FCC considering banning Redskins name

[Deus Naturae]

Good

Why? You want to ban a word from TV?

[Deus Naturae]

But, if you regulate the f-word and the n-word, the racial slur "redskin" could easily fall into that category.

Does the FCC actually ban the use of the n-word?  I've definitely seen it used on cable networks, but don't remember hearing it used on any of the broadcast networks since the 80s.  But I assumed that was just self-censorship.

Are there any other ethnic slurs (as opposed to swear words like f--k and s--t) banned by the FCC?

The FCC doesn't ban words.  They ban profane language which would include someone using the n-word in many contexts, so yes.  Certainly, you could use the n-word in a historical film or documentary, but it would be profane in other contexts.

I don't see how they could justify that in the context of "redskin." It may be a slur, but when sports programs and the like mention the name of the team, they aren't slurring Native Americans. If you consider that to be a slur, then there's no way you could prohibit this "slurring" without banning use of the word entirely.

[Deus Naturae]

Good

Why? You want to ban a word from TV?

You can make the case that the government just shouldn't ban words on TV, but the government does engage in censorship. There should not be a double standard when it comes to different racial slurs.  I'm sure the FCC would act more swiftly against a name like the "Washington Negroes".

Let's say the government bans all racist speech against blacks. Obviously, that's a violation of free speech. Would it then be preferable for the government to ban all racist speech against Hispanics? That would just be an even greater violation of free speech.

If we can agree that the government shouldn't be banning racist speech, then I don't see why it makes sense for the government to do so to an even greater extent. Imposing even more restrictions on speech in the name "fighting double standards" doesn't seem like a logical thing to do if you accept the premise that the government shouldn't be restricting this sort of speech to begin with.

[Deus Naturae]

I don't want to ban the word from usage on television, I want to ban it from usage anywhere, in any context.

wow....you can stop changing your politics, you're certainly in the right party now.

It's like calling a team the Chinks or the Spearchuckers. You can rationalize it any way you want, if it's considered by the people it's targeting to be a racial slur, then it's a racial slur. White people don't get to tell minorities what is offensive to them, and they most certainly don't get to say "suck it up" if they find it offensive. It shouldn't even be a matter of one's politics. It's a matter of "how okay with you that people are using a dictionary-defined racial slur to refer to a sports team?"

This isn't a discussion about whether or not the name is racist. Racists still have the right to freedom of speech.

[Deus Naturae]

The FCC shouldn't be regulating content to begin with.

Definitely. But if they do, R******s definitely should be censored.

I don't get this reasoning. That's like saying, blacks face discrimination, so let's discriminate against Asians just to be fair. If you think something is wrong, it makes no sense to expand that thing in the name of fairness/eliminating double standards.