I get really sick and tired of people wanting to blame society's problems on movies or music or TV. These people are constantly on the lookout for some kid who listens to Marilyn Manson or watches a violent movie, and then goes and kills a classmate or something. They KNOW he or she was influenced by the music, and without it whey would have been a nice little God-fearing angel. They refuse to believe that maybe, just maybe the kid was just fucked up to begin with. That does happen. Thousands of kids listen to this stuff, and the overwhelming majority of them never kill anyone. There has to be a reason for that, although it should be obvious to anyone who has an IQ over, well actually to anyone who HAS an IQ it should be obvious that the music isn't the cause of the problem, and banning or censoring a symptom won't solve the fuckin' problem.
And by the way, I'm not defending Marilyn Manson here either. At least not his music. I think his 'music' sucks more than a two-dollar hooker in Bangkok, but he has the same right to express himself on his albums as I do here.
But some people think that Mr. Manson or anything else they find objectionable should be banned. Great idea. If you don't like something, ban it. Ya know what I don't like, what I find offensive? Small people with hidden agendas trying to tell me what I can listen to or watch or read. Maybe we should ban people like that. Yeah, let's just get rid of anything we don't like! What a great fucking idea.
But wait! Isn't this contrary to one of the principles our country was founded on? And not only that, but quite often it backfires too. A great example of that would be the 2 Live Crew. Anyone remember those shining gems of humanity? They were just another talentless rap group that was never gonna go anywhere who put out an album that was pretty much nothing but swearing. It sold a few copies, but wasn't doing any spectacular business or anything, not making these guys rich. That is until some unbeleivably, mind-numbingly stupid judge down in Florida got them national headlines and notice by banning the sale of their album in record stores in his county because he found it offensive. So naturally it went from selling several thousand copies to several million copies in about a week, because people wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
And weren't these dimwits like this judge ever children? What happens when you tell a kid the shouldn't or can't do something or have something, especially when you can't give them a good reason like this moron in the robes couldn't? It becomes that much MORE appealing to them, like a goal for them to attain.
My ex-wife managed to borrow this album from a friend. And although I don't think a true friend ever would have subjected her to this crap, she had to know what all the hoopla was for. And you know what, I thought the album sucked too, and I was also offended by it. Oh, not because they managed to shoehorn the word fuck into every song an average of 387 times, but because of the obvious dirth of talent being displayed by the group. So ya know what I did about it? I DIDN'T BUY THE FUCKIN' ALBUM! See how often the simple solution will elude us?
I can remember when I was groing up in the 80's, there were all these parent's groups and religious groups and even government groups, (like the evil PMRC,) and they spent a lot of time attacking the hard rock and heavy metel that I liked. And then they expanded their hatreds to include rap. And then movies, and TV. But all of their hate-filled posturing didn't accomplish shit, other than to make themselves look foolish, but these idiots still haven't stopped, so I have come up with a compromise that I think will work. For every musician or movie or TV show that is banned or censored in ANY way, we have to do the same to one of these groups. And once a person from one of these groups is censored, they are no longer allowed to pursue any similar cause outside of their own home and family. They have been censored, and they no longer have the right to infect our children with their stupidity. And maybe if they don't have to listen to these mental midgets prattling on anymore, our children won't be so fucked up in the first place. It's just a thought, and it only seems fair.
And just a little note to all you Holier-than-thou assholes out there who play the records I like backwards to try and get them to say things you don't like. First, you obviously have some kind of disorder or something. When I find a record I don't like, I just don't listen to it. Seems fairly simple to me. You guys must be masochists or something. Second, did you ever see a record player in a store that had a 'reverse' feature on it? I never did. So playing this stuff backwards for most people would be difficult and quite pointless. Unless you're a religious nut, that is. And third, they don't even MAKE records in this country anymore, but I will tell ya that my CD player doesn't have a reverse function on it either. Go peddle your bullshit somewhere else.
I remember a couple of years ago I was reading my local newspaper, and there was an article that relates to this issue that still chills me to this day. It was about the former Mayor of New York City wanting to form a committee to review all art in museums and galleries. They actually came out and said the primary function of this committee would be to censor the art! They just came right out and admitted it. And then they didn't even have the common decency or balls to place the article where everyone might see it. They buried it near the back of the paper under a heading that barely related to the article, hoping that people would miss it and not catch on to what was happening until it was too late. So what's next, burning the books in the public and school libraries? Hey Mr. Mayor, SEIG HEIL!
But speaking of books, that brings up another concern. Very quietly over the past few years, I have been watching a lot of school systems trying, and sometimes succeeding, to ban different books. I don't know about anyone esle, but this whole idea scares the shit outta me. This is how Hitler started. He took away people's rights one at a time and convinced them it was for their own good, or for the good of society. Sound familiar? It seems like they are trying to do away with anything that promotes individuality. There are also a lot of schools that are trying to get kids to wear uniforms, which of course is another really bad idea.
