You all deserve the Purple Heart of Free Speech Blogging. I read the postings the paragliders made and I doubt they were banned. However, it has gone to the Supreme Court and here are the results.
http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2014 ... ars-later/On July 3, 1978, the Supreme Court issued its historic verdict in the George Carlin “seven dirty words” case, a decision that still holds sway over the use of indecent and obscene language on television, and in a new era of mass communications.
Carlin himself wasn’t involved directly in the case, which was called Federal Communications Commission V. Pacifica Foundation. He had already won a legal verdict, in an unrelated case, several years prior to the Supreme Court ruling after a judge threw out his arrest in Milwaukee for performing the comedy routine at a summer festival.
It was a New York radio station that was in hot water with the FCC for playing a recording of Carlin’s “Filthy Words” monologue on October 30, 1973, at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. The broadcast was heard by John H. Douglas, who said he heard the words while driving with his young son in a car. Douglas complained to the FCC, and almost five years later, the case was decided by the Court, with Justice John Paul Stevens writing the majority decision after a 5-4 split among the Justices.
The FCC had warned Pacifica, which owned the station, that it found the language in Carlin’s routine indecent, and it was prohibited by FCC statute. The FCC didn’t fine Pacifica, but threatened to take into account any complaints when Pacifica next sought to renew its broadcast license.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the decision in 1977, by a 2-1 margin, with each judge writing separate opinions. Judge Tamm said that the order represented censorship, and Chief Judge Bazelon said the FCC’s order “must be narrowly construed to cover only language that is obscene or otherwise unprotected by the First Amendment.”
But Judge Leventhal argued the FCC correctly concluded that the content was indecent because it was broadcast during the daytime and the FCC had a legitimate interest in protecting children.
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Doug