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If it weren't for Fox, there wouldn't be any goddamned Emmy censorship in the first place?
The Emmy censorship brouhaha has moved off the D-List and onto that bastion of political incorrectness... Sally Field?

Sally Field's win for Best Actress in a Drama brought with it an unfocused, rambling speech that would have passed without notice had FOX not apparently cut off an anti-war statement she made at the end. She was to have ended with "If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place."*

I'll let you all recover for a moment.

Right as she was saying "god-" FOX rather abruptly went to silence and a still shot of the audience, then peppily cut back to whatever the hell else the Emmys were awarding like Best Cinematography On A Tony Bennett or At Least Non-Colbert Special. (Okay, bitter.) Predictably, since the blogosphere hadn't finished toasting the Emmys over its censoring of Kathy Griffin's directive to "suck it, Jesus," everyone's going apeshit on the usual places and it only happened a few minutes ago. This is a perfect example of what I call the "D. H. Lawrence Principle": the mediocre only becomes notable if the public detects its suppression. Let the mediocre pass without comment, and it will join the faceless rabble of sensationalist acts. (Seriously, wouldn't we have just rolled our eyes at yet another political award speech and not paid much attention to it? Now we get to be angry at FOX.)

The woman played Norma Rae and survived several movies with Burt Reynolds. Frankly, I fear for the network.

*We know this thanks to the Canadians, who heard the sentence and as a result of the scandal will surely face riots in Toronto and Vancouver. You sacrificed your society so we could know of a naughty word. God bless.

Edit: Some back-and-forth here on another Democratic Underground thread. "It was censored!" "It wasn't censored!" "Duck season!" "Wabbit season!"

And apparently people are more upset on Ms. Field's behalf than Field herself, who was surprised she didn't utter more curse words.

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	amxjm 2007-09-17 05:17 am UTC (link)
	Huh, and here I was thinking it was just Fox censoring her because of her anti-war views. Good to know. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	altoidsaddict 2007-09-17 05:44 am UTC (link)
	Possibly not, it may have actually been a glitch and they didn't/couldn't cut back into the speech after the obscenity. It didn't occur on the Canadian broadcast. Coming so soon after the Kathy Griffin thing and knowing FOX, though, perhaps the suspicion is well-placed. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tiarlynn 2007-09-17 09:23 am UTC (link)
	Pretty sure it wasn't a glitch, but as far as the real reason for the censorship, opinion seems to be divided. Personally, I think it's more likely they censored her for "goddamn"—I mean, I'm pretty sure the boys over at Comedy Central can't say that, I'm definitely sure Fox wouldn't like it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hypno_jango 2007-09-18 07:08 pm UTC (link)
	Then you haven't seen the South Park episode with the Goddamn Mongolians. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tiarlynn 2007-09-18 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	Hm, very weird...I'm sure I've heard it bleeped on the Daily Show several times =O (Reply to this)(Parent)

squib
2007-09-17 10:40 am UTC (link)

Fox didn't have any problem with "So You Think You Can Dance" airing an idiotic, self-indulgent bit of anti-war dance choreography (everyone had to do the same solo, so the viewing audience was subjected to an hour of an awful John Mayer song and a bunch of "rageful screaming" as part of the dance), so I'm surprised if they censored Sally Field over this. Maybe, you never know, but I'm betting on the glitch. Besides, Hollywood denizens being anti-war? Wow, stop the presses, that's SHOCKING!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	altoidsaddict 2007-09-17 04:24 pm UTC (link)
	And Mia wearing that military jacket during the episode, then ditzing "OMG sorry it was for fashion!" I hate Mia. At least that horrible repetitive solo idea bit the dust. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

squib
2007-09-18 09:48 am UTC (link)

I hate Mia, I hated that Dead Dad dance (how the living fuck do you critique that? "Gosh, sorry about your father, but that sucked giant honking donkey balls"). I hate Mary's stupid braying screech, but she's mildly interesting when actually talking about ballroom dancing. I hate Nigel's idiotic notion that "well duh, everyone's anti-war, so what's the problem" and I hate that he kept Lauren long after anyone with sense would kick her ass to the curb (I'm with the TWoPpers, there must have been some knob-polishing going on here). And I really, really hate Wade and his chakra-balancing, political-view-forcing, fox-furry dance bullshit.

