Of bare breasts, bad words, and worse decisions

I was watching the Super Bowl when the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" occurred. For the record...against my better judgment, not being a Timberlake fan, I did not WANT to be watching it...there just wasn't anything else on. And as I heard the lyrics and watched the choreography I was neither surprised nor shocked by the breast baring occuring. Before it happened I could not have predicted it but when it happened I remember thinking it was how the song was designed to end. Those of us watching together debated whether her nipple was bare or was covered with some sort of pasty...it was not clear enough for us to tell and, to be honest, we really did not care one way or the other...it just was obvious it A) was planned, B) was in poor taste.

We all know the outrage that (probably rightfully) occurred over it. Then again...should it have? After all, there are many, many shows on tv that show almost as much. It used to be bikinis were as much as people could get away with. Now it is bras and panties...and to be honest, I really don't see it as such a huge step. They cover the same portion of skin and look about the same.

The underlying point is that standards have shifted in what is and what is not acceptable. Was a bare or pasty covered breast offensive? Well...for many people we were well past that stage with the lingerie and skimpy swimwear shots already, what is one more scrap of cloth? Find a detective or cop show that does not make regular forays into strip clubs. It is a fantastic cover. The directors get the gratuitous shots of scantily clad gyrating women, the viewers justify it as "necessary to the plot" and everyone goes home happy. Hint: Baywatch was not a hit because of its stellar acting, well-developed plot-lines and intriguing stories. The success had a lot more to do with what they showed than anything else. See also "Charlie's Angels".

At the same time, the FCC is trying to clean up language. I laugh at this. I laugh because while they are trying to clean up "the F-word" and words for fecal matter there are other words that can be thrown around at random. While the FCC is licking their wounds at being defeated in their quest to penalize the broadcasting of live interviews where clueless wonders (Cher, Nicole Richie) drop "the F-bomb" and "the S-word" (by the way...is anyone out there reading this so clue-less that they actually did not immediately substitute the above words with the words I am referencing?) I am laughing because, as offensive as those words might be, there are words many of us...myself, for example...find far, far more offensive that are routinely dropped on tv and nobody says a word.

Turn on any sitcom, drama, game show...news cast...even a lot of commercials and you will find someone unleashing "Oh my God!". It is so common that even I, the man of few texts, know that "OMG" means "Oh my God". It is said numerous times every single episode of just about every sitcom I have seen.

And it is, to those who believe in God and have bothered to read...oh, I don't know...the 10 Commandments, for example...or the New Testament...highly, highly offensive. It is, according to the Bible, blasphemy. So hundreds of times a day people use blasphemy...and the FCC goes after a word for fornication. By the way, screw, suck, intercourse, had sex with, slept with, and countless other words for sex are used dozens of times every day on television. So are poop, crapped, took a dump, etc.

Are the "F-word" and "S-word" offensive to many people? I will go out on a limb and say "yes". But unless and until the FCC gets serious about phrases that are more offensive by a margin of...well...Biblical proportions, let me be the first to look the FCC square in the eye and say "Screw you, you piece of crap."