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Vast Wasteland in Her Head

Did the newly-installed Secretary of the United States Department of Education really do something lame-ass like call PBS and threaten someone over there so that it would not air some kind of TV show about tolerance of those that are different because kids would get the idea that we should be tolerant of homosexuality? Did I hear that right? I don't feel like reading about it ... Did she really say that television is an intimate and powerful medium?

She is a fucking idiot.

Newton Minow, who chaired the FCC for a couple years, gave his first speech, in 1961, that introduced the idea that television is a "vast wasteland." Intimate and powerful? Margaret Spellings is a fucking idiot ... she wants television to be a vast wasteland. Yes, television is intimate and powerful.

What else did Newton Minow say in that speech? After quoting from the National Association of Broadcasters' Television Code, which said [p]rogram materials should enlarge the horizons of the viewer, provide him with wholesome entertainment, afford helpful stimulation, and remind him of the responsibilities which the citizen has toward his society, he concluded:

We need imagination in programming, not sterility; creativity, not imitation; experimentation, not conformity; excellence, not mediocrity. Television is filled with creative, imaginative people. You must strive to set them free.

The power of instantaneous sight and sound is without precedent in mankind's history. This is an awesome power. It has limitless capabilities for good--and for evil. And it carries with it awesome responsibilities--responsibilities which you and I cannot escape.

I urge you to put the people's airwaves to the service of the people and the cause of freedom.

Oh, I forgot. Tolerance went out the window on election night ... mandate ... political capital ... sorry ... Ms. Spellings, when's Jerry Springer on?

Posted by Bill at January 27, 2005 11:59 PM