not.
My mechanic is a genius.
Granted, I have a very special mechanic. But his understanding of machinery is stunning. And because he’s a highly ethical man, he won’t sell me an expensive part that will be worn out in three months due to the age of my car. He’ll work to find a different solution.
I trust my mechanic because I know he knows something I don’t. I am hopeless at machinery, algebra, those puzzles where you must identify like shapes in patterns, and many branches of economics. Start talking about the GDP, and my brain shuts down.
Because I know less than nothing about the mechanics of my car, I must be able to trust the expert who does. If I don’t trust him, you know what happens?
I become afraid. And when I’m afraid, my lizard brain takes over. I no longer make rational decisions.
I’ve just explained what’s wrong with the United States. Too many people trust none of the experts.
In 2016, I started to spend time sourcing my news stories. As a result, most of the news I get is from NPR, National Public Radio.
It’s near the middle of the bias chart. The middle has the least bias. Their international reporting includes the BBC, which is also in the middle.
I read the papers. I rarely watch network or cable news. As far as I’m concerned, most of these channels are tabloids; if not for a political party, for corporate interests.
I once spoke with a Republican about bias in news, and they agreed with me that they’d just like a channel which reported without political bias. We were getting somewhere in the conversation, which cheered me. I mentioned that I get most of my news from NPR.
And the person said,
“Oh, NPR? But NPR is very liberal.”
Their response took me a while to sort out. Then suddenly, I had it.
To some Republican voters, the truth now sounds liberal. Because it sounds liberal, they don’t believe it.
I don’t have to like a fact for it to be real.
I don’t like that I gained eight pounds. And yet, the scale insists I did. I can’t say it didn’t happen.
When it comes to climate change, many of the people who don’t believe cling to the 3% of scientists who debunk it. These scientists put the needle of their scales eight pounds below zero.
When I get on their scale, I didn’t gain weight.
Because people think they can choose which facts they like and which they don’t, they choose the deniers. Who doesn’t want a scale that makes you eight pounds lighter?
Let’s say I’m a person whose job is on the pipeline in Louisiana. What if my company provided an educational seminar about climate change? What if they offered free food, and invited me to attend?
The company brings in one of the three percenters on purpose, but I don’t know that.
I’m listening to an expert. The expert went to the right schools, has the right credentials, and says all the other experts are wrong. Then he presents data telling me why he’s right.
If my livelihood depends on it, chances are I am going to believe him. If given the choice, why don’t I choose the guy who won’t make me question my work?
This doesn’t necessarily make me a stupid person. I may not know the breadth of diabolical behavior perpetrated by my own employer.
If they pay my bills, they can’t be that bad.
I understand how this employee arrives at his conclusion.
When he goes home at night, he turns on Fox News. And right there in front of him, his newscaster tells him climate change is a hoax.
Now he has double the evidence. He doesn’t realize that although it’s called Fox News, they’re an entertainment company.
Journalism has standards. The highest rated news show in America isn’t what it claims.
It’s beginning to look a lot like existential crisis.
What are we to do about misinformation? What are we to do when so many Americans believe anything that comes out of the mouth of Donald Trump?
Thanks for sticking with me. Finally, to my point:
Where the fuck is the FCC?
The FCC is the Federal Communications Commission. Back in the 1970s, one thing they did was protect consumers from curse words.
In the 1960s, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested for saying nine words. At issue is the idea of words being harmful for consumers, and certain curse words could not be uttered on television or radio at certain times, as they were deemed inappropriate.
Carlin’s bit was finding words that were always dirty: The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. It is truly genius. If you’re young and haven’t discovered George Carlin, get on it. What a mind for language.
Then in 1978, in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the FCC, saying it neither violated the First or Fifth Amendments to ban these words.
Okay.
The FCC is organized into bureaus and offices, one of which is:
Public safety and homeland security.
The FCC’s budget is over $416 million dollars, which is collected in licensing fees.
Can someone please tell me why the FCC lets Fox News keep “news” in its title? It’s representing itself as a news source to American consumers and it’s not.
Can someone tell me why presidential candidates are allowed to tell blatant, repeated lies on television without being fined by the FCC? Or why they’re able to lie about election results? Surely you can’t get more dangerous than that.
For that matter, why doesn’t the FCC fine people for saying climate change is fake?
In short, why is the FCC not protecting American consumers from politicians and media outlets which are certain to harm them? Communications is the entire point of the FCC. They’ve not only dropped the ball, they haven’t even picked it up.
Why aren’t they helping us? Why aren’t they helping the truth?
I feel like filing a class action lawsuit against the FCC for not protecting us from Donald Trump.
Because he was able to lie with impunity, he’s set an example for other politicians as well. His running mate, JD Vance made up a story about Haitian immigrants eating pets and admitted it.
How is this acceptable to the FCC?
Like I said: we need protection from ourselves. We are an inch away from complete chaos. Trump and his cohorts made up lies about relief efforts for Hurricane Helene. There is no low to which he will not stoop.
Do your job, FCC. Protect us from these charlatans posing as politicians, and the newscasters who are their paid court jesters.
Curse words are the least of our problems. Curse words, finally, are what’s appropriate.
Thanks for posting.
It's also infuriating when you have an ignoramus like MTG texting that Democrats can control the weather. Why is she allowed to spread this insanity?! 😠