Rise in Profanity and Importance of Family Dinner

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The issues that matter most, right here. The Drew Mariani Show.

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On Relevant Radio. Is profanity allowed in political ads? Good question. Let's start with the one that grabbed our viewers' attention. Ad is from Democratic US. Senate candidate Angie Craig, and notably is paid for and sponsored by her.

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I'm Angie Craig and I approve this message.

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Meaning it falls under a unique FCC ruling explained by media law professor Christopher Terry.

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If the ad is run by a candidate themselves, broadcast stations cannot censor those ads for any reason.

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That makes profanity fair game, along with obscene or graphic video.

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Stations are not responsible for the content in those situations.

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It's The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio.

Drew Mariani (0:57)

Well, hey, thanks for joining me today. That, of course, was CBS Minnesota on the frustration some viewers are having on hearing swearing on television. You know, have you noticed it too? I don't know if you have. I want to talk about something that's becoming more common and much more casual. And I think a lot of people don't even recognize it anymore.

And once you do notice it, I think you can't un-hear it. And I want to talk a little bit about the words that we tolerate. And I think they are quietly shaping the culture that we're handing on. And I'm a big believer. I make, you know, I spend my afternoon with words, right? I think language is so powerful. Language matters, and it always has. And words are never just a few sounds. I mean, they carry meaning and value, even reverence, right? And lately, something is shifting in our culture.

Maybe you've felt it too. Not long ago, certain words were very guarded, right?

Today, I am hearing the F word and all sorts of other words on television like crazy.

My producer, Tommy, is kind of an old salt. He was saying to me, you know, when the mass media consists of just newspapers and movies and radio and broadcast, you know, you can be assured that only the only time you saw or heard profanity would be maybe, you know, it would be very rare. Gone with the Wind, classic movie, Rep. Butler, his closing line in that movie got so much attention, and he said, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn, right? And at first, that caused a scandal, right? Because the production code that was signed in 1930 had forbidden such a thing, and it was updated just about six weeks before the film was released, and to allow the word hell or damn, those words were, you know, you couldn't utter those words. So it was kind of a big shock, but you know, it probably got a lot of attention for the film at the time. So the FCC was created in order to keep an eye on radio and television broadcasters, make sure that we kept within these pretty strict guidelines of what was allowed on the air and what wasn't. And they could do that since the broadcasters were using federally regulated frequencies for their signals. And then what happened, right? Cable TV enters the world. And that changed the game. The FCC didn't regulate the FCC, couldn't regulate the cable. And then came the internet. Forget that, it's also unregulated. And both now cable and the internet are slowly overshadowing broadcasters. And with that, we're now hearing profanity, I think on an epic level. I mean, if you ever listen to Joe Rogan, I mean, the F-bomb is both an adjective and an adverb and a noun, and you name it, it's used in every possible way.

And not just him, I mean, if you watch like conservative media, if you watch, let's say, Gutfeld, which is I think the number one late night TV show on cable, beating like Fallon and some of the other shows that were out there, they use profanity, but it gets bleeped. But clearly we know what it means, right? We clearly know when somebody says whatever and the word gets beeped. So it's like, well, what's the purpose of even beeping it? Politicians, that's another one here, too. And I'd love you to stand up. Let's get your take on this, too. What's going on in the political world? We're now hearing profanity, I think, at an epic level. And I don't like it personally. I try to govern what I say. I think the mouth speaks what the heart possesses. And not a big fan of using profanity. But you see these politicians, and the president used it, right? Trump used it when he was really frustrated. A couple of months ago, there was that, oh gosh, who was the, it was the mayor of, yeah, it was the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who used the F word, told federal agents to get the, you know what I mean, out of the city. And I'm not going to use the word here. Nick, go right ahead, yeah, please.