Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” Censored In Canada

By majestic on January 20, 2011 in News 38

Normally I’m against censorship for almost any reason, but now that Canada has found a way to censor Dire Straits I’m having second thoughts … Reuters reports:

Canadian radio stations have been warned to censor the 1985 Dire Straits hit “Money for Nothing,” after a complaint that the lyrics of the Grammy Award-winning song were derogatory to gay men.

A St. John’s, Newfoundland, station should have edited the song to remove the word “faggot” because it violates Canada’s human rights standards, according to ruling this week by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

A unnamed listener to OZ FM in the Atlantic Coast province complained to the industry watchdog last year after hearing the song, which features Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler and fellow rock star Sting.

The council said it realized Dire Straits uses the word sarcastically, and its use might have been acceptable in 1985 when the best-selling “Brothers in Arms” album was released, but said it was now inappropriate…

[continues at Reuters]

Canada, Censorship, Dire Straits, Music, Rock

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StillAtMyMoms

Jesus, how politically correct can we become? LIGHTEN UP, HUMANS.
StillAtMyMoms

Jesus, how politically correct can we become? LIGHTEN UP, HUMANS.
Anonymous

The word faggot is the least offensive thing about that video.
dumbsaint

The word faggot is the least offensive thing about that video.
- DeepCough
  
  Not even American radio stations censor it, because that would make them faggots.
WhiteRose

Lame…
WhiteRose

Lame…
Dacos68

Political correctness is a way of inventing ways to hurt people.
Dacos68

Political correctness is a way of inventing ways to hurt people.
http://twitter.com/_wait_what _will_s_

fail.
http://twitter.com/_wait_what _will_s_

fail.
jf

to be fair; how is this any different than blipping out any other derogatory term used against a minority? while i don’t disagree the world has gotten overly sensitive, but this seems more legitimate to me than everyone taking the Governor of Alabama’s quote somewhat out of context and getting up in arms over it?
jf

to be fair; how is this any different than blipping out any other derogatory term used against a minority? while i don’t disagree the world has gotten overly sensitive, but this seems more legitimate to me than everyone taking the Governor of Alabama’s quote somewhat out of context and getting up in arms over it?
DeepCough

Not even American radio stations censor it, because that would make them faggots.
GoodDoktorBad

Jehovah -Jehovah -Jehovah!!!
Anonymous

Jehovah -Jehovah -Jehovah!!!
http://twitter.com/Red46Montana Michael Barger

i love wkipedia….my favorite is the meatball one!
-Faggot, fagot, or faggoting may refer to:
faggot or fagot, branch or twig, or bundle of these
Fasces
-Faggot (unit), archaic unit of measurement for bundles of sticks
-Death by burning, metonymically referred to by the faggots which fuel the fire
-Ashen faggot (or ashton fagot), Christmas wassail tradition in the West Country of England
-Faggot (slang), pejorative, now usually for a gay man, also having older and derived pejorative senses
-Faggot (food), British meatball commonly made of pork offal
-Faggots (novel), 1978 novel by Larry Kramer
-Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel
-Faggoting (knitting), variation of lace knitting in which every stitch is a yarn over or a decrease
-Faggoting stitch, featherstitch, or Cretan stitch, embroidery stitch used to make decorative seams or to attach insertions
-Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, USSR jet fighter with NATO reporting name “Fagot”
-9K111 Fagot, an anti-tank guided missile
-Fagotto, 16′ pedal reed organ stop
-Faggot cell, blast cell type found in acute promyelocytic leukemia
-Faggot voter, hireling eligible to vote as nominal titleholder of part a subdivided property
-Faggot, a simpleton, idiot, moron, dunderhead,imbecile, to show contempt for….
http://twitter.com/Red46Montana Michael Barger

