For some reason I don't find homophobic abuse acceptable

[drdoug]

So this morning it emerged that Radio 1, in accordance with its anti-homophobic bullying policy, had blanked out the word "faggot" in the Pogues' tired old Fairytale of New York (and also "slut

Comments

[drdoug]

Thanks for the thoughtful response - I do want to talk this through with people who disagree so it's good to have a contribution like this.

A counter to this, for me, is that I find the very act of bleeping more and more offensive with every occurrence.

(Just to be clear, I don't think we're talking about literal bleeping, are we? I've not heard the edited song, but I'd assumed they'd followed normal practice and blanked out the lyric but left the music intact.)

To my mind there's a big difference between finding something aesthetically unattractive and it being genuinely offensive in a way that builds up to a systematic societal problem.

There is a serious, systematic problem in society of queer people (and people perceived to be queer) being abused for being so, on a spectrum from subtle expressions of mild distaste to all-out murder. And it's a particular problem for young queers in schools, which is a significant part of Radio 1's target and actual audience. I think that needs serious attention to attempt to remedy it. I'm not saying that blanking out homophobic insults from pop songs will instantly stop people having their heads kicked in, but I do think it will help build a culture in which homophobic behaviour is seen as increasingly unacceptable.

So, I ask, do you think the song should not be played at all?

Jokingly, yes, but only because it's been played to death and we all deserve a break :-)

More seriously, no, I don't. As I mention above, I don't think the entire song is homophobic, taken as a whole. The words occur in the context of a stream of general abuse, and the homophobic nature of them isn't really remotely relevant to the context. You can in fact blank out that particular epithet without substantially alerting the sense of the song.

(With some of those homophobic Dancehall/Reggae songs you simply can't do that - they're about nothing other than beating up queer people. So the right move there is to not broadcast them at all and - if they continue - campaign to boycott them. As has been done with some moderate success to date with OutRage!'s Stop Murder Music campaign, which I wholeheartedly support.)

Doing this - as part of a policy of not broadcasting homophobic abuse - helps to create a culture where it's increasingly seen as something that just isn't done. And artists writing songs who want them played on Radio 1 will know they need to lay off such abuse if they don't want their song edited.

Over time, that will (I hope!) help to reduce the amount of more serious, direct homophobic abuse in society. It's only a small contribution, of course, and there's a lot more needs to be done than that. But it is an important part of an overall campaign.

when applying standards it's much harder to ignore an outcry from such a wide section of population than it is with a given subculture

I think you've put your finger on something there, and it's what I was getting at with the jibe about Chris Moyles and Kirsty MacColl/The Pogues being white.

It is harder, but to my mind, it's more important, not less, to stand up for what's right against a powerful, articulate majority than against an already-marginalised minority.