censorship

(in a bizarre twist of fate this piece has taken over 3 days to write as i struggle to get a computer to work. twice computers have crashed while i was writing it. so somewhere along the way some of what i was going to write has been lost , some of the tone and some of the wit has disappeared…..

furthermore the show has been shown – the world remains in place we have not swung out of orbit, civilisations have not come crashing down. in the end over 45,000 people complained and i still reckon about 10 of them saw the show.)


tonight the bbc are planning on broadcasting an as live performance of the jerry springer the opera. this is part of the bbc's plan to show that opera has something for everyone. it will be shown on bbc2 (the channel no one really watches because it is seen as "high brow") at 10pm and it will be preceded by a warning. as you probably know the opera is based on the (in)famous jerry springer show, it's a show in which jerry allows his guests to air their personal problems and issues, because these people were "normal" it often degenerates into a slanging street brawl. it is a show that was like watching a train wreck; you knew it was a bad thing to do but you just couldn't drag yourself away from watching it. perhaps it was an element of cultural snobbery which allowed us to watch as gutter tramp americans going wild. (the attempt to have it work over here failed.. too much stiff upper lip i guess.) perhaps it's a bit of the but for the grace of... go i. perhaps it's as close to grand guignol most of as well ever get. so the tv show is available to most people with a tv. the opera is available if you want to go along and put down your hard earned cash and get a ticket, you can buy the soundtrack, you can see the posters. the beeb wants to show it, and that is where the trouble starts. because the late night start on bbc2 is not enough for some people. it has still managed to create an uproar. the sun news paper had it on it's front page of january 6th. going on about the 15,000 complaints that had been received about the showing of the opera on tv. john beyer of mediawatch uk (go to their site and you will know instantly what sort of people they are) describes it as "pigsty tv", "its sick and offensive". and why is that - well mainly because it has about 8000 sweary words in it's 2 hour running time (even i am impressed by that amount of swearing and if my math is right it's 66.6 words a minute - now check out that number!) mediawatch has said "the stream of obscenities is not in accordance with the bbc's taste and decency guidelines." (hate to break it to you but 8000 is not a stream it's a fucking tsunami of foul mouthy, and just a hint of bad taste on my part.) peter luff a conservative mp (you knew there had to be at least one of them in this) has said he does not "believe in censorship" will "defend the right for a theatre to perform a play that some find offensive." but by having it on tv where children might be able to see it is irresponsible. the sun in their editorial asks will bbc bosses be encouraging their families to watch it. so lets have a little look at this. 15,000 complaints seems a lot. but if you think bbc2 might have an average audience of a million viewers that means 985,000 have not complained. of course the more people who watch the show the less impressive that number of complaints looks. peter luff who is not for censorship (oh yes he is!) doesn't mind sikhs being offended by plays but by jingo do not upset christians. he is part of a party that doesn't want a nanny state, but is quick to make a decision for the rest of us when it comes to what we watch in case some kids get to see it. it's the job of the parents to make sure kids do not see inappropriate shows not the bbc. (and frankly i get tired of the kid card being played all the time.) and the sun a newspaper who shows nipples, revels in revealing the sex scandals of the celebrities of the world and is left lying around the place where children can easily see, seems an odd one to take the moral high ground. especially in the case of this story they seem to be happy not to be totally accurate. how so pat - surely the sun wouldn't lie... well lets go back to that 8000 cuss words. it seems the 8000 is arrived at if you include it every time someone says it - including the chorus (remember it's an opera) so if you have 15 or 20 people in the chorus one fuck in the libretto becomes 15 or 20. so the actual count is more like 400 distinct uses of swear words. which brings it in line with my usual output. so the moral high ground is occupied by some people who are only able to be there through loud outrage rather than by right of argument.

from all of this you would think i am against censorship. far from it; it’s easy to make the claim i will defend the right of anyone to say anything or i think nothing is taboo and everything should be allowed to be said. in fact i have sat in many meetings where such arguments have been made.
but we all know that there are some things that just can’t be said that’s why we have hate crime to prevent people from inciting racial hatred through the use of words.
the question of censorship isn’t a yes or no – it’s a question of where and who draws the line.

and make no mistake the freedom of speech is fine and dandy, and contrary to what i have said above, needs to be defended. but with that freedom also goes responsibility. if you go out of your way to offend someone or some group you have to expect them to protest. once they do though there is no point using the “it is an attack on my freedom of speech” attack at that point.
mind you there is a duty on the part of the protestors to at least have seen, heard, read what they are protesting against. in the case of jerry spinger the opera it is a good bet that the people who were contacting the bbc to complain had not seen the show and were only on the phone because someone had told them that this was a vile show.

but freedom of speech is not access to knowledge or access to power. the information we get is in the main controlled by a few people and these gatekeepers are the ones that decide what does or doesn’t make the news and what does or doesn’t inform the debates of the day. it is there that censorship takes place.

oh well in the style of the springer show and in the style of the sun’s reporting i leave you with a ditty.

fuck me fuck me fuck me it’s an opera with swear words
it’ll stink up the place like fucking great big turds
fuck me fuck me fuck me it’s an opera with swear words
it’ll stink up the place like fucking great big turds
fuck me fuck me fuck me it’s an opera with swear words
it’ll stink up the place like fucking great big turds
fuck me fuck me fuck me it’s an opera with swear words
it’ll stink up the place like fucking great big turds
and all those fukcing cunts in mediawatch uk
shag dogs of a peculiar pedigree
and all those fukcing cunts in mediawatch uk
shag dogs of a peculiar pedigree
and all those fukcing cunts in mediawatch uk
shag dogs of a peculiar pedigree
and all those fukcing cunts in mediawatch uk
shag dogs of a peculiar pedigree
and all those fukcing cunts in mediawatch uk
shag dogs of a peculiar pedigree
(repeat ad nauseam)