Not sure if this is right place for this but... What's the thing with 'beep' ? I mean you have the best freedom of speech, right? (in America) Is it even necessary? I'm reading Iain M Banks 'Surface detail' and he's style is kinda raw (lot of swear words, etc). First I was thinking "he's from America" (he's actually scotish), because I see same style in some US movies / TV series. Movies / TV series are beep-free territory, but somehow it's bad if it's (f-words etc) in talk shows. What's the logic behind that? Beep sounds are really annoying and I can't think how it's any good for audience. What's the purpose of beeping? Who's benefiting from that? Right reaction should be like 'oops, ugly word came out, but our superior tech covered that just fast enough, so smart & nice' ? I think beeping is just silly.
Because at heart were still a bunch of puritans who cant handle hearing certain words so our oh so delicate sensibilities have to be protected /s
In the US, it's not really a free speech issue. On air television is regulated by the FCC, because the stations don't "own" the actual airwaves they are using; they are considered public. So the government can actually regulate content since it's the government's airwaves. Cable channels however, are not broadcast over air so are not regulated by the FCC. In theory they can play just about anything. There is plenty of swearing on cable TV shows. They are limited only by audience and shareholder outrage.
Supposedly, it's to protect children from vulgar language. I don't know what good that's doing though. Further, the audience (in person) does NOT hear the beep. It is usually edited for television due to the FCC regulations. Funny aside: I'm from Chicago so decided to go on the Jerry Springer Show (in the audience; not a guest) and the show was so awful that it was never aired. I'm still traumatized by it. LOL
Censorship in the United States has a long history that parallels the advent of motion pictures. We seem to forget that many of the forebearers of this nation were religious fanatics who were so extreme they were shunned by their fellow countrymen. Just think how bad it must have been for them to actually think that traveling across the ocean to an unknown land seemed better than the "persecution" they suffered at home because of their faith. I say, "persecution" because to quite a degree their faith involves a complex set of rationalizing and romanticizing of martyrdom. When the motion picture camera began expanding our horizons of other people and places, those same poor religious folks had grown to become America's self-ordained champions of American morality. Those same folks were the ones who started Prohibition, and when that went south and the majority thumbed their noses in their face by eventually repealing it, they then turned their attention to the local movie theater which was rapidly rising to be America's number one pastime. The men who made Hollywood were a unique breed of businessmen and they only wanted to sell more tickets to fill more seats in every movie theater across America, so when these holly rollers started complaining about the decadence of Hollywood, they began a long and arduous dance of controlling America's moral compass. It's a long battle that continues to this day, and it's BEEPING stupid!
Part of the freedom of speech issue is that the government is not to limit it. However, that limit doesn't apply to privately owned venues. Thus a show can individually restrict whatever speech it wants as long as it is not government owned. Mind you that is only insofar as when the show is sent out to others. The show itself cannot stop another person from saying what they want. Only restrict what is sent out.
