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Name: Paul Worlton
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MTV - PC Gone Haywire

Posted by Paul Worlton on Thursday, September 13, 2007 4:47:24 PM
MTV was once the quintessential bastion of youth angst.  I remember as a teenager being told it was "smut" and not to watch it.  I still watched it.  I was a teenager, after all.  It was all about expressing my generation's culture, although for some it probably dictated rather than expressed.

Back then, I thought of MTV as saying "no" to the media censors and airing edgy content.  But I was young then, and I haven't had much reason to revisit the MTV world in the last 20+ years.  That only changed recently because I wanted to see the much-maligned Britney Spears 2007 VMA appearance and it was removed from You-Tube due to copyright concerns.  So I had to see it on MTV's website.

I won't go into depth about what I thought of Britney's performance here, nor am I a Britney fan, but I do want to say that most of the criticism over it was totally undeserved.  It irks me a bit that we treat celebrities as if they were not real people with real feelings and personal problems.  But that is neither here nor there.

The point I want to make here is that political correctness is alive an well, and has overtaken that former bastion of free expression, MTV.  I know this because I wanted to leave a comment about this video, and my comment was censored.  Here is the relevant portion of the comment as it appeared after I posted it:

"Britney (looked) SMOKING HOT! I loved her outfit, and I love her body. I $~*$ the currently popular anerexic look, and I think it does a terrible disservice to America's youth."

(Go here (page 354) for the full commentary.)

Hmm...what did I say there that was so offensive?  Was it something off-color?  Was it something patently offensive?  I didn't think so, but apparently it was too offensive for our sensitive young culture.  What word was it...?

"HATE"

Yes, I could see how this word could be offensive.  The term "hate crime" for example, offends me deeply - not because of the word "hate", but the idea that a crime is more destructive based on the thinking behind it.  I'm sure the victim of a rape will be less traumatized by a rape committed out of love than one committed out of hate.  Yeah, that makes sense...

But in spite of the context, what exactly is offensive about the word "hate"?  Are we not free to love or hate who or what we choose in this country?  Is it really offensive to have somebody hate you?  If that is true, then there's a good chance that George Bush is the most offended man in America.  Would it be okay to censor all the Bush-haters in America?  I'm sure that wouldn't go over so well.

Do we even have a right not to be offended in this country?  Because if we do, then there can be no freedom of expression at all.  We will all need to cover our entire bodies from head to toe so that nobody can be offended by what you are wearing or by how long your hair is or by the look on your face.  Nobody can speak because there are very few things anyone can say without offending somebody.  Civilization will have to come to a standstill, because any action you take could potentially offend someone.

No, we do not have the right not to be offended.  Perhaps we have the right to protect our children from certain offensive material, but there must be a limit to such protections.  Why?  Because when you protect your children from everything, they cannot learn.  If they never get burned, they will never know to stay away from fire.  By the same token, by protecting them from ever getting offended, they will never learn how to deal with an offense.

I've thought and thought, and the most offensive thing I can think of to say that includes the word "hate" is, "I hate you!"  Guess how many times I've heard somebody say that to me?  I've even heard that from my child.  I don't like to hear it from my child, but I want to hear it if that is how she feels.  I could care less about hearing it from strangers.  The only response I can think of is, "Oh, that's interesting."  Why would I care if a total stranger hates me?  If you are not in my circle of family and friends, I couldn't care less what you think.

So what is the motivation behind the MTV censorship?  Perhaps they are trying to prevent a gang war between the Bloods and the Crips.  Ya think?  Maybe the rap culture is just too hyper-sensitive and every negative word erupts into violence.  Possibly...but I'm guessing it is just one thing: PC gone awry.
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