A Rant Against People Who Don't Actually Know What Censorship Is

Our local NBC affiliate decided to drop the show Hannibal after many of their viewers emailed them to complain about the show's violent and graphic nature. It was interesting to read some of the reactions to their decision. While many applauded the station, many more were angry and upset. Their arguments generally ran along these lines: "Stupid Mormons!" "That's censorship!" "If you don't like a show, just don't watch it, but don't ruin it for the rest of us!" "Your kids should be in bed anyway by the time the show airs. What kind of horrible parents are you that your kids are watching TV at 9pm?" There were also some comments that are simply unfit to repeat.

As a parent of children, I have long since become so disgusted with regular network programming that we have let it disappear from our lives. I only like PBS stations, but as I never contribute to their fundraising drives, it's just as well I don't watch their network programming anymore. We pick and choose what we watch through subscription online streaming where there are no commercials and where we can exhibit some control. It's certainly cheaper than cable, and you're not paying for dozens of stations you never watch anyway.

Not only is the quality of so very many network shows abysmal -- pandering to the lowest common denominator of humor and wit, or just an endless lineup of cheap "reality" television -- but I am sick of the commercials. As one parent pointed out, even if she didn't watch Hannibal, and she certainly didn't allow her children to watch, she didn't have any control over the promotional spots for the program. The 30-second spots were so disturbing that she had to change the channel whenever they popped up unexpectedly.

Should the station have let the show go? I don't care one way or the other, and the reason is this: it's a privately owned station and they can do what they want. If they want to make a profit, they have to follow the market forces. Obviously, more people complained about the show than showed gratitude and support for it, and that influenced their decision. The station repeatedly stated that it was a decision that wasn't made lightly. The moral of the story is that if you like something, you better tell the product maker or store owner or television station what you like and why so that it's more likely to stay around. If you don't like something enough to make a fuss about it, do it. You are being listened to.

As for the people who complained about self-righteous Mormons ruining their fun and forcing censorship on their victimized heads, well, you should have said something to the station, I guess. You don't have to be LDS to have morals and wish that entertainment hadn't descended to the crap that most of it has become. And you can find whatever you want anyway, if you look hard enough. Hannibal moved to the CW, so no one is censoring you; just change the channel. What happened isn't censorship, anyway. If they took away the show and then threatened you with harm if you spoke up about it, and especially if they had the force of the federal government's guns and weapons to back them up, that would be censorship. What happened with Hannibal isn't censorship.What happened was a market-driven decision.

And as a philosophical question, is there a reason that we must fill our lives with increasingly more horrifying and nasty depictions of the darkest side of human nature? For what purpose, exactly? To bask in the fact that no one is pushing any sort of morality at you, which might be misconstrued as (shudder) religion? I don't really expect an answer to that. I can't think of any reason why it's a good choice.

What is happening in the military to those who have Christian faith, now THAT is censorship. A stupid television show being moved to a different channel just means you have to reprogram your DVR.