Don’t Censor Me _ _ _ Dammit

Monday, May 12, 2008

In September of 2005 Panic at the Disco released a song called “I write sins not tragedies.” Here are the first few lines…


I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Oh, well imagine; as I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor,
and I can't help but to hear, no I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words.
"What a beautiful wedding!, What a beautiful wedding!" says a bridesmaid to a waiter.
"Oh yes, but what a shame, what a shame, the poor groom's bride is a whore."

Well, I'd chime in with a "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?!"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality.
I'd chime in "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?!"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of.....


Honestly, the song’s kind of weird and there’s nothing inherently captivating about Panic at the Disco themselves. But what strikes me when I hear the song on the radio (versus when I hear it on my iPod) is the way it was edited for playtime over the airwaves.

If you read the lyrics you probably noticed that I Write Sins Not Tragedies contains a mildly offensive phrase by today's standards -- “God damn.” Evidently in 2005 the FCC wouldn’t allow a phrase like that to be aired, so the song’s producers were faced with a choice – which word would they edit?

The logical choice would have been to bleep the “damn” part of the phrase, but as anyone who has ever heard the song on the radio can attest, that’s not what they did.

They bleeped out “God.”

"Haven't you people ever heard of closing the BLEEP damn door?!" the song goes.

Every time I’m driving down the road and I hear the song I’m struck by the fact that we live in a culture that finds the word “God” more offensive word than the word “Damn.”

Why?

Spirituality is popular.

Finding meaning and higher consciousness is all the rage.

So why would the concept of God be a socially unfit topic of public discourse?

Here’s my take:

There are two basic rules upon which modern-day culture operates:

Rule #1: Everyone’s ideas, beliefs and lifestyles must be embraced, celebrated, and tolerated.

Rule #2: The only ideas, beliefs and lifestyles to be excluded from public discourse are those that keep us from obeying rule #1.

In America, when people say the word “God” 99.9% of the time it’s shorthand for Jesus.

Not coincidentally Jesus doesn’t give a rip about following Rule #1. Not in the least.

So Rule #2 comes into play.

Here's the un-censored video version of the song on YouTube. Unfortunately the FCC hasn't started censoring lousy video-making yet...



Read other posts in this series:
Shuffling God In My iPod
Don’t Censor Me _ _ _ Dammit
Neil Young’s Million-Dollar Question
How To Raise Kids That Hate Christianity
If I Were To Lose My Faith Again, It Would Be Over This