Do you remember where you were when “Nipple-gate” happened?

I sure do. I was sitting on a beanbag chair in my living room, sipping a drink and eating some tortilla chips. I, like so many other people in this country, soon felt my jaw drop to the ground in total anger and outrage as we watched Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake gyrate across the stage before he ripped off a piece of her clothing in what was called a “wardrobe malfunction.”

I think The Onion summed it up best when it ran the satirical news story, “U.S. Children Still Traumatized One Year After Seeing Partially Exposed Breast On TV.” But of all the elements in place here — the performers, the outraged mothers, the flabbergasted network executives — there’s one participant in particular that is still rearing its massive head. I’m talking about the Federal Communications Commission.

I don’t agree with groups like Parents Television Council that complain endlessly to the FCC. Then again, I don’t have kids and I love the stuff it hates, but I don’t think it should be silenced. In fact, if the group can garner so much attention, people need to listen to what it says, for it will surely have an impact on how you and I will be watching future Super Bowls.

But I have a beef with the FCC. The commission, an independent government agency, states its purpose on its Web site: “[The FCC] is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.” When I hear that, I expect the group to be non-partisan — yet when it comes to indecency complaints, the group is in the pocket of the far right.

I know the FCC has many more issues to deal with than just indecency complaints — such as corporate conglomeration and burgeoning communication technologies — but its seem to be overshadowed by its public statements regarding regulation of TV and other broadcasts.

And at first, I agreed with it. With Jackson, I thought I understood the situation pretty well — even though people complained louder than it was worth — there was still nudity on network television, which is a pretty clear violation. Therefore, when CBS was fined, it made sense.

Then something happened. The rise of outrage over the Super Bowl incident didn’t die down — it got bigger. All of the sudden, the FCC said U2’s Bono’s use of the F-word on live TV meant stricter fines and delay times for networks. This came after the FCC had already ruled that the context in which Bono had used the word was appropriate.

Well, that decision was made before Jackson.

But what really threw me off was indecency complaints against a Fox reality show called “Married By America.” The network and affiliates were fined a record $1.18 million. But from what? Well, blogger Jeff Jarvis found out the FCC received 90 complaints, from 23 individuals, using only three different repeating letters.

Such a huge fine from such a small source is ridiculous. When Mediaweek.com reports that 99.8 percent of FCC complaints came from the Parents Television Council in 2003, warning signs should shoot up across the board.

Still, I’m not mad at the Parents Television Council. It has every right in this country to file complaint after complaint about sexually explicit television. But the FCC should not cave in to conservative demands — it should show some common sense and logical reasoning.