[Newspoetry] Fwd: FC: Sending the Wrong Message (a rant)

[glenn at meaning.com]

Forwarded Message:
> To: politech at vorlon.mit.edu
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
> Subject: FC: Sending the Wrong Message (a rant)
> Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 10:53:34 -0400
> -----
> I generally don't forward rants. But this is timely, relevant, and amusing.
> 
> And it's happened before:
> http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/digital/daily/0,2822,12297,00.html
> 
> -Declan
> 	
> *********
> 
> Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 15:16:05 -0700
> From: Lizard <lizard at dnai.com>
> Subject: Sending the wrong message
> 
> Fox announces 'less violence' next year. Warner Brothers pulls the
> final episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', to be shown much later,
> perhaps after considerable editing. Jerry Springer chooses less
> controversial topics for his talk show. All across the mediascape,
> networks and producers concern themselves with the 'message' they may
> be sending to America's youth.
> 
> They are indeed sending a message -- and it is the worst possible one
> they could send.
> 
> The message they are sending is:"Conform! Give in! Rights aren't worth
> fighting for! There is no principle worth standing up for beyond
> capitulation to the passion of the moment!"
> 
> By knuckling under to even the slightest hint of regulation --
> regulation which wouldn't withstand a Constitutional assault -- they
> send the message to our youth that free speech is just a pretty
> catchphrase without meaning, that if what you have to say offends
> someone, then it is better not to say it. They send the message we are
> a nation of soundbites and polls, not laws and principles. They send
> the message that the proper answer to offensive speech is a punch in
> the mouth -- and the victim should mutely accept his punishment and be
> grateful it wasn't worse.
> 
> That is the message the networks are sending to your children. Is it
> the one you want them to hear?
> 
> What should the media say  in the rapidly dispersing wake of
> Littleton? They should say, "We provide the programs you want to see.
> If you want a change in our programming, change the channel. Don't
> blame us for your lack of self control. Don't hold us accountable for
> your bad taste. What you see on the tube is what you have chosen to
> watch."
> 
> "Further, there is a principle here worth fighting for. The principle
> that we live by laws which hold true and steady no matter what. That
> our rights do not come and go with the headlines, that our ideals are
> fortresses built on rock, not lean-tos built on sand. We all will
> claim a willingness to take up arms to fight to defend our nation
> against an army of invaders, but we are sometimes too willing to
> destroy our nation ourselves, without a fight, while claiming those
> few who struggle to defend the things that make America great are
> 'radicals' or 'extremists'."
> 
> "We in the media say:No more! The line will be drawn here. No more
> capitulation, no more compromise, no more cowardice. No more
> censorship and bowdlerization. No more slicing and dicing a script
> until every idea, thought, or concept which might cause a neuron to
> fire in a single human brain has been turned into confetti. No more."
> 
> "And if Congress doesn't like it -- tough. 'No law' means 'no law',
> period. They cannot regulate us, and, if they try, we shall defy them
> at every step of the game. We may lose sponsors in the short run, but,
> in the long run, we will be defending our rights and our property --
> for if the televisions stations, broadcast towers, and printing
> presses we claim to own are run only at the sufferance of the
> government, then we do not own them at all, and any profit we may make
> from them is not truly ours in the first place." 
> 
> That's what they should say. And every Saturday in June should be
> sunny, every kitten and puppy should find a loving home, and everyone
> should floss daily and see their dentist twice a year.
> 
> 
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