question of the day: Have Goldman Sachs’s “shitty deals” broken a language barrier on American TV?I was pretty surprised when, one night last week, Keith Olbermann ran some unedited, unbleeped Senate testimony about the recent Wall Street disaster that featured evidence from Goldman Sachs internal emails proving that they knew that at least one fund they were selling was not only toxic, it was “a shitty deal.” Senator Carl Levin, among others, used the word shitty repeatedly, and even though Olbermann’s show runs at 8pm on a basic cable channel, there was that word, over and over again, in all its scatalogical glory. But that was nothing to my surprise early yesterday, when one of CNN’s Sunday morning talk shows featured an interview with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein -- who had also appeared in that “shitty” testimony last week -- and there was the word all over again, unedited, uncensored, full blast. And not in reruns of the testimony, but in a direct conversation. Have Goldman Sachs’s “shitty deals” broken a language barrier on American TV? Can we expect a new openness when it comes to coarse language, even if only in factual, newsy situations? Or was this a one-time-only offer for those who prefer reality real and unexpurgated? (If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTD sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.) support
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posted:
Mon May 03 10, 8:24AM categories: talk amongst yourselves permalink 7 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
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posted by funWithHeadlines (Mon May 03 10, 9:26AM)
I think using the adjectival form made it a bit more palatable. Using the blunt noun form would have been too much. Even so the national news media bleeped the word when I saw the report, so it was a borderline thing.
posted by Newbs (Mon May 03 10, 10:05AM)
I for one welcome our new shitty overlords.
Wait, that's the wrong meme.
Ah..... hmm. This is long overdue. We've had a content ratings system for decades now, and we have televisions that can automatically block programs that are below a certain ratings threshold. Hell, the v-chip is mandatory in the US, isn't it? Anyway, long overdue.
Also: Fuck the FCC!
Ooooh, yeah, that's the one.
posted by Mathias (Mon May 03 10, 1:23PM)
More than likely a one shot deal.
posted by Ogami Itto (Mon May 03 10, 1:49PM)
Yeah, I was also surprised they didn't bleep the word during Olbermann. IIRC, Rachel Maddow's show bleeped the word, though. Strange.
posted by RyanT (Mon May 03 10, 2:25PM)
There are far more obscene and deplorable things on TV than the word "shitty" that's for sure.
posted by Josh C. (Mon May 03 10, 4:06PM)
I remember hearing the word shit, unbleeped, on CNN, when George Bush said this to Tony Blair, so this can't be the first.
posted by Ken Patterson (Mon May 03 10, 9:35PM)
The Gotti wire-tap recordings went out unedited a few years back, but that's part of the news exemption to the language issue. Also, not one of the stations you listed fall under the FCC's jurisdiction - they're all cable (more reliant on funding from commercials, and usually bow to that in terms of so called decency...)