Puritans need not apply
Puritans are so 1700. Don't censor me!
Look, I’m all for people having religious freedom, I really am.В I’m all for people believing whatever they want. I am, however, more than a little tired of puritanical people making decisions about what other adults can see and hear, say on television.
For instance we happened to be up at about 12:30 the other night watching something or other, and the word “damn,” had been edited out. Damn!В I also am not impressed when those warnings come up at 11:30 p.m.В (e.g. “This show is not suitable for children.”) AND it’s also censored. It annoys me to no end. Responsible parents have their *#^$%#)(# children in bed at a decent hour. (Look, I just censored MYSELF!) Just because some people don’t see fit to put their kids to bed at a humane hour, I have to suffer through movies where “you bastard” gets censored to “you rat head!” It’s insane!
Look, I just don’t understand why our sensibilites are considered to be so delicate that we can’t handle language on television. If the puritanical among us get all gooey when someone says “bastard,” then there is an easy solution. Change the frigging channel!
I have some hope that my generation (which is mostly still not the powers that be, I’m speaking of people born in the late 60s’) will move the cause of NON-Puritanism further.
I mean, I don’t like hardcore violence or snuff films. Ergo, I don’t watch them. I’m not leading a campaign to have them all CENSORED. Where do these puritans get off?
In other words, I’m one of the millions out here that can handle profanity. It’s the way people talk. Film makers and the lot shouldn’t have to do backflips to try to evade the language police. We are grownups out here in the hinterland. We can decide for ourselves if something is too racy.
We’ve got far bigger societal problems to tackle besides freaking language and content on television.
But you don’t have to take it from me, ask Lewis Black. Now there’s a man who gives me hope.
February 26, 2009
Tags: censorship, common sense, culture, film, priorities, television Posted in: Insane
4 Responses
Unfortunately the puritans have a major advantage over us lay people when it comes to what is on TV.
They are fighting evil. A glorious way to wake up every morning – with purpose and drive. Every morning they rise from their bed, sharpen there shiny sword of goodness, and march into the world swinging. Evil must die. Today I will strike down the demon of profanity on TV.
For everybody else…if there is something on TV they don’t like they flip to another channel. Never giving it another thought. Like you say “I’m not leading a campaign to have them all CENSORED”. Of course not, because you are not fighting Beelzebub.
It is a battle between someone who believes they are saving humanity and a person who’s effort amounts to moving index finger 1 inch. They yell “Charge!”, you yawn and click.
So for now and probably a long time the only profanity you will hear is your own as you yell at the TV for censoring your favorite curses.
Excellent points, Roman! Yes, they think they are fighting evil. Which, of course, is silly. The evil they should be fighting, is, say, multi-national corporations who are raping and pillaging the planet and its people.
Your post (and thinking about this futher) made me want to start an organization for more “INDECENCY” on TV. Do you think I’d get any takers?
Thanks for stopping by.
Have a great day!
I do not think too many people will join. It is just easier to avoid network TV.
If enough people do that, then the networks will need to consider what is more nagging: The puritans or the deminishing profits.
I can’t speak for all countries but certainly as far as England is concerned once 9PM comes around it is considered an adult viewing time. There may be nudity, there may be bad language. It will not be censored as adults are supposed to able to decide for themselves what they will and won’t watch. The “full of their own shit” moral minority do NOT dictate to the rest of us what we can and can’t watch. Young children should be in bed by that time and parents take responsibility for what older children are watching. Now there’s a radical thought – parents taking responsibility for their children.
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