...why am I still watching this show?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	altoidsaddict 2007-09-18 05:04 pm UTC (link)
	Because Sabra kicked ass and Neil turned out to be pretty awesome after he was freed from Lauren. And Sara and Dominic turned out to have some serious talent, too! I'm convinced that Sabra and Dominic are dating or something because they are just too cute together. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	velvet_mace 2007-09-17 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	"Damn" is considered an obcenity these days? Boggles (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue 2007-09-17 05:36 pm UTC (link)
	"God-damn" is, because you can't damn God in America, apparently. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

velvet_mace
2007-09-17 05:43 pm UTC (link)

Yes, it does seem like the obscene word is God... which is delicously ironic. Though honestlly I think God Damned, means "God is damning whatever" not "the speaker is damning god." But then Fox isn't exactly known for thinking logically about what it does.

And actually, ooooer... according to this article "Goddamn" isn't even technically profane. Which makes this oh so much more interesting.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-17 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	That's kind of funny, because I always thought "goddamn" was a much stronger utterance than just "damn". (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	velvet_mace 2007-09-17 06:38 pm UTC (link)
	Oh it is! Just like "damn" is stronger than "drat". But still as swearing goes it's pretty damn mild -- unless you are one of those people who spells God "G*d." Which I think is where the main objection seems to come from. Damn is perfectly acceptable on tv. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dragonfangirl 2007-09-17 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	I can buy goddamned being considered stronger than damned because even if you don't believe in god or the whole shebang, you're still taking an extra second to include an extra syllable on your profanity, which gives it a little extra oomph. It's like "motherfucker" as opposed to "fucker." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	velvet_mace 2007-09-17 11:33 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, and GodDAMNmotherfuckingeffencockwhore-jagermeister-brick would be even stronger! You know it almost doesn't matter what words you throw into the stew, so long as you spit a bit when you use them. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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squib, 2007-09-18 09:50 am UTC

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-18 12:20 am UTC (link)
	Doesn't really make sense to me, since the whole act of damning is, well, god's realm--you're already dragging him into it. XD "Goddamn" is mild? I will never figure out the hierarchy of swears. --same mousy as before (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	velvet_mace 2007-09-18 12:28 am UTC (link)
	Fuck, yeah, that's a toddler swear word compared to skullfucking, donkey-licking, ball sucker. No self-respecting sailor would settle for Goddamn. (Reply to this)(Parent)

velvet_mace
2007-09-18 12:34 am UTC (link)

Oh, I get where you are coming from. How bad a swear word depends on the listerners level of revulsion on hearing it. For most of the English speaking world, hearing the name of God said in vain ranks up there in squick value with listening to Barry Manilow sing. But for some Fundimentalist Christians it is very high in squick value -- and they find it much more shocking. But that's not the mainstream reaction. Most people wouldn't have even noticed Sally Fields had even said a swear word if it hadn't been bleeped out and attention called to it.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2007-09-18 04:54 am UTC

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-18 11:52 am UTC (link)
	Fun story! "Goddamnit" was one of my first words, and could be called my first sentence, if you space it out. My father was in trouble for that. So I guess not all that surprisingly, "goddamn" is a very mind swear in my mind. But then I've pretty literally never used anything weaker than "damn," so my perspective may be skewed. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	panthea 2007-09-18 12:48 am UTC (link)
	That always confused me! Why is the "God" part always bleeped but not the "damn"? The hell? It took me so ~~god~~damn long to figure out that's why the timing seemed so off when Fraser was singing "Barrett's Privateers" in Due South. The chorus was missing an extra syllable. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue 2007-09-18 12:52 am UTC (link)
	It's considered taking the Lord's name in vain, which is against the Ten Commandants of the Bible. Seeing as that would be the only reason it's considered remotely offensive, and seeing how America has a separation of Church and State, it's totally fine to say on television! Oh, wait. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-18 06:16 am UTC (link)
	Did a Christian piss in your cereal? "Oh my God" is considered taking the Lord's name in vain by fundies, too, but to my knowledge, that's not censored. So how about a little levity with your apparent annoyance? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue 2007-09-18 06:20 am UTC (link)
	I thought my reply was actually kind of mild, so I'm not entiiiirely sure what your problem is. ... What if a Christian did piss in my cereal? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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brown_betty, 2007-09-20 06:28 am UTC

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-19 01:53 am UTC (link)
	It's an odd thing for sure. I have noticed on at least one occasion that with "asshole" they sometimes bleep the "hole" part. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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