i love wkipedia….my favorite is the meatball one!
-Faggot, fagot, or faggoting may refer to:
faggot or fagot, branch or twig, or bundle of these
Fasces
-Faggot (unit), archaic unit of measurement for bundles of sticks
-Death by burning, metonymically referred to by the faggots which fuel the fire
-Ashen faggot (or ashton fagot), Christmas wassail tradition in the West Country of England
-Faggot (slang), pejorative, now usually for a gay man, also having older and derived pejorative senses
-Faggot (food), British meatball commonly made of pork offal
-Faggots (novel), 1978 novel by Larry Kramer
-Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel
-Faggoting (knitting), variation of lace knitting in which every stitch is a yarn over or a decrease
-Faggoting stitch, featherstitch, or Cretan stitch, embroidery stitch used to make decorative seams or to attach insertions
-Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, USSR jet fighter with NATO reporting name “Fagot”
-9K111 Fagot, an anti-tank guided missile
-Fagotto, 16′ pedal reed organ stop
-Faggot cell, blast cell type found in acute promyelocytic leukemia
-Faggot voter, hireling eligible to vote as nominal titleholder of part a subdivided property
-Faggot, a simpleton, idiot, moron, dunderhead,imbecile, to show contempt for….
Anonymous

this song has been around for how long now? why is this an issue now?
Look I’m gay. I realize they are using the word in a derogatory manner.
But there are bigger problems to deal with.
When MTV 1st became available on cable my father ( a blue collar working kind of guy) was appalled that all the 80′s hair bands looked like “a bunch of fairies prancing about”.
and that is kind of the point of the song. what the rock & roll lifestyle looks like to the blue collar guys.
Now is the word faggot in this song causing the epidemic of gay teen suicides we have? Does this song inspire homophobes and bullies to go out and attack any one that looks …”kinda gay.”
Is it possible to just agree that this is improper and just not emulate it in our own lives?
I personally think it’s more important to try to learn from this then try to censor it and pretend it’s not there.
samthor

this song has been around for how long now? why is this an issue now?
Look I’m gay. I realize they are using the word in a derogatory manner.
But there are bigger problems to deal with.
When MTV 1st became available on cable my father ( a blue collar working kind of guy) was appalled that all the 80′s hair bands looked like “a bunch of fairies prancing about”.
and that is kind of the point of the song. what the rock & roll lifestyle looks like to the blue collar guys.
Now is the word faggot in this song causing the epidemic of gay teen suicides we have? Does this song inspire homophobes and bullies to go out and attack any one that looks …”kinda gay.”
Is it possible to just agree that this is improper and just not emulate it in our own lives?
I personally think it’s more important to try to learn from this then try to censor it and pretend it’s not there.
- jf
  
  I kept checking back on this thread hoping to find someone openly gay and query their opinion on the subject; but you expressed yourself well enough that I really only have one; what was your first thought when you read the comments in this thread?
  
  also, i strongly agree with your overall point, although I have to admit to getting annoyed at the word ‘breeder’, but mostly because it felt hypocritical.
  - dumbsaint
    
    I’m more or less gay (technically pan but that gets you strange looks from pagans.). if that gives you any insight into the earlier comments. I found the word a lot more offensive the time a beer bottle was attached to it and launched at my head. The point being it’s a matter of intent.
    
    Jewel has a great song that uses the same word. I doubt it get’s much air time anywhere but it’s more in the realm of a beautiful piece of music than offensive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uy_kz2myh8
jf

I kept checking back on this thread hoping to find someone openly gay and query their opinion on the subject; but you expressed yourself well enough that I really only have one; what was your first thought when you read the comments in this thread?

also, i strongly agree with your overall point, although I have to admit to getting annoyed at the word ‘breeder’, but mostly because it felt hypocritical.
Anonymous

You know, if this was a new song written just this year, I think it’d be totally different. This really isn’t any different from the mark twain story a few days ago about censoring some of the words that are offensive in it, or the Tea Party story about trying to keep minority history out of history classes that cover the founding of the US. I mean, the song’es 25 years old. 25 years ago is before a lot of current pop/rock radio listeners were even born. That makes it ancient history too, right? Both Twain and this song were written in climates of far less acceptance of other people. Pretending _now_ that wasn’t the case in the past does a real disservice to the people who’ve fought for civil rights, and undermines people’s awareness of how far we’ve come and still have to go.
quartz99

