Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007
Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Kamloops This Week
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271
Author: Christopher Foulds
Note: Christopher Foulds has been editor of Kamloops This Week since 2005, 
arriving in the Tournament Capital after 13 years with fellow Black Press 
paper, the Abbotsford News.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

WHY IS SEX AND SWEARING VERBOTEN, YET WE'RE FINE WITH ALL THE KILLING?

I've got a theory as to why all sorts of young punks in the Lower Mainland 
are shooting each other dead in record fashion.

This theory tackles a possible reason why the killings seem to be so cold, 
so automatic, so matter-of-fact, so devoid of even a snapshot-length 
hesitation of conscience.

Of course, the real reason bodies are piling up, cold and stiff, is the 
continued dinosaur-like stance of yesterday's men - John Les, B.C.'s 
solicitor general, Stockwell Day, our nation's public safety minister and 
George W. Bush, leader of the free world - who refuse to acknowledge the 
fact their pursuit of prohibition only fuels these murders.

Legalization of drugs, if not all then certainly marijuana, would do two 
things: virtually eliminate the killings and related crime that exists 
solely because of increased prohibition; and result in making heretofore 
illegal drugs far more difficult to obtain by minors.

Don't believe me?

Answer this: Ask a 15-year-old to get you a case of beer. Ask another 
15-year-old to get you some pot.

Guess which one will deliver first?

Aside from finally dispensing with the failure of prohibition - which will 
never happen because far too many people on both sides of the "war" stand 
to lose too much - there is my theory.

It's not really my theory, as it deals with words and how society 
determines which ones are harmful and which ones are acceptable to the eyes 
and ears of impressionable youth.

Surely there have been numerous studies done on the issue, but I am 
approaching from a layman's point of view.

It was 2:51 p.m. Thursday and Kamloops radio station 97.5 FM The River had 
just finished playing What It's Like, a stunning song by a band called 
Everlast.

And, as has been my experience when listening to this song on myriad other 
radio stations, the decision on which words to bleep and which words to 
ignore befuddled me once again.

The song is essentially a "there but for the grace of God go we" tune, 
depicting three people whose hard luck we should be careful not to mock 
unless we have walked in their shoes.

There is a verse dealing with a girl, Mary, who is pregnant and her 
deadbeat boyfriend has taken off.

So Mary decides to have an abortion.

"And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walking through 
the doors.

"They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a 
whore."

On the radio, the word "killer" is permissible, as is the word "sinner." 
But the word "whore" is excised.

Tim Tyler, music director at 97.5 FM The River, says this particular song 
arrived edited from the record company, but noted he has been tasked with 
edited other songs.

Tunes with the F-word, for example, will be edited.

He took the "god" out of "goddamn" in a Jann Arden song, and excised "crack 
whore" from a Lily Allen song.

The River, Tyler says, is a family radio station that does not wish to 
offend its listeners.

Still, he acknowledges the "strange," varied societal approach to violence, 
profanity and sex.

"I think violence is just as bad," Tyler says. "Maybe even worse in some 
cases."

Which leaves us in a strange place indeed.

The record company that released What It's Like to radio stations found 
nothing wrong with labelling a pregnant girl a "killer," but God forbid if 
our kids hear that the pregnant girl is being called a "whore."

It's OK for our kids to hear about "killing," about dying, about taking a life.

But it's not OK for our kids to hear about the sexual practises of their peers.

And we wonder why teens are desensitized to violence?

We live in a puritanical society where we shield our children's eyes from 
the hint of erotica on the TV screen, yet allow them to watch death after 
death after death while playing a video game or renting the latest 
Hollywood blockbuster.

Another verse in the Everclear song focuses on a kid named Max who led a 
very dangerous life.

"Until late one night there was a big gun fight, "Max lost his head, "He 
pulled out his chrome .45, "Talked some shit, "And wound up dead."

Sure enough, the word "shit" was censored on the radio, yet the images of 
being shot and killed, of dealing drugs, of hanging out with thugs, were 
deemed fine for airplay.

If death and destruction is deemed fine for a general audience that 
includes kids, yet words they hear on the playground and images about sex 
are verboten, can we be surprised at the casual approach to life being 
taken across the Lower Mainland by those who, only a few years ago, were 
shielded from "damaging" words like "whore" and "shit," yet fed a steady 
diet of death?

Christopher Foulds has been editor of Kamloops This Week since 2005, 
arriving in the Tournament Capital after 13 years with fellow Black Press 
paper, the Abbotsford News.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D