Censorship (and Lack Thereof)
While I often say that I'm not a big fan of television in general, I have to admit that I do watch a few shows regularly. Fewer than five, though, so don't worry about me turning into a tv-aholic. However, in an effort to save money lately, I have made an effort to watch movies on television rather than renting them or going to theaters. As a result of the increased television exposure, it has brought my attention back to a couple things that have bothered me over the past few years.
First of all, I do not understand the reasoning behind the selective bleeping that censors use when adapting movies for television. For example, if a character says "asshole" in a movie, the editors will change it to "ass-(beep)" on television. Similarly, "goddamn" becomes "(beep)-damn" for tv audiences. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the offensive part of "asshole" the "ass" part? I've never heard of parents complaining about their children being taught the word "hole" before, so why is that part edited out? I've also never heard of kids being spanked or having their mouths washed out for saying "God"...it's the "damn" portion that gets them in trouble. So why do the censors use their beeping button to knock it down from a compound word to a simple curse instead of bleeping out the part that is considered a swear word?
Secondly, does anyone else find it odd that you're about a thousand times more likely to see a dead body on network television than you are a nipple? I understand that most parents don't want their children exposed to anything they consider even the slightest bit "pornographic," and that viewpoint has been expressed much more commonly since the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident. But why are there no similar complaints about all the death and carnage that their kid can find on primetime shows? Between 3 CSIs, 4 flavors of Law & Order, cable imports like Dexter, and a host of other new programs, there are literally thousands of dead bodies shown on cable television each week. Don't get me wrong...I watched the first 3 seasons of CSI religiously and I'm kind of liking Dexter. But that doesn't mean that I think they should be recommended viewing for kids.
I understand that it's a tough line to draw for the FCC, trying their best to match the morality of the average family. It must be difficult to attempt to placate 300 million different viewpoints, shaped by different religious, ethnic, legal, or moral backgrounds. I don't claim to know how best to filter the media (if at all).
But why is "ass" okay and "hole" offensive? Why denounce 2 seconds of Janet Jackson's nipple, yet show thousands of examples of death and dismemberment each week? This kind of censorship seems to have become the norm, and I don't understand why.