February 04, 2004
Libertarians and the Boob
Brother Ernie talks about the boob on the tube.
if the Super Bowl had been broadcast on cable, there most likely would have been some controversy over the baring of a partially concealed breast for a couple of seconds, but there certainly wouldn't have been any call for an investigation into the act by the FCC. Why?
Technically, the answer is--as Ernie points out--that broadcast television is regulated differently. Philosophically, the answer is more complex.
Ordinarily, I make the libertarian defense of pornography, which is "You don't have to watch it if you don't want to." But this is not such a good argument in the case of the Super Bowl halftime show. The Super Bowl is the ultimate captive audience. The only people who don't watch it are misanthropic elitists like me (I think it's crass no matter what the performers are wearing).
People should be free to strip in a movie, but then they should not be allowed to stick a "G" rating on that movie. I think that unless the network advertises otherwise, the public has a right to expect a G-rated halftime show. I don't think that the First Amendment should entitle you to subject people to in-your-face porn when they were not expecting it.
What is particularly infuriating is that no one is taking responsibility for what happened. If somebody would just stand up and admit that the act was planned, you would not need an investigation to find out who planned it. If responsibility were clarified, then I might be able to retreat to another libertarian fallback position, which is to let the private sector punish the villains. But that fallback is not available in this case.
All in all, I would not waste any libertarian sympathy on Justin, Janet, and the other halftime show culprits. If anything, they are in less legal jeopardy than they deserve.
Posted by Arnold at 6:32 PM |
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In this day and age, the Super Bowl is one of a very few unifying, shared pageants in our national life. As such it's not an appropriate venue for yet another battle in the culture wars. Isn't this obvious? Nonetheless, the no-class MTV producers couldn't resist using the occasion to say a loud F*** YOU to the traditionalists in the audience.
I was offended, not because I saw a titty on TV but because the whole spectacle was designed and executed with no purpose BUT to give me offense and then chortle about how cool that makes them. This schtick is so worn-out it makes me ill.
Posted by Hunter McDaniel on February 4, 2004 11:33 PM | Permalink to Comment
In this day and age, the Super Bowl is one of a very few unifying, shared pageants in our national life. As such it's not an appropriate venue for yet another battle in the culture wars. Isn't this obvious? Nonetheless, the no-class MTV producers couldn't resist using the occasion to say a loud F*** YOU to the traditionalists in the audience.
I was offended, not because I saw a titty on TV but because the whole spectacle was designed and executed with no purpose BUT to give me offense and then chortle about how cool that makes them. This schtick is so worn-out it makes me ill.
Posted by Hunter McDaniel on February 4, 2004 11:33 PM | Permalink to Comment