#&¢% Censorship

We seem to have gotten to the point where it's become standard to give television shows names with expletives in them ("Who the Bleep Did I Marry", "Bleep My Dad Says"). I don't know about anyone else, but I see absolutely no point in making the censored words so blatantly obvious with bleeps, be they in audio form or visual (the latter called "grawlix", according to Dribbleglass). We're in the digital age, and, in short, I propose this:

We got standard-def and high-def versions of the channels on our systems; perhaps we should have censored and uncensored versions of the channels as well. The TV service can put an option in the guide for a "censored only" list to please the Christians. We got an HD-only list option on our system, we should be able to do a censored-only list. The puritan-descendants can use that list...put a lock on for the kids...and the rest of us can kick back and enjoy the shows as they were meant to be.

'Cause let's face it: some of these shows have characters speaking in sentences that are nearly completely made of obscenities, and we hear an occasionally interrupted beep. What's the point of airing these things in the first place? Viewers of these things know what they're watching and are perfectly comfortable with all the violence, sex and general dysfunction. What difference will a handful of (frequently used) four-letter words and their variations make?


Those are the [words] that'll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war.

—George Carlin