UG Articles Archive

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Canadian Broadcasting Council rules Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" is too offensive for radio

The wussification of mankind took another great stride forward today as the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council decided that classic rock staple "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits is too offensive for public broadcast in Canada. 


The ruling came down after the Council received a single complaint after the song was played on Oz-FM in Newfoundland last February.  The original version of the song includes the use of the word "faggot" three times.  The verse in question is here:
"See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire"

The song is told from the perspective of an intellectually lazy, perhaps even stupid character that wishes he could have money for nothing and chicks for free, presumably like the musicians he watches on TV.  His stupidity drives him to make ignorant statements like that in the verse above.  It's satire.  It's mocking dumb people and bigots.  But some people just don't get it.

The complaint received by the Council reads: “Money for Nothing was aired and included the word ‘faggot’ a total of three times. I am aware of other versions of the song and yet Oz-FM chose to play and not censor the version I am complaining about. As a member of the LGBT community I feel there is no reason for such discriminatory remarks to be played on air.

The Council claims to have weighed the song's "legitimate artistic usage" against its Code of Ethics (yawn) which states: "broadcasters shall ensure that their programming contains no abusive or unduly discriminatory material or comment which is based on matters of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or physical or mental disability."

It came to the conclusion that the word "faggot," used as it is in the song,  is one "that, even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so."  "The societal values at issue a quarter century later have shifted and the broadcast of the song in 2010 must reflect those values, rather than those of 1985."

Oz-FM will be made to broadcast the details of the decision during peak listening hours.
 
Well done Canada, you've let one hypersensitive individual with no understanding of the song's meaning or intent ruin the ability of the rest of the country to hear Money For Nothing as it was meant to be heard.   It's censorship, it's suppression of artistic expression, it's wimpy and overly politically correct.  It's bullcrap, and everyone seems to know it except the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. 

Good think there's no such thing as a Weaponized Wisdom Blogging Standards Council.  Here's the song.  There's a censored version out there that subs in the word "mother" but that makes no sense whatsoever.  This is the original:



1 comment:

  1. I am in the process of creating a petition to take this horribly offensive song down from a website I voluntarily go to for free (for nothing!).

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