I don't usually watch the Emmy Awards. Over the years awards shows in general have just come to grate on my nerves. The real talent never seems to be recognized. They've even taken the one, spontaneous element Joan Rivers and her red carpet commentary and sanitized it into a vanilla puree suitable for a baby. Remember Bjork and the swan dress? Ah, the memories.
However I had the show on while I was slaving away on my new website. I happened to be walking through the room when Sally Field was announced as winner. (As a side note, Brother and Sisters is easily the worst thing on television. With writing that bad, Field must give a brilliant performance. I could only take about five minutes.)
Now, in the history of award shows, isn't Sally Field legendary for her over-wrought acceptance speeches? With the nation at war, isn't it reasonable to expect some anti-war comments?
But, FOX news is defending it's decision to censor Field in the name of good taste. "Goddam," is apparently too salty for FOX viewers. This morning I saw a commentator offering as an actual defense, "The Bible says Thou shalt not bow down before craven images, nor take the Lord's name in vain." First of all, aren't award shows all about bowing down before craven images? There are so many craven images on so many actual and metaphorical levels the mind reels out into infinity.
But more important, isn't it time that America grew up? Why should Sally Field --- Sally Field--- be forced to edit her behavior because it might offend a few alleged Christians? What more evidence do you need than the box office receipts of just about any R-rated film to prove that America can handle an impassioned "goddam?" In name of good taste, no one seemed to mind Britney Spears grabbing the penis of one of her back-up dancers, but Sally Field --- Sally Field!---is a veritable petrie dish of vulgarity.
As the commentator went on to explain, if you're the guy with the finger on the button, and the on bearing the responsibility of FCC fines, you're probably going to err on the side of caution. That excuse makes some sense. Of course, Sally Field has received more publicity from that little finger flick than she would have had the expletive been allowed to air.
And now we have a college student being arrested, basically for asking an uncomfortable question. As the video shows he becomes loud only after the officers try to lay their hands on him. In another video shot in the lobby of the building, the student is informed that he's being arrested for inciting a riot.
If you watch the video, with the exception of one hysterical female demanding to know why he's being arrested, do you see anyone on the verge of rioting? Frankly they all look sedated. There is no one objecting. There is no one demanding accountability from the officers. No one. And most importantly, John Kerry, who was speaking at the time, does nothing to protect this student's civil rights. He should have put his microphone down, walked to the back of the auditorium and calmed the situation down. He's a former candidate for the United States presidency, and a senior U.S. senator. Instead he stood on the stage and murmured pacifying things like "Calm down" to the crowd.
When asked about being censored, Sally Field shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'll just say it somewhere else."
Are we so numbed that we don't see a pattern? These were not particularly incendiary incidents, and yet the representatives of power are either too drunk with authority, or too cowed by potential consequences to exercise a bit of common sense.
It's true that most people have very little of any interest to say, but the right to say it far outweighs any discomfort or inconvenience of the precious few who believe the world should conduct itself by their standards so that they can maintain a fairy-tail illusion of the world.
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