Freedom of Speech...in South Korea?

I think this is absolutely the coolest thing I've ever heard. South Koreans have taken to the Internet and Blogs and started their own network of citizen reporters. No government controlled media. Private individuals deciding what is newsworthy and what is worth talking about. If only more countries were this tech-saavy, we could finally become a planet of free-thinkers!

I hope this catches on.

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Two Weeks Later...

...and the only question I have is, "If you were Ricky Martin, would you be mad at William Hung?"

Pro-Gay Propaganda or Anti-Hate Message?

The decision was made to distribute a video featuring SpongeBob SqaurePants, Miss Piggy, Oscar the Grouch and other well-known child icons in an attempt to promote the acceptance of diversity in the United States.

That's right, I said "Promote Diversity." When I was a child I remember waking up on Saturday mornings and watching cartoons that sang about the "Great American Melting Pot." Today I read articles on CNN about religious groups claiming that SpongeBob is gay, and educational materials being distributed to teach children about diversity are merely "tools of the underground gay movement" to "brainwash children" into thinking that being gay is alright.

Gay marriage may not be "traditional" but neither was getting on a boat and sailing half-way across the world because you were feeling opressed. Tossing tea in the water at Boston Harbor wasn't exactly "traditional" either. Moreso, I think DRINKING said tea would've been more traditional. However, things change. And usually for the better.

At least the ACTUAL majority in this country is more intelligent than the MORAL majority.

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Five People Decide For Millions

That's right. Five WHOLE people head up the review board for the FCC. And those five people decide what is and isn't indecent for the whole country. Luckily, today they made a correct ruling: "ABC will not be fined for Nicolette Sheridan towel skit."

Gee thanks, FCC. It took you four months to decide on something that the rest of the country 1) already forgot about, and 2) didn't care about in the first palce (save for a few obsessive letter-writers from the religious right).

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Is anyone else bothered by this?

The 66 ABC affiliates that refused to carry Saving Private Ryan, fearing that they could be fined by the FCC because of its four-letter words and graphic violence, actually had nothing to worry about, the agency indicated Monday. Responding to complaints about the film, the FCC said in a unanimous decision: "In light of the overall context in which this material is presented, the commission determined it was not indecent or profane." Randy Sharp of the American Family Association, which said that it sent 23,339 complaints to the FCC over the Ryan telecast, told today's (Tuesday) Washington Times: "Our reaction is one of extreme disappointment. ... I think it confuses a lot of people." He noted that the FCC had already indicated that context was not a factor when it held that Bono's use of the term "f***ing brilliant" during a 2003 Golden Globes telecast violated the FCC's decency standards. Raymond Cole, president of Citadel Communications, which refused to broadcast the Ryan film, said Monday that if the network scheduled the movie again, his stations would air it. Separately, the FCC dismissed complaints filed by the Parents Television Council against the programs Arrested Development (Fox) and Will & Grace (NBC).

"Decency standards..." Sure. By it's very definition, a standard is "something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality." Context is a factor. Context is not a factor. Which is it, FCC? A standard has to be consistent, otherwise it's not a rule.

MPAA = Mafia

Convicted Movie Pirate Found Dead

Russell Sprague, the Chicago man who pleaded guilty to charges of receiving Academy Award screeners from Academy member Carmine Caridi and posting them on the Internet, was found dead in his jail cell Monday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Sprague had been awaiting sentencing. A spokesman for the Marshals office said that, while an investigation was being conducted, all indications pointed to "a normal passing."

Yes, that's exactly what they WANT you to think. "Nothing abnormal about his death. Millions of people die from ingesting fragments of pirated DVDs. Now sit back on your couch and watch Bambi, again..." Russell Sprague sleeps with the fishes.

Stations Turn Down Landmine PSA

Apparently, we're quite content with a world full of landmines:

Efforts by the United Nations Mine Action Service to persuade broadcast and cable stations to air a public service announcement seeking public support for its efforts to achieve "a world free of the threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance" have largely fallen on deaf ears, Advertising Age reported Tuesday. Each year, nearly 20,000 innocent people are killed or seriously injured by land mines in 80 countries, Ad Age observed. Among cable channels refusing to air the PSA are CNN and Lifetime, it reported. The PSA depicts a landmine exploding during a girls' soccer match at an American high school as horrified parents look on. It ends with the words, "If there were landmines here, would you stand for them anywhere?"

I've seen the ad, it's quite disturbing and very funny all at the same time.

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Cable To Be Censored for Indecency, Too?

Are you kidding me?

If the chairmen of the two Congressional committees overseeing the broadcasting industry have their say, cable TV programs and satellite radio programs will be subjected to the same rules on indecency as other broadcasters. Senator Ted Stevens, who heads the Senate Commerce Committee said Tuesday if cable companies continue to maintain that they can't be regulated on content, "We'll take them on and let the courts decide. ... I think they ought to play [by] ... the same rules." Congressman Joe Barton, who heads the House Commerce Committee, agreed saying that all broadcasters "ought to play on the same field." Their remarks were immediately hailed by the broadcast industry, which has long held that it is being forced to compete against cable on an uneven field. Edward Fritts, president of the National Association of Broadcasters (the two Congressional leaders spoke at an NAB seminar), told the Associated Press Tuesday: "A 5-year-old doesn't know if they're watching cable or over-the-air." But Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable Television Association, noted Tuesday that the Supreme Court has already ruled on the issue. "The ability of cable customers to block unwanted programming through the use of tools offered by local cable systems, strongly differentiate cable from broadcasting, which is distributed free and unfiltered over the air," he said.

If children are the measuring stick for everything in society, then why don't we start censoring books, too? A 5-year-old doesn't know if it's reading "The Cat in the Hat" or "The Kama Sutra." Come on. We've already had this hearing years ago. We have to stop pretending that it's not the job of the parents to learn how to raise their children. It's not the government's job to make sure my kids don't see boobies. It's my job. And maybe, just maybe, I want my child to see boobies.

Fuckers.