One of the things that drives me absolutely insane is hearing a debate on an issue, and one side improperly pulls in terminology that doesn’t apply to the situation they’re debating just to heighten an emotional response and try to associate the emotional connotations with the issue they’re talking about… which is essentially a deception.
For example, when people use terms like racism, homophobia, sexism and other terms like that in places that they just don’t belong. If you don’t like Chris Tucker you’re racist. If you didn’t think Brokeback Mountain deserved Best Picture then you’re just homophobic. If you don’t think J Lo is a good actress then you’re just sexist (laugh all you want guys… I’ve actually had these things said to me). Clearly they didn’t belong in the conversation we were having… but some brain dead people who can’t win a debate feel the need to make the issue about a different topic and confuse it with the one they’re on…
Just like this Bill in Canada limiting which movies get free government tax credits and which ones don’t… some opponents of the bill are deceptively trying to make it a debate about “CENSORSHIP”. No one likes censorship, and so in a pathetic attempt to make the issue about censorship instead of what it REALLY is, they keep using that misused phrase over and over and over again until they get people erroneously to associated this issue, with censorship. It’s a lie.
For those of you who may not know… there is a BIll in the Canadian government right now that will allow the government to approve or disapprove movies for free tax credits based on if the material is deemed “excessively offensive by breaking existing Canadian Law”.
NOTICE that the bill is NOT about what films are or are not allowed to be made. That would be censorship. NOTICE that the bill is not about which films are or are not allowed to be shown. That would be censorship. NOTICE the bill is not about which people may or may not make films. That would be censorship. This Bill still allows anyone, to make any movie they want and show it anywhere they please. This is NOT censorship.
I’m reminded about this issue today as I read through Variety and came across the struggle of Iranian filmmakers (which you can read here) who are giving up on making films at all because the government won’t allow their films to be shown:
Behrouz Afkhami, one of Iran’s leading post-revolution filmmakers, told Iranian newspaper Etemad that he has lost motivation for his craft since his gripping social drama “Santouri,” which he completed more than a year ago, failed to receive the nod from the censors. ” ‘Santouri’ is the victim of (the censors’) taste. I have been sitting idle at home and doing nothing, since I do not see the atmosphere suitable for filmmaking,” he told Etemad.
Iran’s culture minister Mohammad Hossein Safar Harrandi, a former member of the elite Revolutionary Guards, makes no apologies for the tougher new line. A wave of “boy meets girl” films made under Khatami were “distant from family and ethical values,” he said. “Part of it was negative and should have been stopped.”
THIS is censorship! Filmmakers being told by the government that they’re not allowed to show their work is censorship. This is a FAR cry from a government telling a filmmaker it won’t financially assist them in making his/her film. Censorship is not a part of the true issue here.
Oh, some people will try to send up the “slippery slope” alarm in a desperate attempt to try to make this look like censorship and confuse the issue… but they’re wrong.
The funny thing is, I generally side with the people who don’t like the new Canadian Bill, because I do believe that Canadian art and film should be encouraged and that even the edgier stuff needs to be cultivated. However… I want to have THAT debate. The real debate on the real issue. Not a fake, artificially constructed and ultimately deceptive one based on false associations.
I can’t support those fighting this Bill (even though I’d like to) until they stop conjuring the word “censorship” in an attempt to bolster their position. Argue the issue based on it’s merits… don’t fear monger people with alarmist “CENSORSHIP” claims. But I guess I’m just a racist, homophobic sexist for suggesting that.
