F-Bombs OK? Santeeans React to FCC Plan to Ease Swearing, Nudity Ban

Should the Federal Communications Commission lighten up on enforcing its ban on swear words and nudity on broadcast media?

The agency has proposed doing just that—letting "fleeting" violations slide and enforcing its rules only for "egregious" offenses.

The FCC invited comments for 60 days on the enforcement change in an April 1, 2013 announcement (click on PDF thumnail).

Eight Santee residents have submitted comments to the FCC on this issue, all of them in opposition to the leniency change. Here are some examples:

• "There is enough garbage and trash that our society is having to deal with or be 'tolerant toward' and if we let this ban be dropped we might as well be prepared to possibly suffer the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah."
• "The Supreme Court has confirmed the FCC&'s authority to enforce policies regarding expletives and nudity, especially during times when children are likely to be watching or listening."
• "Would you really want your children or your grand children to be exposed to extreme foul language and nudity or sex no matter how brief? If you answer yes to this question, you seriously need to re-evaluate yourself as a human being."

Comments submitted to the FCC are public. You can see them by searching a comment database at the FCC website.

The One Million Moms organization and other family oriented groups have recently sent emails asking people to submit comments such as: "I oppose any changes to the current FCC indecency standards that would allow television and radio stations to broadcast expletives and nudity on the public airwaves, even if brief or 'fleeting.'”

Would you like the FCC to ease its enforcement of indecency rules on TV and radio broadcasters, or are you opposed? Leave a comment below.

Click on the YouTube thumbnail (or visit YouTube.com) for an example of the "fleeting expletives" behind the U.S. Supreme Court case cited by the FCC. This one is Cher at the 2002 Billboard Music Awards (6:00 mark—profanity warning).