In a complete breakdown of common sense, the Canadian Radio and Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, the approximate equivalent of the US FCC) has determined that the Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing” is unacceptable for play on Canadian radio stations.
Also known as the “I Want My MTV” song, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council says the song contravenes the human rights clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. At contention is the word ‘faggot’.
For those who don’t know the song, or who are not fans of Dire Straits, we’ve excerpted the lines of contention:
…See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire…
Lyrics are by Mark Knopfler ©1985
Yep, the word faggot is offensive. Now consider this lyric:
Poppin, stoppin, hoppin like a rabbit
When I take the nina Ross ya know I gota ta have it
I lay back in the cut retain myself
Think about the shit, and I’m thinkin wealth
How can I makes my grip
And how should I make that nigga straight slip
Set trip, gotta get him for his grip
as i dip around the corner, now i’m on a-nother
mission, wishin, upon a star
Snoop Doggy Dogg with the caviar
In the back of the limo no demo, this is the real
Breakin niggaz down like Evander Holyfield, chill
to the next Episode
I make money, and I really don’t love hoes
Tell ya the truth, I swoop in the Coupe
I used to sell loot, I used to shoot hoops
But now I, make, hits, every single day
With, that nigga, the diggy Dr. Dre
So lay back in the cut, motherfucker ‘fore you get shot
It’s 1-8-7 on a motherfuckin cop
[Verse Two:]
Boy it’s gettin hot, yes indeed it is
Snoop Dogg on the mic i’m about as crazy as Biz
Markie, spark the, chronic bud real quick
And let me get into some fly gangsta shit
Yeah, I lay back, stay back in the cut
Niggaz try to play the D-O-G like a mutt
I got a little message, don’t try to see Snoop
I’m fin to fuck a bitch, what’s her name it’s Luke
You tried to see me, on the TV, youse a B.G.
D-O-double-G, yes I’ma O.G.
You can’t see my homey Dr. Dre
So what the fuck a nigga like you gotta say
Gotta take a trip to the MIA
And serve your ass with a motherfuckin AK
You, can’t, see, the D-O-double-G, cuz that be me
i’m servin um, swervin in the Coupe
The Lexus, flexes, from Long Beach to Texas
Sexist, hoes, they wanna get witht his
Cuz Snoop Dogg is the shit, beeeitch!
The Shiznit by Snoop Dogg © 1993
To summarize the potentially offensive things in Snoop Dogg’s song, we have, submitted for your approval:
Calling women ‘hoes’, a term of exceptional disrespect;
Using the N-word, frequently;
Plenty of swearing;
Inciting murder using a firearm, including inciting murder of a police officer;
Smoking ‘chronic’ a slang for marijuana;
Selling ‘loot’ a slang for stolen goods;
There really is no need to go on, is there? Songs have had lyrics offensive to someone, since the beginning of recorded time. We’re fairly certain there were Cro-Magnon minstrels who sang about the poor hunters and lousy gatherers the next village over and called them knuckle-draggers and turnip eaters.
Viewed through the narrowest, hypersensitive, most mean-spirited lens, there are very few things that cannot be taken as offensive by someone, be it language, behaviors, actions, words, deeds or even thoughts. Even the Bible, in some chapters, can be taken as a violent, bloody, misogynist document that incites hatred.
How about this? We agree that the following words, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits, shouldn’t commonly be used in the media. Yes, it’s George Carlin’s list. Let’s try to keep those words to a minimum, especially in media that is readily accessible to children.
How about this as a follow on? We remember that we have complete control of our computers, televisions, radios and media players. There are power switches on all of them: We are not forced to listen to, read, watch, or participate in media that we find objectionable.
Please remember there are no black-hooded squads of thugs that hold 80 year old Aunt Hazel down and force her to watch “All-Anal Amateurs” or “The Next Iron Chef” Sorry to break that little bubble.
Believe it or not, you can actually opt out of media. That includes this blog by the way.
If you have been offended by this post, hey, sucks to be you.
