It's interesting how trends in censorship can change in just
a few years or from state to state or country to country
(even ones such as the Western societies that share basically
the same culture). A little while ago somebody mentioned the
TV shows 'TILL DEATH DO US PART & ALL IN THE FAMILY. In
Australia we had KINGSWOOD COUNTRY (by far the worst program
of the 3). In the Australian version the son-in-law was
Greek/Australian
& all the jokes revolved around Dad using racially
denigrating terms such as "wog" & "dago". I saw the show
repeated in an afternoon slot a couple of years ago & all
the racial epithets were bleeped (there were so many bleeps I
wondered if young kids who were watching had any idea what
was going on). What struck me was that when the show came
out, 20 or so years ago, you would never of heard a swear
word on TV & now it's so common we're used to it even
from US TV shows (it took the US a little while to catch up
with us & the UK in that respect). Similarly, our
censorship mores are different to the US - the US still seems
to be most preoccupied with sex; in Australia the issue is
generally violence
& in particular sexual violence such as rape &
sado-masochistic type material. IMO, a slightly more sensible
approach to censorship but I prefer to be allowed to chose my
own viewing or reading. Personally, I'm against all
censorship except in cases such as child pornography &
bestiality and in those cases the issues are much wider than
just freedom of speech. Pardon the expression but I don't
believe anyone has the right to fuck with my head. As the Gay
Lib badges of my adolescence used to say, "Keep your filthy
laws off my body" - I'd extend that to my brain, as
well.
Rene
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