Stupid censorship...

I'm a huge fan of the AMC show "Breaking Bad". It's a really well done show, one of my favourite.

For those who don't watch (and you really should) it's about a high school chemistry teacher who, upon learning he has almost certainly terminal lung cancer, starts to panic not because he's going to die, but because his pregnant wife and his son will be left with no money or way to support themselves.

Well, in a strange set of circumstances involving a ride along with his DEA agent brother in law, one of his former students turned drug dealer, and his own desperation he decides to start cooking meth. (If you don't know what meth is do a quick google search and then smack yourself for being oblivious to the world around you).

This of course leads him into the not so friendly underworld of the drug industry and all manner of calamity that comes with that.

The show is really graphic, almost HBO graphic. In fact while watching it it's not hard to tell that the creators and the studio (Sony) probably envisioned the show on HBO as opposed to AMC.

So moving on...

Netflix Canada recently got the rights to the first 3 seasons which I was thrilled to learn. The show is between seasons right now, and going back and watching the episodes from the beginning is a nice reprieve from the wait for the final season (yup, one more season).

So I get comfortable on the couch, open a beer, get my bowl of popcorn and settle in for the night. Imagine my surprise when I start watching the first episode and they've censored the language. Are you serious? This is Netflix, they have a movie on there called The Human Centipede that takes gore to a whole new level.. Apparently I can watch that, but hearing the word "pussy" is going to scar me for life.

It turns out that the network and not Netflix are the ones that make that choice, and even then, only the pilot episode is censored. That's not the point. My point is this, the people that decided on censoring it did so to the mildest of issues. The word "shit" is actually muted. In the original version of the episode,  our terminally ill main character has a part time job at a car wash after school. Well, in a short scene his mocked subtly by one of his customers who is his student during the day. Needless to say you feel for the guy in what must be an utterly humiliating situation, but there was no foul language, no violence.. nothing.

They cut it.

What the fuck??  So.. it's ok for me to watch a show where the terminally ill chemistry teacher turns to a life of cooking and dealing meth, murders people, dissolves a body of one of his victims in a tub full of acid (they were GRAPHIC with this..), and an entire host of other really nasty things, BUT... It's not ok for me to watch a teenager make fun of his teacher in a situation that probably happens every day in real life. Where is the logic?

Censorship is wrong. Not because of human rights, or democracy or any other high values like that. No, censorship is wrong because it can never ever work. Censorship of this kind is designed to avoid offending people on a moral level. The problem is that no matter what venue, media censorship can't work because it will ALWAYS be enforced based on the enforcers values. The issue isn't legal, or humanitarian, the issue is one of personality. When people try to govern other peoples values it can't work. My values are different than yours, yours are different than your neighbors and so on...

Now some may say that a lengthy post like this is overkill over such a small issue. It's only one episode, it's not like you couldn't find the full episode online etc... Why do I get so worked up over little issues like this?

In India recently the government decided that they want Facebook, Google, Twitter etc.. to start censoring user posted content that may be offensive. They want social media companies to sort through user submitted information such as shared links and images on Facebook and comments and statements on Twitter. Not just big things, everything. Facebook has said plain and simply that they won't do it. I can't imagine Twitter or Google taking a different stance, but that didn't stop the Indian government from trying to get it done anyways.

Here's the thing, how do you think they'd feel about a show about a drug dealing chemistry teacher who murders his competition?

It starts with saying the word "shit" is offensive and we're "not allowed" to use it on TV. Next thing you know you're arrested and sent to jail for not going to church on Sundays. It starts by being told what we're not allowed to think, and moves onto telling us what we are required to think.

Think I'm exaggerating? Try learning about evolution in the southern United States.

What's so bad about drinking alone?

So I stayed in last night as I usually do on the weekends. I was playing some BF3 while curled up on the couch with the lights down low, in my pajamas, and having an otherwise very relaxing evening. I had some beer in the fridge and I decided to open one while I played my game and enjoyed a quiet evening.

Well, naturally, one turned into two, then three and so on until I was feeling pretty good. Actually, I was drunk to perfectly honest.

So I continued on like this, until it was finally time for bed around 2am. I took a preemptive Advil for the morning, drank some water, and had a great sleep. So I wake up today and while I'm feeling it a little, it's nothing like would have happened had I gone to the bar. There's a couple of empties in the living room, had to wipe up some ashes off the table from where apparently I bumped the ash tray, but otherwise, everything is good.

So my question is, what the hell is wrong with that? Yes, I got drunk alone. But I wasn't staggering drunk, I didn't hurt myself, I wasn't curled up in a ball at the end of the night crying my woes away as many people are want to imagine when the phrase "drinking alone" is uttered. No, I had a good night. I got a buzz on, I spent the evening very relaxed doing something I enjoy and had a wonderful sleep at the end of it.

So where's the problem? We all know the hazards of drinking, particularly drinking in public, but I avoided them all last night. I didn't make an ass of myself in front of anyone, I didn't wake up remembering some conversation that I desperately wish I hadn't had. There was no checking my bank account to see "how much did I blow last night?". I really don't see the issue here.

I don't feel like I was being anti social, well at least no more than usual. I enjoy my private little life. I don't have any particular need to have dozens of different people with whom to go out with every weekend, nor do I feel "lonely" when I'm sitting home alone on the weekend.

So I've decided that "drinking alone" is no longer going to carry the depressing, sad context that is socially accepted for most. There's no more "I drank alone last night". From now on it's simply "I drank last night". Who did I drink with? Me.

(And the dog was there too)