Miley Cyrus has dominated pop culture lately with her tantalizing MTV Video Music Awards performance, fascinating tweets and, most recently, an interview with Rolling Stone, in which she questions America’s censorship policy.
She said, “America is so weird in what they think is right and wrong. … They bleeped ‘molly’ at the VMA’s. Look what I’m doing up here right now, and you’re going to bleep out ‘molly?’ Whatever.”
Regardless of what people may judge Cyrus for, this simple statement makes readers stop and wonder whether the rebellious celebrity has a point.
Investigating the Federal Communication Commission’s censorship policy, I learned that there are seven sinister words — most of which you could probably guess — you are to never allowed to say on broadcast television or radio; content-wise, regulations are a different story.
Media is extremely skewed in what is said and what is shown. The FCC makes sure that the American public is not tainted by the seven scandalous words in media.
Nevertheless, you can turn on satellite radio and hear Howard Stern’s daily risqué rants. Not a fan of Stern’s scandalous baritone? Perhaps you should tune to Channel 102 for “Radio Sex” to hear about “Naughty Gamers” on Mondays.
Sunday night television is filled with episodes of “True Blood” that show its characters engaging in explicit sexual acts and of “Breaking Bad” that beckon viewers to join Walter White on his journey into the oily black underworld of all things tragic, dark and otherwise unsettling.
You can find websites on how to commit suicide, make a bomb and become a terrorist online. There’s even online inspiration for becoming anorexic, with a how-to manual and daily encouragement to not eat.
Accessibility to media has benefited society in so many ways, yet with all good things, bad must come too. Now, we see so much, take it all in and are supposed to differentiate between all of this information. Foul language is too much, but a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher’s fall from grace into a monstrous, bipolar criminal is suitable to be broadcasted?
The tacky cliché that “a picture is worth a thousand words” flawlessly fits the comparison of images to words. The average American is exposed to about 3,000 messages per day — a little overwhelming. It is proven that an image is stronger than words in many situations, because it is clear, provides direction and stays in your mind. If the FCC is going to strictly prohibit certain language, then the censorship ought to be uniform. That’s not necessarily desired, but it’s logical.
America has seen a growing issue with violence, body image and self-esteem, among other things, in the past few decades. Any chance it may have something to do with the content we continually expose ourselves to?
When the majority of video games are won by having the most kills and it’s sexy to advertise females in a degrading fashion, it may be wise for society to consider what may be fueling these epidemics taking over America. The blame falls on the culture itself and the media and marketing trends that we the people prove are effective.
So maybe the girl twerking on stage, suggestively dancing with a foam-finger isn’t so crazy after all. Maybe we need to realize that we can’t complain about what makes it onto television, radio or media in general, until our federal censorship is abandoned entirely, or at least finds a logically consistent enforcement that tackles our culture’s true issues.