in the news

Sometimes, things happen in this world. Sometimes, these things get reported by the media. Sometimes, I feel passionate enough about these things to express my opinions about said things.

My beef today is with The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for banning one of my dad songs, "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits for the threefold use of the word "faggot".

I'm not gay, and as far as I know, I will never be gay, so I don't know how much of a victory this is for the gay and lesbian community. I mean, I know and love a lot of gay people, and as far as I know, none of them have ever lost sleep over this song.

Here are the lyrics in question:

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

Now, this song has been pumping in our household since as long as I can remember, and honestly, I've never once paid attention to these particular lyrics (it's way funner to sing "I WANT MY MTV!" anyway). So was completely banning it from radio play really necessary? Is it not possible to bleep out the expletives and go on with our daily lives? I mean, if this song came out in 2011, there's no way that it would've been released as a single and I doubt it would've been a big hit. But this song came out in 1985. Now, I was born after 1985 so I can't really say for sure, but I'm pretty certain that back then, political correctness wasn't a huge priority.

I'm sorry to say, but there is no such thing as a 100% politically correct person in this world. If you think that the word "faggot" (and every other slur, for that matter) is slowly disappearing, you are very much wrong. I hear slurs more often now than I did as a child, that's for sure. You can remove the n word from Mark Twain's Huck Finn, but that's not going to stop somebody from saying it.

This song is said to be reminiscent of Archie Bunker, a character from the 1970's hit TV Show All in the Family. So the fact that Dire Straits ONLY chose to use the word "faggot" is pretty amazing. The song is obviously based on a character. Characters are often based on real people. So does CBSC not believe that there are real people in the world who use the word "faggot" in reference to an effeminate man? Because there are. You've seen it happen, and so have I.

I mean, I think this song is old enough to be considered "Classic Rock". Taking this song away is probably going to anger more people than it offends.

I think what grinds my gears the most is that the decision to ban it was made after one, one complaint. Is that really all it takes to solve my problems with the music industry? Well hot damn! While we're banning things, let's get rid of Avril Lavigne because she incorrectly spells "Skater Boy". Let's get rid of Dallas Green because his music makes me want to commit suicide! And how could I forget! Let's ban the Beatles from the radio too because John Lennon was an atheist and Paul McCartney doesn't support the Seal Hunt! Oh the horror! Praise God that someone like me exists to think of the children!

But seriously CBSC, good job. By banning this song, you're making more room on radio set lists for Nickelback. Because if there's one thing we all need more of, it's Nickelback, so thanks!