Is this a double-standard?

[FanofFiction]

Any radio station that can't understand why we wouldn't want that word played on the air is crazy. Justify it by saying you've played it for decades?

Society had done lots of things for decades, that doesn't mean it was right. Slavery went on for decades. Whites called minority races by a few choice words for decades, that was wrong.

I just might have to call this radio station myself.

 

[just_mills]

I HATE that word so much.

 

[Críostóir]

This is stupid. The narrator character in that song is a jerkoff thug. He's talking about members of the band!

Again, we prevent the bad guys from being portrayed, even when they're being shown to be wrong and stupid. Counterproductive.

 

[Críostóir]

Yes the context of the song is it's sung through the mouth of a stupid character. What it's really about is a guy insulting rock stars on MTV. But so what? It's still used as an insult. I don't want my nephew repeating those words. If you want music with profanity in it (which I admit I do myself) don't look to the public airwaves. It's like expecting to see an unedited R rated movie on daytime TV, you just don't. I have countless songs on my hard drive that have edited versions of the radio I avoid. But when I burn a CD for my friend's little daughter, I had to ensure I got the non-explicit versions. See the difference? There's a time and place is all I'm saying.

No, I think you shouldn't burn the song to a CD for your friend's little daughter. I think you should take the song as is or not use it at all.

 

[bankside]

I would actually forbid the release of censored versions of the songs.

You can't mess with the artistic integrity of a song. It's either all or nothing.

The Dire Straights song creates a crude character who is meant to be taken as stupid. The song is not homophobic. It is positive. It makes people who use homophobic slurs look like morons. Thus, it should be played as is.

The lyrics of some asswipe like Buju Banton on the other hand are just pure hatred. He should be run off the airwaves and spend the rest of his days broke, trying to sell cassette tapes out of a suitcase.

 

[Críostóir]

I would actually forbid the release of censored versions of the songs.

You can't mess with the artistic integrity of a song. It's either all or nothing.

The Dire Straights song creates a crude character who is meant to be taken as stupid. The song is not homophobic. It is positive. It makes people who use homophobic slurs look like morons. Thus, it should be played as is.

The lyrics of some asswipe like Buju Banton on the other hand are just pure hatred. He should be run off the airwaves and spend the rest of his days broke, trying to sell cassette tapes out of a suitcase.

Hear, hear on all counts.

 

[blackbeltninja]

^ and ^^Agreed.

What next, covering the knob on Michelangelo's David?
-d-

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

nice cultures? is figurin longgggggggggggggggggggggg overs due

hope they figure extreme careeeeeeeee no waste futures ta their egos ans paper ware

 

[The_Reaper]

I would actually forbid the release of censored versions of the songs.

You can't mess with the artistic integrity of a song. It's either all or nothing.

The Dire Straights song creates a crude character who is meant to be taken as stupid. The song is not homophobic. It is positive. It makes people who use homophobic slurs look like morons. Thus, it should be played as is.

The lyrics of some asswipe like Buju Banton on the other hand are just pure hatred. He should be run off the airwaves and spend the rest of his days broke, trying to sell cassette tapes out of a suitcase.

I think you've stolen my arguments...

I'll admit, I really dislike the word and all of it's uses. I really do; its one of the few words that makes me want to stand up and punch someone in the face when they use it...

But that considered, I'm also a man of usage and context, and bankside has got it right on the money in that this song is creating a narrative in which the word is used to show the stupidity of the person using it.

It is not glorifying usage of the word, and it is not endorsing the use of the word. It is simply reflective of a person from that time period back in the 'lost days' of the 1980s; much in the same way the argument has spawned over the decision to remove words from Mark Twain's novel.

Given that the word is being used in a narrative sense, in portraying a 'character' and their method of thinking; and as mentioned, this thinking is not condoned or glorified, I think the usage of the word is fine in this sense.

Also, do keep in mind, that an edited version of this song has been playing for YEARS on radio stations with that offending word cut out; the only difference is it's now codified in law...

So really, what's the problem?

 

[ixthrock]

I think I was taken aback the first time I heard that slur in that song - it was in HS; I was still terrified of being gay and very much closeted. Regardless of "context," (which I'm not sure i understand yet - people are saying the song portrays a crude moronic character, and not glorifying the usage of the word, but it sure seemed to touch the hearts of the Bubbas I was surrounded by in HS - they took this character to be their spokesperson and the song rocketed to the top of the charts) I remember feeling queasy about the usage of that word.

Prune it for the airwaves, sure - get the FCC involved, why not? I listen to college radio and don't hear much megamedia production pop pablum nowadays, and even V-89 (one of the top college radio stations in the US) plays hiphop songs so bleeped out it's like a form of sonic swiss cheese.

I only say prune it for the airwaves, though, because there's certainly a lot of ugly crap out there that I'd rather not hear - no - I must be honest - there's a lot of crap out there that I'd rather OTHER PEOPLE (idiots like the ones people say "money for nothing" portrays - who seem to me to be the majority) didn't get the chance to hear.

Nowadays, I have no problem with the WORD faggot. Heartless brutality and willful ignorance bother me, but not words.

 

[FanofFiction]

Okay, there is a huge problem here. I do not believe the song was written so that you would hear the stupidity of the singer and say to yourself, "Now that you mention it, faggot is a bad word and gay people are wholesome."

It's a song by a shitty band from the 80's. Was the 80's not the time of the AIDS scare and heightened homphobia? I really doubt that the band had any good intentions by injecting gay slurs into their music.

If that were the case, then I would agree the song should not be censored. I'd fight for it to stay the same. But alas, the song is garbage and so is the radio station for playing it.