Shut Up And Listen 220

"What The ----?"

Earlier this year, we got a new TV channel called CTS. It stands for Crossroads Television System and it's a Christian-based network. But this channel also shows reruns of stuff like The Wonder Years, Yes Dear, and Coach, so I check it out (hey, it's the summer, nothing else is on). The funny thing is that they censor stuff like "hell," "damn," and "pissed off." I kid you not.

While I understand their desire to target a more family-friendly audience, this is the dumbest way to do that. When I'm watching The Wonder Years, Kevin will say "What the ----?" There's just a blank sound for the final word and my first instinct is to think he said "What the fuck?" I'd see that and suddenly stop and think, "Wait, did Kevin just say `What the fuck?' No. He couldn't have said that! Not on The Wonder Years!" I then realised that it was "hell" instead of "fuck," but that isn't the point. CTS is going too far in its censorship. It's going beyond the societal and cultural standard, and in doing so is actually causing its audience to think of more extreme words than the ones they are censoring. We are all trained to think that only certain words get blanked out like that and naturally insert them mentally when we hear it happen.

What's even more funny is that they'll block out stuff like that, but then a minute later on Yes Dear, the characters will make a blowjob joke or something. Not necessarily explicit, but it's still a blowjob joke. They'll censor "hell," but let a blowjob joke air. That's just fucked up right there.

This is the problem with censorship like this. They need to recognise the societal standard and also be wary of sending mixed messages. So, saying "hell" is bad, but blowjobs are great? I don't know about you, but I'll take children saying "hell" over them giving head any day of the week.

Converted Among The Crap

That same network shows a lot of Christian-based shows, and every once in a while, I like to check them out for a laugh. So this week, before going to work, I watched a few minutes of 100 Huntley Street or 120 Huntley Street or something like that. Anyways, they were having a fundraiser to build some centre in Calcutta that will have a school, medical stuff and a church, and the whole thing is called "Treasures In The Trash." That was what the fundraising effort was called. They have a minister over there converting the heathens and, you know, finding the treasures in the trash. What the fuck?

See, this is why people like me can't stand Christians. Look at that fucking attitude! It's like shit out of the movie Saved! or something. Why not just be honest and called it "Saved From The Slime" or "Found In The Filth" or "Converted Among The Crap." These are the kind of assholes who will probably do that whole "you become a Christian and we'll give you food" bullshit. I just love that sense of Christian charity that they're showing, don't you? Because that's exactly what Jesus would do today, you fucking self-righteous tools.