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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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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.

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	(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)

	squib 2007-09-18 09:50 am UTC (link)
	Yes, and GodDAMNmotherfuckingeffencockwhore-jagermeister-brick would be even stronger! Still laughing at this one a solid minute after reading it. Win! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(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.

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	(Anonymous) 2007-09-18 04:54 am UTC (link)
	Well, I'm Mormon (er, raised and surround by them, anyways), so that would explain why "goddamn" is already pretty extreme for me. Although "skullfucker" surpasses it pretty easily. lol (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(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)

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