You know, if this was a new song written just this year, I think it’d be totally different. This really isn’t any different from the mark twain story a few days ago about censoring some of the words that are offensive in it, or the Tea Party story about trying to keep minority history out of history classes that cover the founding of the US. I mean, the song’s 25 years old. 25 years ago is before a lot of current pop/rock radio listeners were even born. That makes it ancient history too, right? Both Twain and this song were written in climates of far less acceptance of other people. Pretending _now_ that wasn’t the case in the past does a real disservice to the people who’ve fought for civil rights, and undermines people’s awareness of how far we’ve come and still have to go.
Kteis

PC has gotten way too silly. I can see censoring Skrewdriver, but this?
I hate to think what next.
Kteis

PC has gotten way too silly. I can see censoring Skrewdriver, but this?
I hate to think what next.
- Paddym_13
  
  That is the dumbest comment i have read on here ever.
Nostratic

the song is making fun of a narrow-minded blue collar guy who doesn’t believe that rock and roll is “real work” and who insults the performers.
Anonymous

I’m more or less gay (technically pan but that gets you strange looks from pagans.). if that gives you any insight into the earlier comments. I found the word a lot more offensive the time a beer bottle was attached to it and launched at my head. The point being it’s a matter of intent.

Jewel has a great song that uses the same word. I doubt it get’s much air time anywhere but it’s more in the realm of a beautiful piece of music than offensive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uy_kz2myh8
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMeetsFKennedy JMFK

Well, in my opinion all censors are a bunch of FUCKING FAGGOTS. Fucking pussies.
I have met many gay persons, one of them changed my life forever. I would never dare to call them faggots.
There is a bunch of valuable and shit people out there and they can equally be gays, lesbians, blacks, whites, jews or whatever, absolutely whatever.
But even when you think someone deserves your insults, what gives you the right to point your finger (as I did with the sensors)?
When you make these kind of reasonings, you realize how hard is to find stable schemes.
And even when you may think that we need to balance the majorities with the minorities, if you’re not thinking what you do, you can make a counterproductive, big, giant act of stupidity like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMeetsFKennedy JMFK

Well, in my opinion all censors are a bunch of FUCKING FAGGOTS. Fucking pussies.
I have met many gay persons, one of them changed my life forever. I would never dare to call them faggots.
There is a bunch of valuable and shit people out there and they can equally be gays, lesbians, blacks, whites, jews or whatever, absolutely whatever.
But even when you think someone deserves your insults, what gives you the right to point your finger (as I did with the sensors)?
When you make these kind of reasonings, you realize how hard is to find stable schemes.
And even when you may think that we need to balance the majorities with the minorities, if you’re not thinking what you do, you can make a counterproductive, big, giant act of stupidity like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMeetsFKennedy JMFK

Well, in my opinion all censors are a bunch of FUCKING FAGGOTS. Fucking pussies.
I have met many gay persons, one of them changed my life forever. I would never dare to call them faggots.
There is a bunch of valuable and shit people out there and they can equally be gays, lesbians, blacks, whites, jews or whatever, absolutely whatever.
But even when you think someone deserves your insults, what gives you the right to point your finger (as I did with the sensors)?
When you make these kind of reasonings, you realize how hard is to find stable schemes.
And even when you may think that we need to balance the majorities with the minorities, if you’re not thinking what you do, you can make a counterproductive, big, giant act of stupidity like this one.
Russs

What a JOKE !…..Art is doomed .
Russs

What a JOKE !…..Art is doomed .
Paddym_13

Please with the ‘censored’ bullshit. I am shit-sure i can still easily buy this CD anywhere i want and play it without getting arrested. You can’t hear any Gangsta rap track unedited on muchmusic up here either. or Fuck you by Cee-lo. Go to any Islamic theocracy to see what happens to people who write songs the people in power dont like. White people problems….
Paddym_13

Please with the ‘censored’ bullshit. I am shit-sure i can still easily buy this CD anywhere i want and play it without getting arrested. You can’t hear any Gangsta rap track unedited on muchmusic up here either. or Fuck you by Cee-lo. Go to any Islamic theocracy to see what happens to people who write songs the people in power dont like. White people problems….
Paddym_13

That is the dumbest comment i have read on here ever.