Watch what you want, don’t censor what you dislike

The 2005 Oscars had everything you would expect to see at the annual Hollywood award ceremony…. The 2005 Oscars had everything you would expect to see at the annual Hollywood award ceremony. On the red carpet, there was the normal cult-like fascination with what inconsequential celebrity was wearing which revealing piece of clothing. There was a plethora of negligible movies that I didn’t really care at about, and, once again, there was censorship.

Robin Williams was selected to present the Oscar for best animated film. During the award ceremony, the presenters generally have one minute of free reign to talk about whatever they want. Williams wanted to use his minute to make fun of James C. Dobson, the now-famous leader of a conservative, family-based organization that accused SpongeBob SquarePants of being gay and of promoting a homosexual agenda.

Williams had planned to mimic an evangelical fire and brimstone preacher and condemn other cartoons of social vices, such as accusing Olive Oil of promoting anorexia, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” of being a pill-popper, Betty Boop of working Beverley Hills and Casper the Friendly Ghost of being a KKK member.

ABC network executives deliberately edited his words when they heard that something mildly relevant might be talked about during the ceremony.

So during his time as presenter for the best animated film, Williams instead mentioned this briefly by talking a little about Bugs Bunny. This censoring of his material is why when Williams first walked out, he wore a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

I don’t know what it is about the Oscars and other televised awards ceremonies that frown on hosts and presenters addressing anything that could be considered political.

Were they worried that Williams would arrive with a copy of the federal budget and deliver a boring economic lecture? No, he would have gotten his political message out there, but it would have been the result of what could have been the funniest and most worthwhile minute of what turned out to be a boring and irrelevant Oscar presentation

No matter how you cut it, it is ironic that a ceremony that is supposed to honor the best art ends up censoring itself.

We should not be shocked by the censorship of comedians, though. They are often the ones who end up testing the limits of accepted behavior and decency.

Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” wrote a book this year called “America: The Book.” It is a hilarious political spoof that sat atop numerous best-seller lists for a number of weeks. Despite this, Wal-Mart cancelled its order for the book, in keeping with its policy of selling nothing more inflammatory than collections of crossword puzzles and lawn flamingos.

Another example is the Fox Network’s original run of “Family Guy,” which was cancelled just because it could conceivably be viewed as completely and utterly offensive to a great many races, religions and genders. However, after several months, Fox showed new episodes because enough people decided that the show was funnier than it was offensive. This cycle continued over the course of several years, and will begin anew in the summer when Fox releases new episodes of the show.

What Fox realized is that to make a joke, something has to be a punch line. “Family Guy” does this well. It has some credibility. But “The Howard Stern Show,” which has gained its following primarily through sexual humor and stripper jeopardy, has received several fines and has been pulled off the air in many markets.

The fact that people don’t like a show is OK. That is how it should be. I don’t really like Howard Stern very much, but I do like “Family Guy” — a show that has its share of fans and critics (although I have yet to meet any critics).

If you don’t like something, nobody is compelling you to watch or listen to it. And if they are compelling you to watch something against your will, the person is likely either a crazed burglar or a significant other.

Society suffers when we begin to try to regulate free speech. If it were up to the most conservative factions of society, like the ones who accuse SpongeBob of being a subversive homosexual, nobody would witness anything more provocative than “Full House.” We’d become bored quickly.

Can’t our society just agree that the liberals will turn off “The 700 Club” and the conservatives will turn off “SpongeBob SquarePants” without petitioning the government to intervene under the guise of promoting decency?

Sam Morey doesn’t want you to watch The Food Network, because it promotes indecent methods of dealing with carrots. E-mail him at smorey88@hotmail.com.