What the <beep> is Wrong with Cursing on Television?

Whenever my friend and I raise a glass to toast one another, we always invoke our favorite South Park movie line: “Cheers, Fuck Face.” We loved the movie, but when I was out with another friend one night who was less familiar with the classic line from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, I received a very different reaction when I recited my favorite quote. At first, she seemed shocked and then, sort of offended. As I awkwardly tried to backpedal and explain the origins of the quote, I suddenly realized, cussing is a really big fucking deal to some people.

Since 1920, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has regulated the use of language in radio and television content. Initially, the FCC’s decency standards prohibited the use of obscene language or sexually explicit behavior between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.—i.e. when children might be watching. The problem with these standards is that over the years, the FCC has not only extended the time period that “indecent” material can be aired, but also broadened the definition of inappropriate content. Further, in 2006, Congress raised the indecency fine from $32,500 to $325,000.

In a new casefacing the Supreme Court, Fox is arguing fines that FCC regulations are too controlling after they were faced fines for a remark singer Cher made in a Fox interview and an off-handed curse reality star Nicole Richie spouted during the reality series The Simple Life.

“Carter Phillips, an attorney for Fox, questioned what he called the FCC's shifting definitions of indecency and raised the specter of stations being afraid to broadcast live events for fear that someone might curse,” reported The Washington Post. “Recently, he said, a Vermont public television station excluded a political candidate from a live debate because he had sworn during a previous public forum.”

Still the question remains-- what’s the big fucking deal? Well, according to the Parent Television Council, since 1998, the number of profanities that have aired during a time that children might be viewing a program has almost doubled—in 2007 alone, the f-word appeared 1,147 times on primetime broadcast TV on 184 different programs. According to the group, profanity on the airwaves harms children and debases the nation's values.

But the arbitrary limiting of language and content posed by the FCC also brings into question First Amendment rights. "There's always a risk in a society that values free expression that someone will be offended," said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Marjorie Heins.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court found that occasional expletives—such as those by Cher and Nichole Richie—should be forgiven, but that continual use of profanity would be subject to fines. While this particular Supreme Court case did not make many inroads in the decency vs. First Amendment debate, it does pose an interesting question.

Sure, I love South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, but I didn’t feel exactly comfortable when my friend’s four-year-old daughter started singing, “Shut Your Fucking Face, Uncle Fucka.” While to her, it was just a fun song—much like her favorite song, Hannah Montana’s “Best of Both Worlds”—but the inappropriate nature of the situation made me really look at the impact movies and television really have on children. Maybe free speech all the time can be a little problematic.