AP
Discussion among current and former Federal Communications Commission commissioners took a surprising turn late last week, as it became a tribute to famously foul-mouthed comedian George Carlin, who died earlier in the week. The irony, of course, is clear: The FCC frequently levies fines against people who use Carlin’s “seven dirty words” on public airwaves.
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“I wanted to start things off by giving a nod to George Carlin, whose untimely death coincided with this timely discussion,” Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate said. But Tate pulled back her praise slightly, expressing her preference for the type of family-friendly programming one finds on the Disney or Hallmark channels.
Tate wasn’t the only one to long for more pure programming. “I remember when Saturday mornings used to be synonymous with cartoons and Captain Kangaroo was still around,” former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley said. “Then came along George Carlin, a comedic genius but not a notable children’s cartoonist, with his seven dirty words you cannot say on television.”
Founding Editor of USA Today and Executive Director of the First Amendment Center Gene Policinski unabashedly praised Carlin. “His seven dirty words … really played only a small part in a career that was devoted to poking fun and, at a serious moment in time, to jab at those things in our society that perhaps need a little poking and jabbing. Occasionally he did it with humor and with some social conscience.”
