USA and its strange ideas on censorship

[SillyMammo]

I watched Sin City on Sci-fi HD channel last night (9-11 pm EST). Which looked pretty damn good IMHO. It was edited somewhat, but most of the violence was intacted. What shocked me was after watching an 1 hour of ears being blown off, heads being decapited, hands being chopped off and various other gruesome endings, Sci-fi decided that what should be censored was someone flippin the bird which they blurred to save the kiddos from seeing a "profane" gesture.

I know this is an old argument, but we as a society have no problem with violent imagery, but heaven help us if profanity or nudity is seen by our impressionable children. The FCC really needs to look again at what they should be censoring.

<and off the soapbox I jump>

[cravnsn]

“because violence here is the social norm, you’ve got to humanize yourself” - Gordon Sumner, The Police


It’s unfortunate, but you’re absolutely right.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Sci Fi channel lets more violence go uncensored than any other cable network. But they do compare to all the other networks when it comes to language and sex scenes.

[Stubblecat]

America has consistently viewed sexuality as unacceptable and violence as okey-dokey.

It's mostly different in Europe and up here in Canada. We're more relaxed about nudity and sex on TV. We like our violence to be Hockey-related.

[horseflesh]

You can walk off the street and buy a gun that would take down an elephant, but one of Janet Jackon's nipples pops out and society goes into meltdown

[Stubblecat]

Nipplegate! The biggest non-news issue that demonstrated hypocrisy at work.

[quexos]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

You can walk off the street and buy a gun that would take down an elephant, but one of Janet Jackon's nipples pops out and society goes into meltdown

Dude I have been bashed time and again here for trying to explain this.
I'm glad others understand this issue.
About the Janet Jackson incident I would like to add that when it happened the stuff was on the news over here and the incident was shown during day and during evening time and to the best of my knowledge no child died or fell sick by seeing Janet's breast. Amazing isn't it ?

Anyways, the recent election shows that there is good too in the land of Uncle Sam.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by quexos

Dude I have been bashed time and again here for trying to explain this.
I'm glad others understand this issue.
About the Janet Jackson incident I would like to add that when it happened the stuff was on the news over here and the incident was shown during day and during evening time and to the best of my knowledge no child died or fell sick by seeing Janet's breast. Amazing isn't it ?

Anyways, the recent election shows that there is good too in the land of Uncle Sam.

I don't want to create a "them & us" situation, but the differences between the US and Europe on issues like guns/violence and nudity are immense.
It continues to amaze me how so many people can be fervently "pro-life", but against any additional gun control and strongly in favour of the death penalty, and not see the contradiction.

P.S. I'll be in Brussels next weekend

[Rob71]

Well every gun I've ever bought was an inanimate object. It requires my interaction to harm someone. So until that changes how about we blame the killer, not the tool?

[H47]

The government's crazy.

[jadedeath]

Hold it.

You're all mentioning Nipples.

You've all been reported to the mods for being poopy heads, now if you were talking about decapitation that'd be fine, but NO NIPPLE TALK!

Some of us check these lists infront of our family you know, have some goddamn respect!

Logan














P.S. Just kidding.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Rob71

Well every gun I've ever bought was an inanimate object. It requires my interaction to harm someone. So until that changes how about we blame the killer, not the tool?

Well if you're putting 100% of the blame on individual action and not the free availability of firearms, that's a pretty damning indictment of American society.

[Elandyll]

A recent exemple I found in the pages of PC Gamer.
They were mentionning the amount of good stuff brought by the new release of "The Witcher", a Mature rated RPG (2007 RPG of the year for PC Gamer).

Among the things revamped were the dubbing (the game is Polish I think) and the amount of Violence and now Adult rated language is quite important.

One thing that blew the reviewer's mind is that among all that gore and profanity, the US publisher went out of their way to blur a nymph's nipples.

Coming from France, where you have TV commercials during mainstream hours with bare naked women (the Obao, shower products, commercials in particular are dear to many adolescents. Only the genitals are still a big no no), and I have never ever heard of those causing mass hysteria or serial sexual predators...

[Forrestandjen07]

[QUOTE=jadedeath;1310619]Hold it.

You're all mentioning Nipples.

You've all been reported to the mods for being poopy heads, now if you were talking about decapitation that'd be fine, but NO NIPPLE TALK!

Some of us check these lists infront of our family you know, have some goddamn respect!

