(bleep), Lots of (bleep)

Last night, after a rollicking couple hours with the good folks who present the Independent Spirit Awards, we began watching a recent "Great Performances" broadcast on PBS.

This time around it was the recent re-thinking of Steven Sondheim's brilliant-beyond-words "Company," about the inner and outer workings of the minds of a few thirty-somethings in New York.

We love "Company." We love Sondheim.

And now, after watching this broadcast, we hate PBS.

What is the cause of my ire? The blanking out of the second half of the phrase "jesus (blank)" and the reset of the word "bas(blank)."

What the fuck is going on? Why would a company as intellectually driven as PBS cave in to the hysterical crazies who think words can damage minds? Need I mention that this exact same type of thing happened in history with any society in the hands of Nazis and Fascists? In Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, people were sent to their deaths for the utterances of certain words.

In fact, we just finished watching the really fantastic German film "The Lives of Others" about life in East Germany in the 1980s. There, people disappeared for uttering the wrong words. Is PBS hinting the United States is going that same way? Are they so afraid to allow common utterances to be aired? Does the FCC have that much power?

Let's hope not.

So, first thing this a.m. I went to the PBS "Great Performance" site (link below) and told them what I thought:

     "I wish to protest in the strongest 
     possible terms your censoring
     of certain words in your recent 
     broadcast of "Company" perhaps the
     greatest musical to come out of the 
     20th century.  I cannot believe a 
     venerable institution like PBS 
     would bow to the outrageous demands
     of a few vocal whackos who worry that 
     the mere utterance of words like
     "christ" and "bastard" will forever 
     corrupt their tiny minds, um, I mean,
     corrupt the minds of their tiny children.  
     How dare you presume to alter something 
     so wonderful as art of any kind because 
     of them?  I will repeat to you what I 
     have said to such crazies in the past:  
     If words offend you, turn the channel.  
     I can imagine some networks being 
     cowardly, but never expected to include 
     PBS in that list. Thank you for your 
     consideration of the above."

I hope anyone reading this, who is also upset with censorship, will take a moment and do the same. You can contact them here.

Help put an end to such draconian censorship.