December 5, 20186 yr Which is why I don't watch MTV (amongst other reasons, admittedly). You don't watch MTV because it censors derogatory words? :mellow:
December 5, 20186 yr Are you ok? Yeah, just seems like MTV could look at its own awful programming and what it promotes first if it wants to censor anything.
December 5, 20186 yr Which is why I don't watch MTV (amongst other reasons, admittedly).There's a difference between a rude swear word that's used out of anger and non-flippantly and a word that's used to degrade and humilate ones character and/or person. Fair enough if you wanna boycott the channel for the former reason, but to boycott coz they're censoring for the latter reason is something I don't get at all and am surprised as to why people would.
December 7, 20186 yr https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...671861.html?amp The man himself defends the song, but also says he doesn't mind if it is censored.
December 7, 20186 yr Author https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...671861.html?amp The man himself defends the song, but also says he doesn't mind if it is censored. I think the point people seem to keep missing is that nobody is saying the song needs to be deleted or censored on every platform forever, just that it should be bleeped on the radio like every other swear word. It’s odd how people don’t want to take that on board.
December 7, 20186 yr I think the point people seem to keep missing is that nobody is saying the song needs to be deleted or censored on every platform forever, just that it should be bleeped on the radio like every other swear word. It’s odd how people don’t want to take that on board. I admit I missed this to start with. The song should be defended as its intention wasn’t to offend but the song should still be censored on public platforms as the word is offensive.
December 7, 20186 yr Big debate about this on rte at the moment but think they want to ban the actual song or people think they do which is pissing a lot of people off!
December 8, 20186 yr My take is that for whatever reason, and the song can’t have been written with this in mind, is that FONY has become a culturally significant song in the UK. A piece of art if you like, and like many pieces of art it has an element that provokes discussion, makes it more interesting than the rest and keeps it relevant. There’s many elements in art pieces that could be censored because it may cause offence to a group of people, such as nudity or violence. These are not censored in galleries, books, libraries etc because people learn from them and doing so takes away from the whole. There’s also plenty other songs that are offensive to the LBGTQ+ community that don’t provoke this discussion because they are not significant to the general population, unlike FONY. Therefore, I don’t think it should be bleeped or only be played at certain times. It wasn’t written to cause offence. Being offended is part of life but people also have to learn when not to take offence.
December 8, 20186 yr My take is that for whatever reason, and the song can’t have been written with this in mind, is that FONY has become a culturally significant song in the UK. A piece of art if you like, and like many pieces of art it has an element that provokes discussion, makes it more interesting than the rest and keeps it relevant. There’s many elements in art pieces that could be censored because it may cause offence to a group of people, such as nudity or violence. These are not censored in galleries, books, libraries etc because people learn from them and doing so takes away from the whole. There’s also plenty other songs that are offensive to the LBGTQ+ community that don’t provoke this discussion because they are not significant to the general population, unlike FONY. Therefore, I don’t think it should be bleeped or only be played at certain times. It wasn’t written to cause offence. Being offended is part of life but people also have to learn when not to take offence. But it easily could be censored on radio and most wouldn’t notice or care. I doubt most people who enjoy the song even listen to it exclusively on radio so if they wanted to hear it uncensored they could always find it on Spotify or on their iPod.
December 8, 20186 yr My take is that for whatever reason, and the song can’t have been written with this in mind, is that FONY has become a culturally significant song in the UK. A piece of art if you like, and like many pieces of art it has an element that provokes discussion, makes it more interesting than the rest and keeps it relevant. There’s many elements in art pieces that could be censored because it may cause offence to a group of people, such as nudity or violence. These are not censored in galleries, books, libraries etc because people learn from them and doing so takes away from the whole. There’s also plenty other songs that are offensive to the LBGTQ+ community that don’t provoke this discussion because they are not significant to the general population, unlike FONY. Therefore, I don’t think it should be bleeped or only be played at certain times. It wasn’t written to cause offence. Being offended is part of life but people also have to learn when not to take offence. Yes but how many of them are played on national daytime radio every single year? There's no point comparing to other offensive songs that simply don't get the airplay in the first place...