Logan














P.S. Just kidding.[/QUOTE]haha i was going to say, did you not just say GOD DAMN lol

[Forrestandjen07]

and yes, our censorship here in the US is stupid as can be, its ok to show a full fruntal naked BOOB. but the nipple?

OH NOZERZ

[jj5206]

its ironic....i just wrote a paper for English on why the MPAA is so backwards and needs a change....

[SillyMammo]

Its not nudity without the nipple.

It is true, Europe is much more relaxed about nudity and profanity. My wife is Spanish and we visit there quite often. I'm always alittle surprised with their shampoo ads. Now if we could just get the male actors in British movies to stop showing their junk all the time. It a bit of a running joke in our house, when ever we watch a British movie and the rating warning comes up about nudity...its like uh-oh...here comes some male frontal nudity. Seriously, what's up with you Brits?

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Well if you're putting 100% of the blame on individual action and not the free availability of firearms, that's a pretty damning indictment of American society.

Just who in the Hell are you SUPPOSE to blame for an individual's actions? Your neighbor? Gimmie a break, pal. All you bleeding-heart liberals need to wake-up and start accepting the fact that people are responsible for what they do. If someone shoots someone else, it is the individual's fault. Not the gun's, not the gun store's, not the ammunition manufacturer's, not society's, etc.... It's no different than if I beat you to death with a baseball bat. Are you then going to claim it wasn't MY fault, but the fault of the bat manufacturer, or MLB, or how about the logger that cut down the tree? I suppose you also think it's perfectly fine for little old ladies to collect millions because "it wasn't their fault" the coffee spilled in their laps and burned them?

Folks who subscribe to this kind of foolish thinking are what's driving society quickly down the crapper. Start taking responsibility for your own actions, and expect others to do the same.

Oh, and I've owned over a dozen rifles, shotguns and pistols for going-on 25+ years, and I'm legally permitted to carry a concealed weapon on me in just about every free state in this nation. All of my guns have been acquired legally, and guess what? None of them have ever been used to commit a crime. How can that be, you may ask? Because I (the individual) am a responsible, law-abiding citizen, that's why.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Well if you're putting 100% of the blame on individual action and not the free availability of firearms, that's a pretty damning indictment of American society.

I really want to understand what your saying. A gun is a piece of steel. Without the intent of the person holding it, a gun is harmless. How many people are killed every year by automobiles? Every time a drunk runs someone down there's no outcry to ban cars, there's outrage at the fool driving it. I don't see how an individual murdering someone is an indictment on society, when that society not only condemns the act, but punishes the individual that commits it.

Now to get back on topic. I agree with our European friends, more boobs on TV.

[CrabbyAzz]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Just who in the Hell are you SUPPOSE to blame for an individual's actions? Your neighbor? Gimmie a break, pal. All you bleeding-heart liberals need to wake-up and start accepting the fact that people are responsible for what they do. If someone shoots someone else, it is the individual's fault. Not the gun's, not the gun store's, not the ammunition manufacturer's, not society's, etc.... It's no different than if I beat you to death with a baseball bat. Are you then going to claim it wasn't MY fault, but the fault of the bat manufacturer, or MLB, or how about the logger that cut down the tree? I suppose you also think it's perfectly fine for little old ladies to collect millions because "it wasn't their fault" the coffee spilled in their laps and burned them?

Folks who subscribe to this kind of foolish thinking are what's driving society quickly down the crapper. Start taking responsibility for your own actions, and expect others to do the same.

Oh, and I've owned over a dozen rifles, shotguns and pistols for going-on 25+ years, and I'm legally permitted to carry a concealed weapon on me in just about every free state in this nation. All of my guns have been acquired legally, and guess what? None of them have ever been used to commit a crime. How can that be, you may ask? Because I (the individual) am a responsible, law-abiding citizen, that's why.

You may be a model citizen, but some people have a really short fuse. I really don't feel comfortable having a person with a short fuse sitting on a trunk full of weapons.

I remember taking a class with a guy back in the 70's. Seemed like a nice guy. We all used to tease each other when whenever something dumb happened. Well, one day this guy did something dumb and we teased him a little. He actually got up and left class. We thought nothing of it. Well, it turned out he drove to the next town and purchased a pistol and came back to shoot us. Fortunately class was over and we had gone home before he got back. The next morning when I was having a coffee and watching the news, who did I see. There he was being taken away in a police car after shooting his mom. Take solace that the gun was found inocent.