RoadDave 
David, my friend, what in the WORLD is going on up there? I used to be able to hold Canada up as a shining beacon of common sense, where intelligent people would peer south over the border and say “What is wrong with those bloody Americans?”. More and more, I see the same stupidity, the same ignorance and the same lack of common sense showing up in Canada as we have to put up with down here. Maybe the song would be less offensive if Mark Knopfler was gay – after all, blacks can call each other “nigger” and it’s okay, but if we white folk do it, it’s the Watts riots all over again. Or maybe, just maybe, we need to teach something alongside our ABCs and 123s. Maybe we need to teach that, if you look hard enough for offence, you’ll find it. And if you find it, GET OVER IT! I could’ve made MILLIONS suing my former school mates for all the epithets hurled at me, much less the ones I suffered while I was military re-enacting. You know what? I got over it. And so does the populace in general, and so do the regulatory bodies. There’s plenty of dangerous songs, movies, Internet images, and people that we need to protect our children from. In the great scheme of things, I think Mark Knopfler ranks right around, say, purple-spotted green dragons. And my sincere apologies to all of Canada for allowing the current level of stupidity prevalent in America to ooze across the border. I think you guys need a fence – and I just MIGHT happen to know of some industrious immigrants from Central America who could help. (Cure 2 problems at once – get the illegals out of the US, and send ’em to Canada to make you guys safe from us.) Or maybe we need to do a reverse “Escape From New York” concept – put the loons (the people, not the coins) outside Manhattan, and wall those few of us in who still have a grip on reality. We do seem to be becoming an endangered minority……
Looks like we got work to do to catch up to the Canadians, Sincerely, King Julius, Chair FCC. Do Canadians have a policy on Wardrobe malfunctions?
No, they just put on more clothes than we in the States do. Face it, if that infamous halftime show had been in Ottawa, you wouldn’t have seen a single thing – Janet’s boobs would’ve been wrapped in several layers of fabric to keep from turning blue! The closest thing to a “wardrobe malfunction” in Canada is when one of the three gloves on your left hand slips off ’cause it’s frozen to your beer bottle!
And since I’m gratuitously abusing our northern neighbors, let me get it ALL out of my system at once.
“Look! There’s a moose oot on the lake playing hockey, eh?” 😀
That should take care of it for now. Thanks, David, I feel better! :p
Let’s see, policy on “wardrobe malfunctions” … Back in the 70’s, on broadcast TV, CITY-TV out of Toronto used to show softcore porn, the Friday Night Baby Blues, after 11 pm. CHOT-TV, in Hull Quebec, just across the river from Ottawa used to show poorly edited, badly dubbed, non-simulated, porn, only leaving out the money shot, again after 11 pm. There was, of course, a warning that the material wouldn’t be appropriate for all viewers and that was that, end of discussion.
Canada is a little more European in their attitude to ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ in that we don’t actually give a damn.
So what if Janet Jackson flashed a mam because Justin Timberlake peeled off the carapace of her costume. No big. She was wearing a pastie anyways. Fifty one percent of the population either do, have, or will, own and operate a pair of breasts. Another 49 percent of the population have either been fed by them, like looking at them, or are irredeemably attracted to them because we’re hardwired that way.
So what you’re saying is, the percentage of males who are gay (and thus have no real use for boobs) is perfectly offset by the percentage of men who will go transgender in their lifetime? That’s an interesting sociology debate. Actually, the numbers I’d like to see (other than 42D – whoops, got distracted there) is the percentage of the population that complain about said malfunctions or other televised perversities, and the percentage of THAT population that has porn of some sort in their homes. Don’t know about the 1st percentage, but I’ll betcha that 2nd percentage is high 90s, minimum! 😉
More to the points, pun intended, humans are sexual beasts. That’s how we propagate our species. Believe it or not, your parents have done the deed at least as many times as you have siblings, plus one for you. That would also include Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, which makes me shiver in a very bad way.
Unfortunately, most blue-noses cannot accept the simple logic that the most common way for humans to reproduce is through sexual intercourse. Perhaps they’re afraid of their own responses and don’t have the rudimentary self-control that is taken for granted in most countries when exposed to a naked ankle, or eyebrow.
As to the orientation of the ‘sexual beast’ within each of us, that is another discussion, but anectdotally, most of my friends of an alternative persuasion do appreciate a nicely displayed set. It might not float their boat, but they do enjoy them, if only for their beauty.
Yeah, I guess I gotta give ya that point. You did say had been nursed by boobs. so that would cover a lot of “non-straight” guys. Actually, that sub-section doesn’t as much admire them as part of the human form, but more as a REALLY nice fashion accessory. (Of course, they tend to have a higher acceptance of “modifications”, since a bigger, gaudier necklace trumps a small, tasteful setting every time, in their opinion.)
I think the problem here in the States is, there is no single “ruling” on recognising our sexual nature. Religion tells you you’ll go to Hell for it, but Hollywood glorifies it. Mom tells you not to ogle naked women, then you find Dad’s stash of Playboys. The Venus Di Milo is art, Farrah Fawcett’s Playboy spread is smut. (BULLSQUAT!) Sorry, that’s the Farrah fan in me screaming out through my nostrils!
I always liked Dave Allen’s concept of the Irish take on sex. Since the Church declared enjoying sex to be a sin, the Irish would get so drunk, they wouldn’t know or remember if they enjoyed it. 😀
And by the by, you NEED to have an image of something like your Granny, or the Queen, getting “nasty”. It helps slow things down if you’re “going” too fast! 😉