Friday, October 12, 2007

Bye bye Boom Bye Bye?

Richard Smith pops a Guardian Music Blog onto the internet cautioning against making incitement to hatred on grounds of sexuality a crime:

It's also the legal equivalent of your mum saying she's going to go down your school to have a word with the bullies; all very nice and well-meaning, but totally counterproductive. A quick read of Eric D Nuzum's history of music censorship, Parental Advisory, should remind you how anyone who tries to ban a record ends up giving their target a cachet of rebel cool quicker than you can say "Relax, don't do it".

Really, Richard? You think that a law making this sort of hatred illegal would have the same effect as Mike Read banning Frankie Goes To Hollywood? You can't see a difference between banning a record because it's about sex, and banning a record because it calls for the murder of people because they're gay?

The broader point - that there's already a crime of incitement and the new proposal is making a well-meaning but ultimately confused attempt to criminalise some aspects of free speech - was also made by Christopher Biggins on Today earlier in the week. Discrimination and direct incitement are matters for the law to be involved in; I don't think Buju Banton should be given a platform to spout his bile from, but this should be a matter of morality and debate, and not one of legislation.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christopher Biggins was on the Today Show? Really? I assume you mean the one on Radio 4, rather than the one with Al Roker on NBC?

Unknown said...

IT would be lovely to see Biggins guesting on the festive "Al Be Home For Christmas" feature, but, even more unlikely though it sounds, he was being interviewed by John Humphrys.

eyetie said...

Christopher Biggins: known for his appearance in the Rocky Horror Picture Show and his occasional appearances on TV (Razzmatazz comes to mind).
Completely unlike Richard O'Brien then.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Richard O'Brien was never in Porridge, mind. Or Rentaghost.

I think both sides of those equations cancel each other out, don't they?

But Eyetie - are you confusing Razzamatazz, Tyne Tees' kids pop game show presented by Alistair Pirrie and Lisa Stansfield, with On Safari, TVS' kids jungle pop game show presented by Ali Pirrie lookalike Christopher Biggins and Gillian Taylforth?

Post a Comment

As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.