But even without going that far, they have been fucking wth us for years. I remember when I was in high school, one time I wore something the Principal didn't like, a T-shirt that had something "offensive" on it, or some such complete nonsense. So he sent me home to change because I was causing a disruption in class. Actually, HE was the one causing the dsiruption by calling undue attention to it. But this may have backfired on him because naturally I did not return to school that day. And since he gave me this great idea, I would wear something "offensive" any time I felt the need for a day off. And then some of the other students started doing the same thing, and his stupidity turned into a great protest against the censorship he was promoting. And I am happy to say there are still no uniforms worn at that school, that dildo is no longer the Principal, and kids are very rarely sent home for such stupid reasons.
What they were thinking here was if all these poor kids looked the same, that would remove what they erroneously thought was the biggest reason for violence and other problems in school. And they thought it would provide less distraction. That's bullshit. Clothing isn't the cause of violence in schools, the people are. Clothes are an excuse and if you remove one excuse, they'll simply find another one. Then what'll we do? And as for distractions, kids NEED those from time to time. Taking them away will not make for better students. It'll probably make for even more problems because now they're forced to only think about their schoolwork and they'll go berserk. No, these stupid uniform ideas won't solve anything, because despite the best efforts of the school system, these kids are still individuals, they're not all alike. And trying to censor that individuality is just wrong. Shame on them.
Some of you might be thinking I'm getting a little off track here, (those of you who don't think I'm just nuts,) but I assure you I haven't. Everything I have mentioned here is a form of censorship, and no matter how they try to dress it up, nothing good ever comes from censorship.
However, one thing I do have to mention is that I'm not attacking or questioning a parent's right to determine what is acceptable for their own underage children. The parent, (or legal guardian,) is the ONLY person who should be making these decisions for a minor. And hopefully they are explaining WHY they are making a decision and not just saying something incredibly stupid like, "Because I am the parent and I said so!" That's just insulting to the child, like they aren't smart enough to understand a genuine reason. Of course, the problem is that a lot of times parents don't actually HAVE a real reason, because they haven't explored what the issue is. They have probably read something somewhere, or listened to another parent's feelings, or maybe even, (God forbid,) listened to what some fuckin' hypocritical dumbass like Dr. Laura has to say about it, and not made a rational, intelligent, INFORMED decision about it. Maybe next time your kids bring something to you, you will actually take the time to look at it objectively. And don't simply condemn something and tell them no just because YOU don't like it. Part of being a parent is putting up with shit you don't like. Your parents had to go through it, and now it's your turn, so fuckin' deal with it.
By the way, if ever there was a case FOR censorship, Dr. Laura is it. She does more harm to children and society than an entire army of Marilyn Mansons armed with assualt weapons, booze, porn and cocain, and put in charge of every school and day care center in the country ever could. But I can't force myself to even condone that, although it really WOULD be for the greater good. But even this idiot is entitled to her fucked up opinion. It just makes it really hard to believe that this country has any kind of good future when people are actually willing to listen to this retard. But it does seem that the people she gets to call her show are either religious zealots or the same people from the Jerry Springer show, so maybe I shouldn't worry about it too much.
And now they want to move their censorship tactics to the internet. There are groups in this country that simply do not want people to be free to make their own decisions. The Internet was supposed to be about the free sharing of knowledge and information, so naturally as soon as people start using it they have to censor it. I won't mention porn sites, because even though many of them say they are only charging money, or asking for your credit card because the government is forcing them to, that's bullshit. They contend that the government tells them that a credit card is the best way to verify your age over the web. Um, I remember having a credit card when I was 16, and my sister had one too, so there goes that theory. Try again. I know these guys are just trying to make money, and there's nothing wrong with that. This is a capitalist society after all. But this shit they're handing me is bunk.
The biggest culprit here is message boards. Some of them are okay, and let people just be themselves and say what's on their mind. But then you run into some of them where the people in charge make Hitler look like a flexible, easy-going fellow. They are so against people being honest when having discussions that they will ban people for simply speaking the truth, if it's not something they agree with. In fact, as I write this I am currently enjoying such a ban from one of them. It's not that I violated their sacred TERMS OF SERVICE! but that I said something they didn't agree with. That's all their was to it. Apparently one of the people I was arguing with who had said something stupid that he couldn't support when asked to went whining to one of the moderator gestapo that hangs out there, and it looks like they are friends or something, so he tells him some bullshit and the guy listens to him. So instead of talking like a mature person, he pulls this banning bullshit because my views on a subject differed from his. That is censorship, and it is wrong.
There's another site I go to smoetimes just for a laugh, called Cristian Answers.net. I love to read their movie reviews, and they encourage people to submit their own views on films. Several times I have tried this, but most of them were not published, for the astoundingly stupid reason that I am not a Christian! What the fuck is that about? Suppresing the views of a certain group is censorship, and that is what they are practicing. So much for tolerance and understanding, but then, Christian fanatics are always full of shit. And they are always pro-censorship. Now wonder our society is so fucked up.
This country is headed into dangerous territory when the government or religion or those moral majority nimrods start telling us what is acceptable. We are all individuals who should be making that decision for ourselves, and the things we don't like we don't listen to or don't watch or don't read or don't eat or whatever. It's not really such a difficult thing. But now some people are actually asking the government to tell them what it's okay to like. Unbelievable but true. If we don't open our eyes soon and take control of our lives, our country is gonna end up like Germany in the 1930's or worse. And then it will be too late.