Indecency
Today was the first of several indecency days in my communications law class. So just why do we treat broadcast and cable differently?
At the end of it all, after we had carefully taken apart Pacifica and ACT III and decided that the whole construct was pretty incoherent and vague, I asked the class how they felt about having broadcast indecency rules eradicated.
I got a mixed reaction. Sure, the legal part doesn't make sense, but if the rules go away the market will probably want more and more adult material. And that'll be disturbing both to the people who have kids and to the people who don't have kids but want “safe” television and radio during the day.
This is not a generation of First Amendment absolutists. In other classes, I've also found that this is not a generation of privacy/civil liberties absolutists either — they're often comfortable with searches and surveillance of various kinds. In some cases (definitely not all) they're willing to believe that all of that apparatus is likely to make us safer. No big conclusions here, just noticing.
(I think my students are great. Hi, students!)
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I also really appreciate it when students are willing to dive into complexity and don't flinch when they realize a situation is not either/or.
Sometimes, students try to throw up their hands too soon with comments such as, “this is really a complex issue,” or “it depends”… When they use lines like this to try to get out of the onus of thinking, I give them a hard time. But when they recognize complexity, take a breath, and then venture in with an effort, I feel it's been a worthwhile class.
I'm a humanities prof. in a science and engineering university - I imagine you can appreciate this challenge and its rewards!
Interesting case of the role that control plays in a highly networked environment and what the balance of involvement and negelct might be.
I'm teaching a course as an adjunct on World Civilizations and have utilzed Thomas Homer-Dixon's new book, The Up Side of Down, which is an exploration of the role that master resources play in the ascendency and decline of massive human organizations like civilizations.
Your blog showed up in a recent search and I've just started reading - I'm glad to have found it. I am interested in deepening our understanding of the connections between human ingenuity - personal and collective - and complex systems dynamics, my way of trying to make the world a better place.
My site can be found at: http://www.ingenuityarts.com