Quote of the day

Just love this quote from Ricky Gervais

“Just because you are offended doesn’t mean you are right,” Gervais said of his critics. “People fall into this myth that I’m a shock comedian. I’ve never been that. People say I crossed the line but I didn’t draw the fucking line, you did.”

if only the censorious catholics understand this.

Magbasa ka naman

Ilan pang mga katoliko na nagpo protesta sa exhibit ng CCP ang nagtanong 

"It was created by law and funded by our taxes for the purpose of awakening the consciousness of our people to our cultural heritage," Imbong said.

"Is it our cultural heritage to mock and insult religious personages and icons? Is it aesthetic to vandalize a venerated representation of objects of worship and reverence? Is vulgarity and blasphemy a Filipino value? What Filipino pride can emerge for such works? Is this our national identity? And CCP promotes it?" she asked.

Manang, basahin niyo po itong mga gawaing ito:  Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, Dasalan at Tuksuhan, Fray Botod, tapos saka mo itanong ulit yang mga tanong mo.

Censored

I admit it, I'm behind my reading list. I just came across this PDI article about Liveleak hosting a video critical of Islam and the swirling controversy around it. I liked the quote from the Liveleak site

"A person has a simple, clear choice about whether to view this film ... If you click on media simply to be annoyed, it is pointless to blame others for your choice."

Precisely the point. If your a Muslim and do not wish to be offended, then do not watch the film. Unfortunately, there were still people who chose to watch the film and be offended.

Rather than stop watching the film or rebutting the allegations one by one, they preferred no one watches the film altogether. These people threatened the staff of the site so they would remove the offending material. When I tried today to see what the brouhaha was all about, I see this.


Trying to dispel the image of Islam as a violent religion by threatening violence against people seems to me to be counterproductive. But hey, that's just me.

Censoring Lois Lane

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that ABC news

"...confirmed that a remark made by actress Teri Hatcher's character in a recent episode of "Desperate Housewives" which has prompted ,angry reactions from Filipinos all over the world will be deleted.

It is believed that ABC made this decision after

"Rico Foz, executive vice president of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, said the group was demanding that the ABC television network immediately edit out the controversial scene..."

Now, I am on record (its comment #7) that I believe that racism influenced the crafting of the remarks but c'mon, you want to delete it? Historical revisionism at it's best, sure Desperate Housewives is not Shakespeare but what is? Do we as a nation really want to be part of censoring things offensive to us?

And since I am already on this subject, why are people shooting the messenger? Teri Hatcher, who will always be Lois Lane to me, was the actor, she delivered the line, yet a lot of the vitriol I hear or read centers on her, c'mon people let us be more discriminating.