Town Point Park, in downtown Norfolk, is a venue used for lots of weekend festivals. One, the Afr’Am Fest, has been held on Memorial Day weekend for the past 25 years, mostly without incident. The downtown area has changed a lot in 25 years, with the addition of upscale housing added to the retail mix. As you might expect, co-existence of the old and the new is being strained.
This past Memorial Day, several complaints were lodged by the residents of downtown regarding the noise and, in some cases, vulgar lyrics. This past weekend, The Bayou Boogaloo and Cajun Festival was held at the site and a performer used “an embellishment of the F-word.” The performer, Raymond “Boots” Riley, was ushered offstage and charges were filed against him.
Yes, there are laws on the books against public profanity, laws that are rarely enforced. Have you gone into a 7-11 lately? (Not picking on 7-11s here.) Or sat at a stop light while the car next to you is playing some, ahem, interesting music? Ever seen any of those folks arrested?
Didn’t think so.
In any case, the question in my mind is this: what, if anything, should be done about profanity in public? With such language being casually used on TV, have we become desensitized to it? If not, why isn’t there more outrage about it?
Inquiring minds want to know 🙂
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I like what festival planners are doing – adding the no-profanity clause to future artist contracts. That’s a better way to handle it.
I guess that’s a cheaper way to embarrass the town than legislating against low pants.
And the idea of *cops* enforcing a law against abusive language? That’s just hilarious.
Who should be enforcing the law, if not the police?
With TV, one can turn off the offensive show. With closed venue performances, one can leave. With open-air performances that are part of, but not the point of, a larger event, one has to forgo the entire event to avoid the offensive language. Additionally, those who live nearby should not be required to vacate their homes to avoid the language.
As for the foul-mouths in the 7-11 and those who play their “music” too loud, the police are not on the scene to make the arrest.
MB certainly knows about this better than I do, but the FCC has competing and contradictory precedents in their rulings on the use of that particular word as an obsenity (which is what it ought to be called, “obscenity.” Profanity is a broader category which includes irreverant speech, including the use Lord’s name in vain. Which means the above-mentioned “no-profanity” clauses can accidentally ensare even some Christian Rock bands, depending on how orthodox the person complaining on the phone is).
With regards to the word f*ck, which I here only partially censor because for pete’s sake, really now. In 2003, The FCC ruled in favor of broadcasters in an complaint over Bono’s use of the term “f*cking brilliant,” saying that there isn’t anything inherrently sexual or excretory in using f*ck as an adjective–it was exclamatory and emphatic, but not obscene insofar as no *reasonable* person could conclude that Bono was making a reference to fornication, brilliantly-performed or otherwise.
They later reversed their position on this particular incident, stating that the use of the word was gratuitous (which doesn’t make it profane or obscene–I can gratuitiously use the word “spoon” if I say it often enough without reason or necessity) and that a sexual context was inherrent in the use of the word even though it didn’t make sense.
Which ought to indicate that the FCC is not only confused by the contextual meaning of the word “f*ck,” but the meaning of the word “reasonable.”
In 2005, they ruled in favor of broadcasters who wanted to show Saving Private Ryan without editing out the frequent and repeated use of the word f*ck, as well as a slew of other words used in the broadcast, because within the “full context” (meaning the entire context of the movie, not just the context in which the word is used) the use of the word f*ck serves a political, scientific or independent purpose. Broadcasters across the spectrum, from NBC to Fox, found the capriciousness of the FCC on the matter to be more shocking than any obscenity.
Given the incredibly unclear standards for what constitutes an obscenity, I therefore only really could agree with enforcing rules against it in a truly clear-cut case. If the artist used the word f*ck in an overtly sexual or excretory context, that’s not cool. If all he said was this is a great motherf*cking audience we have here today, no reasonable person should conclude that he was refering to the audience’s penchant for fornicating with maternal parents. It’s still gratuitous, sure, but spoon spoon spoon spoon spoon.
It’s not TV that’s desensitizing. It’s daily life. TV’s a lot cleaner than your local park or school, to be sure.
anon – sorry – your comment got hung up in the spam filter.
Anonymous, that was a very cogent explanation of the state of the FCC’s regulation of obscenity. Me? I would have simply described it as a “clusterfuck.” As would 9 of 10 FCC attorneys in a private poll, I bet.
I think you’ve got the right aim with enforcement only in “clear-cut” cases, but don’t think, for a second, that that will satisfy everyone. As you probably know, there are people who make it their business to get the public vapors over most any word they’ve never heard their great-grandmothers utter. Ideally, we could rely on the wisdom of our public and elected officials to exercise the necessary judgment, but as this incident points out, it’s a crap shoot.
~
You want to know what’s really obscene? AMC showing what is perhaps the greatest movie in the world, ever – Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles – in an edited form on television. Enough butchering to make a grown man cry.
Seriously, who cares? Is what’s considered “dirty” language going to hurt us? This goes back to what George Carlin said and I’m paraphrasing, “The reason why we’re so uptight about language is because of Puritanical roots.” I’m glad that no one heard me sing Adam Sandler’s “Medium Pace” at karaoke a year ago…I would have been arrested too.
But honestly, who’s hurt by it? If you’re worried about your kid using the language, then be a parent and tell them not to use it. As a teacher, I walk a fine line in my class on the appropriateness of language used by my students. I talk to them about the message that they are conveying when they use curse words. I also talk about situations where cursing should be used sparringly or not at all. But when they walk out of my class they’re going to be young adults and make their choices and they sometimes have bigger influences besides me (friends, parents, TV, music).
Vivian, I get the feeling that you are censoring me. And I didn’t even use the word in a sexual or excretory context!
I’m surprised that the cops down there even had time to arrest this guy. I thought that they were spending all of their time making sure no one hangs any naughty posters in clothing stores.
MB – your 12:15 comment did get hung up in my spam filter. Wonder why? 😉
BTW – cville law has up a post on this, including the relevant law.
It is a shame that people who don’t want to subscribe to hearing bad language are the one’s who have to stay away from such events. I stopped going to Harborfest years ago after I witnessed two fights break out while waiting with my small children to see the fireworks. No police any where just drunk adults acting stupid, so I just kept my family away. I am sure they have seen it all ane heard it all, but at least they show me the respect of not letting me know just how much they know. Oh, but there is that word, RESPECT, we have really lost the meaning of that in our society!
Cursing = fighting? Again I ask, what does “bad language” do?
My son is 11 and he knows that he’s not supposed to use foul language because he’s not an adult. I do try not to expose him to the more vulgar words, but he is familiar with several ‘four letter’ words, and he knows not to use them. Although he probably also knows HOW to use them.
I think a public event should have a restriction on what the hired acts can say, given it’s public nature. If it’s a private event there should be a warning so that people can make the decision to attend or not. Beyond that, there’s not a lot you can do about the random jerk, is there?
Unfortunately, the general population has degenerated to the lowest common level in many cases where people are completely incapable of behaving in a civil way in public. Until stupid is outlawed, it’s going to remain that way.
I am in no way puritanical, but I do wish people in general could just learn to have a little more common courtesy and respect for other.