Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 3762 Location: Merrie Englande, UK
Thanks: 80
Thanked:66
the Death of Freedom? Posted: 08-03-07 02:39am
It seems as if we are becoming more and
more censored nowadays, with the fear of
offending everyone and incurring law
suits.
Has Political Correctness killed the
freedom of the written word and of speech?
Is it even possible to have total free
speech as well as a tolerant society?
Are we slipping ever closer to the world
of Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four?'
"Freedom is Slavery"
*Shudder*
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Lion79
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 307 Location: Sunderland, UK
Thanks: 4
Thanked:5
Posted: 08-03-07 05:23am
YES!!! we are so limited in what we can
say and do now because of political
'correctness'. When I had my induction at
work we were told about the phrases we
were supposed to use and some of them were
just silly. Police in London were told
they could no longer refer to people as a
good egg or a bad egg as it could be
construed to be racist. How??????
Grr, it frustrates me. I think the main
issues with PC is to do with disabled
people or immigrants. To be honest I don't
know what I'm allowed to call them.
Apparently you can't call them 'coloured'
but you can call them 'black' but I'd have
thought it would be the other way round
because not all immigrants are black,
they're mixed, and black gives a definite
line against 'white' people, as though
they're complete opposites.
I heard of someone who needed to point
someone out in a crowded hall, and
incidentally it was a black man and she
described him in every way except for the
fact that he was black. But, if we were in
a different country there would be no
problem saying 'it's the white man over
there'.
Really, as long as it's not ridiculous and
much of an effort to say, I don't mind
substituting it. Like, you can't say a
person is wheelchair bound you say they're
a wheelchair user, I think that's fine and
I don't have a problem with it. It's when
dirty old man becomes a sexually focused
chronologically gifted individual that it
gets silly.
Even now I'm wary of what I'm typing and I
don't know if it's 'correct' or not but I
hope I haven't caused offence to anyone.
Sorry if I have, but there are so many
rules now I don't know what to do with
myself
Here's a link to some PC phrases. I'm not
really sure how accurate they are, but
they're so weird and ridiculous that they
could well be true.
Hm, my comment on this is in reference to
two things:
Sex and violence. You can have way more
gorey violence in a movie, but show a boob
and Oh No! It's inappropriate!! Think
about it... everyone freaks out about
butts in icons and boobs at the
superbowl... despite the fact that they
are just body parts. Yet no one has a
problem with someone shooting someone
else's brains off on TV and splattering
the gore over the wall; that's totally
acceptable!! We can show dead bodies in
CSI (even fake ones) yet we can only get
away with nudity if it's an "educational"
program on Discovery or something.
Boobies are evil and will cause our
children to... I don't know... know what
boobs look like?
Guns and violence is totally okay though
cause that'll never make someone violent!
My father went as far as to say that the
boobie at the superbowl was punishable by
jail time and was WORSE than murdering
someone or shooting them. That just shows
you how f*ed up our country's morals are.
It's really out of hand in my opinion.
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Anne123
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 290 Location: Canada
Posted: 08-03-07 10:58am
That whole thing ("wardrobe malfunction"
at the superbowl) totally wasn't a big
deal in Canada... at all.
There are bare breasts (without a nipple
shield like Janet was wearing) on tv in
the middle of the afternoon all the time.
It's called fashion television. If it's
in a sexual manner it would be after 8pm
usually, but would not be censored and
would just have a brief warning at the end
of a commercial break ("viewer discretion
advised").
I also remember when a late-night talk
show host swore (like David Letterman or
Jay Leno) and it was SUCH a big deal in
the US. Swear words on Canadian tv aren't
censored at all anytime after 7 or 8pm.
I know exactly what you're talking about
Eiri, and I totally agree but I'm glad to
say that sexuality and the human body are
censored a whole lot less in Canada (and
the UK).
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Tylanas
Especially EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 12985
Thanks: 3
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Posted: 08-03-07 11:00am
^^ Yeah, I wish it was this way here...
