Heh, this is confusing.

I certainly don't approve of censorship, and I think the American with "profane language" is incredibly silly. Half the people in this freedom-banner-carrying country are apparantly scared shitless (pun intended) that their children may hear the word "fuck". If it wasn't so sad I'd laugh my ass of.

However, what confuses me, is that I think that "Saving Private Ryan" is actually an awfull choice to show on Memorial Day when ones country is engaged in war. No matter if the film is pro or contra war it certainly shows the horrors of war (at least until the end when the Americans kick some German ass in a true Hollywood ending), and it must be a tough film to see for anyone with relatives engaged in war. That is not saying that it shouldn't be shown, but at a later time perhaps - there is no need to put it on during prime time, in my oppinion.

Whether or not we aprove of the Iraq situation, I think one of the better points made by the protesters in 2003 was that they were not against the American troops, but against the leaders who sent them to war. "Support our troops - bring them home!" is a splendid slogan, and I think that following this view one could support the troops' relatives by not showing this particular film during prime time on Memorial Day. To me that would be courtesy, not censorship. Danish radio (and probably loads others) did something similar after 9/11. A lot of the songs played on radio are picked by a computer, in order to ensure variation. Songs that might relate to the terrorist attack were taken off the computer - that didn't mean they couldn't be played, any presenter who wanted to could pick any song he wanted, but they weren't selected randomly.

However, the argument concerning the relatives of the troops has apparently not been used at all in this discussion, and that is really sad. If the people who protested actually cared for the troops, but protested because of "profane language" then they are apparantly afraid that their real argument will not be respected by those opposing the war - and choosing phony justifications is always a bad route in politics.

qanatoli