A story that brings to Reuters, with January 14, tells us that Canadian radio stations have received a notice from the government to censor the hit "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, following a complaint that the lyrics of the song won several awards (including a Grammy) impair homosexuals.
A string of St. John's, Newfoundland, you must edit the song to remove the word "fagot" (fag) because it violates human rights standards in Canada, according to a ruling by the independent supervisory board Broadcast Standards Council. An anonymous
OZ FM listeners in the province of the Atlantic Coast complained last year to industry observer after hearing the song, recorded a duet between the leader of Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, Sting and his colleague.
The lyrics of the song, on the question, reads as follows:
"See the little fagot with the earring and the makeup - Yeah buddy That's his own hair-That little fagot got his own jet airplane - That little fagot he's a millionaire "
" See that all daubed maricon earring - Yes, my friend, is your own hair - that fag has his own plane - that fag is a millionaire. "
The council said it knows that Dire Straits uses the word in a sarcastic way and that its use could have been accepted in 1985, when he left the hit album "Brothers in Arms", but said it now is inappropriate.
"The final decision is not related to the Dire Straits song, the decision is related to the word," said Ron Cohen, chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. OZ FM
unsuccessfully claimed that the issue has been reproduced countless times since its launch 25 years ago, has won several awards including a Grammy in 1986 and remains popular in the world.
The decision comes after a controversy sparked by a U.S. scholar who decided to publish an edition of the novel Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" without the word "nigger" to be less offensive to some readers.
Although the decision affects only Dire Straits Station St John's, implies that other radios in the country could face problems if they make the song without censorship.
Broadcast Standards Council The council is a nongovernmental group that manages industry ethical standards for its members, Canada's private broadcasters.
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particular we believe this action is an exaggeration, for 2 reasons:
1) If we start from this view as sensitive, should be banned not only the songs that use offensive terms for homosexuality, but also for any offensive term directed toward any group of people and for any reason (skin color, sexual orientation, physical appearance, nationality, religion, etc, etc etc), otherwise we would be facing a situation of injustice and unequal treatment. For example, why a person discriminated against by their status as gay must be defended and a person discriminda its physical range condition of obese children? ... Clearly, that is for everyone or for nobody. At this point, then, following the same logic, we should prohibit, at least half artistic works.
2) That said, we came to a second theme is the collision of rights protected by the defense of freedom of expression. And this is a great and old who Mailing, although we go beyond this point, we must remember that censorship, rarely, was the hand of democracy and freedom.
Apart from that, the subject is censored, also was recorded by Sting ... and Who can accuse a person of dicriminar sting? Just someone who has been characterized by his fight for human rights. If we add that this is a song that has more than 25 years and belongs to a band that unfortunately no longer exists, and it is very difficult to re-edit it ... what then the solution would simply prohibit and eliminate ?...¿ the face of the earth?. Beyond
we accept that there are contrary opinions, we repeat that we regard this as excessive and unnecessary.
Europa Press brings us news that in Guadalajara (Mexico), 2 musicians were killed Monday in a bar in that town, after they refused to continue playing as I asked those who later turned out to be his murderers. 
