Gateway

Issue date: 7/8/08 Section: Culture

RIP George Carlin [Click to enlarge]

CHICAGO (MCT) - On July 21, 1972, comic George Carlin was arrested at Milwaukee's Summerfest for a routine in which he uttered seven unutterable words. That the routine's whole point was to ridicule such language taboos made little difference to those slapping the cuffs on him for violating obscenity laws.

That case eventually was dismissed, but Carlin's impact on language and culture persists to this day. When Carlin died on June 22 of heart failure at age 71, he left behind a society still struggling to agree on what forms of public expression should be allowed.

Yet over the past few decades, society hasn't exactly moved in a straight line regarding what it finds acceptable. Words such as "sucks" have gone mainstream - it's even in the animated "Kung Fu Panda" - and Comedy Central's "South Park" devoted a 2001 episode to a one of Carlin's seven words being repeated 162 times.

At the same time, other words have become even more loaded. Black comedian-turned-activist Dick Gregory's 1964 autobiography, which sold 7 million copies, was titled "Nigger," yet when rapper Nas wanted to give his upcoming CD that same title, the outcry was such that he had to change it to a to-be-announced alternative.

In the wake of Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, the Federal Communications Commission increased fines against networks violating decency standards, and the networks grew more cautious. At last September's Emmy Awards, the Fox network silenced Sally Field's acceptance speech so audiences wouldn't hear her say, "If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place." (And, no, that wasn't one of Carlin's seven words.)

Michael Powell, the former FCC chairman (and Colin Powell's son) who was enforcing those big fines around the time of the Super Bowl scandal, said he thinks popular culture has wavered on such issues since Carlin first unleashed his profanity riff.

"I think since he did it, there have been periods of greater permissiveness - on the part of the citizenry and government regulations - and there have been periods where it has swung back to the notion of some higher level of propriety in broadcast television," Powell said, noting that he thinks the country still is pushing back against previous permissiveness.

Continued...

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