America freaks out about nipples but is
totally unphased by murder...
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Jules
Moderator
Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 3762 Location: Merrie Englande, UK
Thanks: 80
Thanked:66
Posted: 08-03-07 11:03am
Yeah, the UK is a lot less conservative
than America but there's still a ludicrous
amount of censorship. After the 9pm
'watershed' I don't think any swearwords
should be censored but they still are.
I agree with Eiri that it seems sex is
treated as a great naughty subject whereas
violent imagery is deemed acceptable.
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Anne123
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 290 Location: Canada
Posted: 08-03-07 11:04am
I totally agree. I would worry much more
about children being desensitized to
violence than desensitized to..... nipples
(gasp!).
There's a channel called Slice and their
"viewer discretion advised" warnings sound
like...
"The following program may contain scenes
of violence and adult language. Two out
of three aint bad."
OR
"The following program may contain scenes
of sexuality and adult language. Two out
of three aint bad."
It makes me laugh.
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everyday_struggle
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 304
Posted: 08-03-07 13:44pm
Many of you may not listen to Howard Stern
but he left the public airwaves for just
that reason. He was being censored in
every direction (more so after the Janet
Jackson scandal). Now we have to pay for
no censorship just to listen to him the
way he wants his show. I totally agree his
show is not for kids but i'm an adult. Why
cant i watch what i want to watch. I dont
need the government censoring. Its the
religous right that the goverment bows to,
they organize themselves and send massive
amounts of complaints to the FCC and show
sponsors. When i leave the U.S. i feel
more free in other countries than here.
How ironic.
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Birch
Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 3966 Location: Bliss,
Thanks: 129
Thanked:12
Posted: 08-03-07 14:57pm
I detest censorship in every form.
If someone wants to use a phrase that is
racist, bigoted, discriminatory, etc. it
reflects on their character.
If you realize that it is important to be
sensitive because of the connotations of
certains words, than that is a reflection
of your character.
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kaerbear
Most Diplomatic Poster
Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 1557 Location: ,
Posted: 08-03-07 18:59pm
my favourite are the csi shows and all
that junk. i call them dead women shows.
they all start with a dead womans body
that is then sliced and dissected in gory
detail by the good guys. like, no we
aren't exploiting womens bodies or
promoting violence toward them, we are
trying to find out who murdered them!
aha! well it's okay then.
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everyday_struggle
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 304
Posted: 08-06-07 18:21pm
kaerbear
wrote:
my favourite are the csi
shows and all that junk. i call them dead
women shows. they all start with a dead
womans body that is then sliced and
dissected in gory detail by the good guys.
like, no we aren't exploiting womens
bodies or promoting violence toward them,
we are trying to find out who murdered
them! aha! well it's okay
then.
The beauty is that you dont have to
endorse, watch, or be a part of that show.
Just dont prevent me from watching it
because you feel "its exploits womens body
or violence towards them"
thank you.
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PsychMajor
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 40 Location: New York
Re: Posted: 08-10-07 13:58pm
It is, to be quite honest pathetic how
Prude the American society is. Now i mean
prude in the fact that a "Racy" film is
one where a guy gets the girl, and you may
see the blankets move.
The reason the original immigrants came
to America was because they were prude,
they believed that their own country was
becoiming a sesspool of sin. Where as now
we see homicide and Rape on a daily basis,
yet almost never hear about it.
We are at war, soldiers are dying, yet
what do we hear about? the latest
celebrity "clothing malfuntion" or some
other completely foolish thing that really
has no effect on the country. Americans
complain about society, how its leaving
our children in a place where they turn to
drugs, well if our emotions werent
censored maybe they wouldnt, god forbid a
kid cry when he looses his dog, or show
any other emotion past anger.
America itself is run by soulless,
heartless no namers who dont deserve the
air they breath, and who will continue to
censor us until we stand up and do
something. The act of censorship itself is
against the constitution, yet we sit back
and let them do it?
