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BBC: US network faces $1m nudity fine [LINK-ZUM]

US television network ABC may have to pay a fine of $1.4m (707,000 UK Pounds) for airing an episode of NYPD Blue which depicted female nudity. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said the 2003 show had "multiple, close-up views" of a woman's buttocks before the US watershed. The FCC deems "sexual or excretory activities" shown in an "offensive" way before 2200 as indecent.

[Article continues at link. Here is the scene in question (video). What really happened in the less-than-40-seconds which the FCC fined? A woman took off her bath robe and stepped into a shower. The actress in question was not forced to do this and was likely paid handsomely, as was everyone on the set. No one, anywhere, was forced to watch that episode of that television show. No one, anywhere, was harmed in any way by watching that episode of that television show. Truth be told, most people do take of their clothes before stepping into the shower. This was not a sexual act nor was it an excretory activity. I can imagine some people being surprised, or embarrased, or confused by what they saw. But if their discomfort eats away at them for more than a short while, they have problems unrelated to this episode of this television show. One of them is watching television, and there's an easy answer for that problem. Preventing people from being surprised, embarrassed or confused is not the role of government. Neither is preventing people from being naked as part of their job, or in expression of their political views. The actress in question also appears nude in a protest against the use of animal fur in fashion. Should the government fine someone for that as well? A much more damning solution was available to the prudes who brought about this fine in the form of a boycott against advertisers of the television show. In that solution, everyone remains free to make the choices they want yet they are also accountable for them. We don't need the government to tell us what is bad on television. The answer is 'most of it.' Television is called a medium because it's seldom well done, as Ernie Kovacs said. But bad art isn't a crime, it's just bad art. What a shame that mainstream media companies are being punished for brief scenes of non-sexual nudity while not being shaken to their foundations for their uncritical support of George W. Bush's war of conquest and Jesus in the Middle East. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, fascism, sex, television, theocracy

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