My Girlfriend and I had a really good, intense discussion about the controversy surrounding the CRTC banning the unedited version of Dire Strait's 'Money for Nothing' from Canadian Radio. I argued that the song's message was clearly and effectively anti-ignorance, and that censorship robbed the song of power while patronizing the listening audience. She made the case that other artistic products are censored from radio for good reason (see: the n-word) and that the lyrics should be held to the same standard as other songs with potentially hurtful content. Mark Twain was invoked, lyrics were analyzed, and I was made aware of the alarming fact that Homosexuality was only dropped from the list of Mental Disorders in Alberta last year.
Unfortunately, I feel that discussions on the progress of gay rights and the nature of censorship (which could be really healthy for Canada and the world in 2011) are not what is going to come out of this whole incident. I think way too many people will, and have already taken away the message that gay people hate cool guitar riffs and have no sense of humor.
And to those people, I say this.
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