According to news reports today, the Senate has approved a measure by a vote of 99-1 to raise the fines for "indecency" to $275,000.00 per indecent incident with a cap of $3,000,000.00 a day. This is up from the current $27,500.00 per incident for the FCC licensed broadcasters and $11,000.00 per incident fine for personalities. This measure was sponsored by Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (GOP) because "People are tired of this indecent material on over-the-air public broadcast, particularly during prime time when people's families are watching. We're going to have to take action because the broadcasters won't police themselves." Perhaps the good senator has never heard of laissez-faire. The media outlets wouldn't broadcast exactly what the FCC and Senate are complaining about if the majority of consumers didn't make it worth their while. It is all about money and like it or not so called "indecency" sells.
This sudden Puritan frenzy gained momentum because of the "wardrobe malfunction" experienced by Janet Jackson at the Superbowl this year. The senate rushed through the bill without debate on the floor and attached the measure to a massive defense bill that will be approved later this week. The only person to vote against the bill was Senator John Breaux of Louisiana because "it deals with communications and media issues and should not have been attached to a national security and defense bill." Good for Senator Breaux for having the courage and fortitude to stand up against such a blatently politically motivated bill (it will look great to the voters that each of these people supports decency I'm sure).
Just to add a little more perspective to this, the current population of the United States is roughly 279 million people. The FCC received a little more than 500,000 complaints about the Janet Jackson incident. While the number of complaints is indeed impressive (and all because of a saggy breast with a pierced nipple), we are talking about 0.18 percent of the population having an impact on what the other 99.82% of Americans can see or hear. Thats right, less that 1/5 of a percent of the country complaining has driven both the Senate and the House of Representatives (whose bill was almost twice as punitive as the Senate's bill) to pass these bills.
If numbers like that don't scare you then something is wrong. And if you support the sheep like behaviour of the House and Senate in this matter then I suppose you are getting what you deserve. Personally, their behaviour disgusts me more than Howard Stern or Janet Jackson ever could. That is saying something.