December 8, 20186 yr My take is that for whatever reason, and the song can’t have been written with this in mind, is that FONY has become a culturally significant song in the UK. A piece of art if you like, and like many pieces of art it has an element that provokes discussion, makes it more interesting than the rest and keeps it relevant. There’s many elements in art pieces that could be censored because it may cause offence to a group of people, such as nudity or violence. These are not censored in galleries, books, libraries etc because people learn from them and doing so takes away from the whole. There’s also plenty other songs that are offensive to the LBGTQ+ community that don’t provoke this discussion because they are not significant to the general population, unlike FONY. Therefore, I don’t think it should be bleeped or only be played at certain times. It wasn’t written to cause offence. Being offended is part of life but people also have to learn when not to take offence. Sure, put the song on uncensored in a museum or library where people can learn about the context of the song and educate themselves (though I don’t think the context is anything other than using f***** as a derogatory term). This education isn’t going to happen listening to it on Capitalfm. I would argue that a song like Eminem’s Stan, or many other of Eminem’s biggest hits have the same or more cultural significance than this song, and I can guarantee that the same people who are arguing that this should be played uncensored on radio would be complaining in droves if an Eminem song was played uncensored, and their little Ella was subjected to the bad language. Edited December 8, 20186 yr by iain
December 8, 20186 yr So, I've carefully read this thread and in my opinion, there is no need to censor the f word in this song. Words can have several different meanings. Some of those meanings are positive, some neutral and some negative. The context the word was used in tells us which meaning applies in every individual case. In this song, I think meaning of the 'f*****' is 'a lazy person'. It makes the most sense. I see no reason why the word 'f*****' should be censored in this context. I understand some gay people don't want to hear the f word in any context, but tough luck, many people hate/get triggered by certain words and most of those words never get censored. FONY was never meant to be a cheerful, syrupy, 'all bells, candy canes, presents and christmas trees' kind of a Christmas song. It should be left as it is. If you don't like it, don't listen to it. Personally, I don't like word censoring in songs, period. If the songs has words censored, I always opt for the uncensored version. If I like the song, I continue listening to the uncensored version. If I don't like the song, I don't listen to the song period.
December 8, 20186 yr So, I've carefully read this thread and in my opinion, there is no need to censor the f word in this song. Words can have several different meanings. Some of those meanings are positive, some neutral and some negative. The context the word was used in tells us which meaning applies in every individual case. In this song, I think meaning of the 'f*****' is 'a lazy person'. It makes the most sense. I see no reason why the word 'f*****' should be censored in this context. I understand some gay people don't want to hear the f word in any context, but tough luck, many people hate/get triggered by certain words and most of those words never get censored. FONY was never meant to be a cheerful, syrupy, 'all bells, candy canes, presents and christmas trees' kind of a Christmas song. It should be left as it is. If you don't like it, don't listen to it. Personally, I don't like word censoring in songs, period. If the songs has words censored, I always opt for the uncensored version. If I like the song, I continue listening to the uncensored version. If I don't like the song, I don't listen to the song period. Well Shane McGowan basically admitted the word f***** was meant in the derogatory sense in the article posted, so you can’t have read the thread that carefully. So do you support racist words in songs too? And people not liking the racism should just get over it? Is that your take? Edited December 8, 20186 yr by iain
December 8, 20186 yr Like it or not, plenty people also consider ‘gay’ to be a derogatory and/or offensive term if used on them, and to use against others. Should it be bleeped out of ‘Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas’’? I don’t think anyone would ask for that as, like FONY, we know the meaning was ‘happy’ when it was written. ‘Twisting the night away’ is another one - should that be bleeped? And what about ‘The great pretender’ this strays further into the FONY territory as you could, if you want to, say it’s comparing gay people to clowns. I don’t think any of that, but it doesn’t mean others won’t think that...and it’s a slippery slope. Leave FONY bleep free.
December 8, 20186 yr Author What is this ‘it’s art’ argument!? LOADS of things considered art have swear words in them. I’d consider lots of Kanye’s work as art, or Beyonce’s Lemonade (just examples, you don’t have to agree). The swear words are STILL censored on radio. The singer of the song himself had admitted the song was written as an insult at the time and doesn’t mind if it’s bleeped on radio so I don’t get why everyone is hanging onto this so much?
December 8, 20186 yr I don't really understand why "context" keeps being used to defend this song. The context really shouldn't matter - "f*****" is profanity and like any other swear word it shouldn't be heard on radio/TV. Top definition on Google: f***** /ˈfaɡət/Submit noun 1. INFORMAL•OFFENSIVE a male homosexual. ... and I'm sure the majority of people would associate the word most strongly with that. Funnily enough "a lazy person" isn't listed as a definition. So I personally believe that the strong association with it being an offensive term to gay people should carry far more weight, than clinging onto the context it had 30+ years ago. You know, many songs with the n word in it can have context applied to it as to why the word is used in the lyrics, but nevertheless it's a word that shouldn't be - and isn't - broadcast. Context never excuses it. I believe that's how the f word should be regarded. I find it kind of crazy how this one popular song seems to have a different set of rules, compared to any other song with profanity in it. It just needs to be beeped in the media and I don't understand why people would find that unacceptable. It's not banning the song, it would still exist uncensored on Spotify/iTunes etc - as do all other songs with swear words! We just don't need to hear that term on radio. When it comes to the point raised about "gay" vs "f*****"... it's just not the same. "Gay" is not an offensive term, it's a commonly accepted noun for a homosexual person. Even though there may be a lot of younger people who aren't aware of the old-fashioned "happy/carefree" definition, and might be amused by the word cropping up in "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", that is at least a positive usage of the word. I can't imagine anyone being offended by that.
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