Wokeism of the day *Revised Mod Note in OP and threadbanned users*

Rothko wrote: »

Can't help but feel a bit skeptical about this one.

Quantum Erasure wrote: »

Its here, under 'campaigns'

http://www.lgbtplusbristol.org.uk/

GT89 wrote: »

It would be much easier if they just gave us a list of things that are not offensive to anyone I'd imagine that list would be miniscule.
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gobsmacked wrote:
BBC censors The Pogues' Christmas classic

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... got118.xml


Philip:

Holy cow.

Pholip:
Kirsty's mum hit the nail squarely on the head during that programme. "Oh, for heaven's sake, these are characters!" Quite so, it's reported dialogue, so even if you are liable to be "offended" by the word "f****t", you don't have a case.

A gay man texted in objecting to the censorship of the song "in his name". It wasn't me, but it might have been.

(an update from the Daily Telegraph, London)

The BBC's decision to remove the word "f****t" from the classic Christmas song Fairytale of New York has roused the ire of Telegraph readers.


Music lovers of all political stripes and sexual orientations have posted messages on Telegraph.co.uk attacking the corporation's censorship of the re-released song by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl.


One reader, Andrew, who identifies himself as a gay man, said he found the decision "pathetic".

"Shouldn't they be calling it F****tale of New York?" he asked.

Indeed, there is widespread mystification at Radio 1's decision to remove the word "f****t" to avoid offending homosexuals, but to allow other insults in the notoriously invective-filled lyrics.

Bruce said he also wanted "arse" bleeped out: "I don't want the BBC thrusting bottoms in my face on Christmas morning."

Jimbo took a different line: "I'm a scumbag and I must say I'm very offended by the use of the word in that Christmas song. Please beep it out Mr Beep Beep C. Scumbags of the world unite!"

There was general consensus that this is another example of political correctness gone mad, that disease seen to be endemic in the national broadcaster.

But David Coulter pointed out that under the BBC's logic "mad" was in itself an offensive term. He proposes "Different State of Mental Stability" as an alternative, adding: "Its Madness Gone PC".

advertisementOther readers looked at the practicalities of song writing, pointing out that f***ot had to remain as it is the only possible rhyme for the maggot in the preceding line.

PJW, another gay reader, wrote that he does not find the song offensive as it was written at a time when f****t was in common use and considered acceptable.

"To begin altering songs made long ago would mean bleeping out a lot of the music back catalogue," he wrote.

"However, if the song was made today and directed at homosexuals solely then I do think that would be a whole different story."

Indeed, the only support for the BBC in the dozens of comments received by the Telegraph came from the rather curmudgeonly-sounding Angerland, who urged the corporation to go further.

"Pogues, Slade, Wizzard, John Lennon, Band Aid, Wham Aaaaargh! Ban the whole bloody lot of 'em, says I. It is this tedious musical backdrop to the festive season that helps make it so unendurable."

firehazard wrote:
Two possibilities as far as I can see:

1. This is a cunning plan to finally get FONY to its deserved position as Christmas No. 1.

2. The people at BBC R1 are a load of arses.

Not sure which I think is more likely.

Phil said:


Well yes, the first one was my initial instinct too, cynic as I am. But it has clearly come as a surprise to everyone connected to The Pogues, including our Press Officer and our Record Company. And anyway, such a scheme would require the complicity of the BBC which, I rather think, would be a tough ask.

Before this topic fades away, joining the turkey carcass in the trash where it belongs, I just remembered last night that my grandmother Emily (1904-1997), the one who was in Cumann na mBan, used the word "f****t" frequently as a general term of disapproval of some other oul wan or other, invariably female, as in "that one's just an ould f****t". I never knew where it came from, but it certainly had nothing to do with homosexuality. I was never able to "come out" to my gran, because she genuinely would not have had the faintest idea what I was talking about. Gran, though she lived most of her life in Dublin, was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth which, if it is today an urban sprawl, was a more rural place in 1904. Indeed, it was still quite rural in 1966, when I spent a blissful Summer there. I daresay the oul wans of Shane's Co. Tipperary were simililarly unfamiliar with "f****ts" of the politically incorrect kind.

Bellabog wrote:
Didn't the BBC make an hour long programme on the making of FONY just a couple of years ago? Wouldn't you have thought they might have listened to the lyrics at that stage?

Phil said:


Well, it's only fair that we distinguish here between "the BBC" and "some silly tosser at BBC Radio One with nothing better to do".

It is, however, true that I personally had the mother of all battles with the silly little researcher from the "Jonathan Ross Show" on BBC TV two years ago - same year as the documentary - when she tried to insist on the "cheap and haggard" version Kirsty and Shane had been talked into in 1991, on the first reissue. I won the battle on points, dismissing this precedent. "That was Kirsty and Shane. This is The Pogues. The Pogues would never have agreed to it. You booked the Pogues." All of this was still going on minutes before we appeared. The Warner Brothers lady was white-going-on-green by this stage, fearing the Beeb would simply fire us altogether. Funny, she started the day Black.