Apparently, Bono said the f-word on NBC prime time, during the Golden Globe awards. The FCC originally decided not to fine the network, but FCC Chairman Michael Powell asked for the case to be reopened:
"I personally believe that the sort of growing coarseness in use of such profanity at a time where we are very likely to know that children are watching is abhorrent and irresponsible,'' Powell said in an appearance at the National Press Club. "It's irresponsible of our programmers to continue to try to push the envelope of a reasonable set of policies that tries to legitimately balance the interests of the First Amendment with the need to protect our kids. I think that line is beginning to be crossed.''
"Bad words" have always fascinated me. How can three words that mean exactly the same thing--dookie, feces, and shit--have such incredibly different connotations? I came to the conclusion that they're different because we need them to be different. We have different words in different situations for the same reason we have different dress codes in different situations: It's a way of communicating your intent and your relationship with the people around you.
People in polite society shun certain words pretty much to show that they're willing to, as a way of distancing themselves from the not-so-polite, and people in not-so-polite society want to use such words precisely to distance themselves from the polite folks. And that's perfectly fine, I think, and even rather efficient! I mean, a simple swear word can thus be useful to both sides!
Now, where it can get a bit silly, I think, is when people place moral judgments on swear words, instance of just seeing it as a sign of social bonding and respect. Then again, to return to my earlier analogy, I guess people put moral judgments on clothing, too. I suppose moralizing is just the extreme version of social rule enforcement. Oh well.