Censoring Art

Hello there. After much deliberation, I've decided to link to my nonsense here from my Facebook page. I'm sure I'll come to regret that, but hardly anyone'll find this otherwise. So don't de-friend me for anything I might babble about on here, 'cuz that'll make me a sad panda. What's that? You're not even reading this to begin with? Okay then, I guess there won't be a problem.

On to business. It came to my attention a few months back that a certain radio station that shall remain nameless (WHOT 101.1 FM Hot 101 out of Youngstown, Ohio) had perversely edited The Script's "Break Even" to excise the line, "Just prayed to a god that I don't believe in," which appears twice in the song. They replaced it with the line, "But no wise words gonna stop the bleedin'," the second line from the second verse, in hopes that no one would notice. Well, guess what, radio station (that's Hot 101, Youngstown)? I have no life, and I damn sure noticed it.

There are a couple problems with this. First of all, plopping that line in for the original one makes that edited verse a tad nonsensical. Instead of the actual verse, which goes:

I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathin'.

Just prayed to a god that I don't believe in.

we have:

I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathin'.

But no wise words gonna stop the bleedin'.

Now, I probably don't need to go into why having two "but"s in a row doesn't work, but I'd like to belabor the point anyway. "But" is a conjunction that's generally used to signify a contradiction of some kind. "I love you, BUT you make me really mad." "You're a smart guy, BUT you're acting like a moron." You get the idea. Now apply it to the lyrics.

"I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathin'" works just the way it should. I'm still alive (awesome), BUT I'm barely breathing (not so awesome). Contradiction. Nicely done.

Now continue with the next line in the edited version. "...I'm barely breathin', but no wise words gonna stop the bleedin'." Er, what? We've already established that barely breathing sucks, but wise words failing to comfort also sucks. This is not a contradiction. Thus, "but" is the wrong conjunction to use. You want an "and" there, pal.

I guess that's not something you take into consideration when you're copying/pasting lyrics around in different parts of the song.

What would drive this radio station (101.1 FM) to such madness? This was the only alteration made to the song. What exactly was so offensive about that line? It didn't contain any profanity, graphic material, or references to violence or sex. I don't get it. I really don't see...

What's that? Oh, he said he didn't believe in a god. Yeah, that's a no-no. Hellfire and brimstone-type stuff there, son. We're gonna have to chop up your song so we don't offend any of our sensitive listeners. By expressing yourself in the ultimate form of self-expression, you're infringing upon the right of the oddly insecure religious majority to not have to listen to have the option of listening to anything they might disagree with. We expect much better from you next time. Rap about your ho's and gunning people down, thanking God along the way, and you'll be set.

Alright, I'm probably overreacting. Look how long I've rambled on about this thing that probably no one else noticed or cared about. I just find this insane. I'm against censorship in general, especially when it comes to art. But really, you're not allowed to say you don't believe in God anymore? It's not even what the song's about. It's just an incidental line showing how desperate he is.

I smell a rat. I haven't seen any other radio station pull this with this song, so something's going on with this one (WHOT Youngstown, Ohio). Is Pat Robertson a sponsor? Are they gonna switch to all Christian rock?

I'll just say I'm disappointed. I was disappointed with you (Hot 101) during your "Real Variety" stint, and I'm disappointed with you now. And I know you really, really care.

Okay, I gotta stop. I'm all riled up.

Any thoughts on censorship? I'd be happy to hear some other examples. When is it good and when is it bad? How do you feel about this example? Do you like The Script? Do you think I'm an asshole? Comments welcome.