Supreme Court decided "to say that one may avoid further offense by turning off the radio...is like saying that the remedy for assault is run away after the first blow."(Gunther, 1991)The second reason why broadcasting has received limited first amendment protection is because "broadcasting is uniquely accessible to children, even those too young to read."(Gunther, 1991) Even though children at a young age can't read obscene messages, the Carlin broadcast could have enlarged a child's vocabulary in a matter of seconds. These two important factors of broadcasting gave the Supreme Court the push they needed for regulation. The Court decides that "the ease with which children may obtain access to broadcast material, coupled with the concerns recognized, amply justify special treatment of indecent broadcasting."(Gunther, 1991) But does that mean that adults have to listen to what is fit for children's ears? Must adults now go out and get George Carlin's album for entertainment. This decision might not seem like a fair one to people who agree with Carlin's message, but according to the Supreme Court it "does not violate anyones first amendment rights."(Gunther, 1991) If the government could allow this type of speech to be regulated then they must also understand that regulating indecent speech would effect many other important parts of broadcasting. For instance, "these rationales could justify the banning from radio a myriad of literary works...they could support the suppression of a good deal of political speech, such as the Nixon tapes; and they could even provide the basis for imposing sanctions for the broadcast of certain portions of the bible."(Gunther, 1991) Carlin's monologue was a speech, there is no doubt about that, and it does present a point of view. Carlin tried to show that "the words it uses are "harmless" and that our attitudes toward them are essentially silly."(Gunther, 1991) They did not disagree with this poi...
