Where Do FCC Complaints Come From?

Yesterday, I talked with Adam Thierer about where those indecency complaints to the FCC really come from. He took the time to check the complaints and run the numbers and discovered that they're overwhelmingly from a single special-interest group, and the numbers have been artificially inflated because the agency changed the methodology by which complaints are counted and catalogued. We also talked about whether this FCC is more likely to lean towards the censorship side, which shows are targeted, how America's nanny government culture works, and more.

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One of the ironies in all this noise from the special interest group is that, on their website, they have a page dedicated to all the clips they find most offensive. In other words, while claiming to be protecting America's youth from material they deem inappropriate, they're making it much more easily available on the un-regulated internet, where any kid can dial into a site that's not going to be filtered out by any parental-control software!

Here's where the hypocrisy gets worse. One of the shows listed on that page is "Grey's Anatomy." Put aside for a moment the fact that this is one of the most popular shows on TV, with a huge audience every Sunday night that far outnumbers the few whiners and complainers (who probably don't even watch it, but instead follow the orders of this special interest group and simply click and send their complaints to Washington!).

Take, for instance, the "Grey's Anatomy" clip the group chose to highlight. It's a scene where one of the doctors is working on a cardiac patient and has to do open-heart massage. Sure, there's some blood, but there's nothing there I wouldn't want my 11-year-old daughter to see. And in the end, the doctor saves the patient!

Where's the problem? Where's the obscenity? Where's the indecency?

Should a show like this draw governmental oversight because some nitwit at a special interest group is a little squeamish? Of course not. If that's the sort of garbage complaint that's clogging up the inboxes at the FCC, then you, as a taxpayer, have every right to be outraged.