Short diary this time folks, I just found this interesting:
Little people are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word "midget" on broadcast TV.
The group Little People of America said Sunday the word is just as offensive as racial slurs.
Now here is the FCC's test for deciding if language can be broadcast:
Profane Broadcast Restrictions
The FCC has defined profanity as "including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance."
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
With this standard, and at this point in time, I don't think the word "midget" meets the test of being "grossly offensive to members of the public" as the n-word and other racial, homophobic, and various cultural slurs do.
Would it be nice for people to, on their own, stop using a term a group considers derogatory? Of course. But to regulate every word someone has a problem with, no matter how small the constituency, is, in my opinion, not what the FCC was put in place to do. For example, I know some people have a problem with the words disabled and handicapped and prefer "differently-abled" and "handicapable," but I don't think handicapped and disabled should be barred from over-the-air television and radio lexicon.
Your thoughts?