I’m sure you were all aware that
before Christmas there was a big hoo ha over the song Baby It’s Cold Outside.
It was banned by many radio stations. It’s a song I’ve heard all my life and
never given much thought to before. This time I listened to the words and of
course it is an attempted seduction. It the light of the Me To movement I can
see that it might, possibly offend.
However…I’d like to point out that whether
she stays or not is entirely up to her. He is persuading, not forcing. She has
the chance to say NO. And frankly I assume that every male has tried the same persuasion
on every female since the beginning of time. She did, after all, go over to his
house in a snow storm!
And if you want to be offended by
song lyrics, listen to the words of some rap numbers. When we were in Cancun
once a disco across the street was blaring out music all day and what I was
hearing certainly raised my eyebrows. Violence to women, degrading of women,
language that would make your hair curl. And I don’t see a big fuss over these
songs.
It seems as if the desire not to
offend is going to ridiculous lengths. I heard that there is a movement to get
the song WHITE CHRISTMAS banned, but it suggests that Christmas is not
inclusive! Come on. The white in the song refers to snow! The movie is about a
ski resort with no snow. And snow, as far as I know, is not multi-colored.
And the most ridiculous of all:
the animal rights organization wants well known proverbs changed to remove any
hints of cruelty to animals:
Kill two birds with one stone
should be changed to “feed two birds with one scone.”
(I’m not making this up!) And on a side note, some of the scones I have
eaten during my life could easily have killed two birds.
But there’s more. “Bring home the
bacon” should be changed to “bring home the bagel.”
Where does it stop? For vegans
among us does The Big Cheese change to The Big Cashew Spread?
The point with song lyrics is
that we live in a society of free choice. IF YOU HEAR SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE
ON ONE STATION, CHANGE THE STATION OR TURN IT OFF! If you read a book with content that offends
you, stop reading. I have always been angry about the number of banned books.
Books like The Diary of Anne Frank, Harry Potter, even Goldilocks and the Three
Bears. All banned in certain communities because all it takes is one or two
crackpot extremists to go to a school or library and demand that a book be
pulled from the shelves. I have even heard of dictionaries being taken out of
school libraries because they HAVE NAUGHTY WORDS in them. Uh, yes. They have
every word in them. That is the point.
My
personal opinion is that no book should be banned. If it has offensive content
then I choose not to read it. A bookstore can choose not to stock it. And I can
oversee what my children read and take away material I don’t consider suitable.
But making my opinion hold sway over other people’s is just downright
wrong. What do you think? How far do you go to be PC? Have we gone too far in our desire not to offend anyone?
