Veteran's Day came and went, and for most of us on campus it didn't mean much more than a break from classes and an extra night at Casey Moore's.
But it is important as a nation to honor those men and women who have served, and sometimes given their lives, in defense of our country.
That's why last Thursday night, ABC's airing of the uncut version of "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning 1998 film depicting the Allied invasion of Normandy, was a right and brave decision. By airing the film unedited for television, ABC preserved the reality of the violence and language of combat, things we should be especially aware of on Veteran's Day.
It's also why I disagree with the more than 20 ABC affiliates who refused to air the uncut version. These television stations decided to cave in to protest groups -- such as the American Family Association in Mississippi -- and to possible fines from the Federal Communications Commission that might result from airing the "objectionable" material in "Saving Private Ryan."
Decision-makers at these stations correctly perceive that the current movement in this country is trying to edge us back into an era of quaintness and Puritanical prudery. So, rather than bravely airing the film to honor our country's veterans, these stations decided to yield to the pressure of the easily outraged.
And the FCC (which I've heard is considering a name change to Federal Censorship Commission) makes things worse because they view all content over the public airwaves without considering context.
For example, "Saving Private Ryan" and some exploitative comedy might use the f-word. But the FCC and people such as film critic and curse counter Michael Medved make it their business to censor on behalf of others. They give the same weight to profanity used in the exploitative comedy as they do to an important film like "Saving Private Ryan," even though one film might be intended as tawdry entertainment and the other as art and history.
To them, the f-word is the f-word, whether it's uttered in the senseless banter between two dumb characters in a comedy or cried out in agony by a wounded soldier in a serious film. Censors are often so hell-bent on telling us what we should object to they become oblivious to differences in situation or intent.
Ironically, the FCC seems to have few standards when it comes to broadcasting violence over public airwaves. Television shows can't utter what comedian George Carlin famously referred to as the "seven dirty words," but they can routinely show mutilated murder victims or graphic autopsies on shows like "Law and Order" and "CSI." The message is that sex and language are bad to depict but violent crime, murder and human savagery are OK.
The FCC and morals groups raise nary an outcry against entertainment that features violent crime (often against women), but it's a national scandal when Janet Jackson's breast accidentally pops out.
So, in essence, we live in a nation in which the sight of a woman's naked breast is far more offensive than murder, despite the fact we've all seen countless naked breasts and almost none of us have witnessed a murder. Is this what the people who re-elected President Bush mean when they talk about "moral values?"
It's true that anyone who wants to watch "Saving Private Ryan" can rent or buy the DVD and watch it free of any constraints by the FCC. But ABC, by airing the film on network television in primetime, means to foster a shared sense of history and experience. The idea is that as a nation we can collectively remember and give thanks to veterans. Families can sit down together and educated adults can answer questions from children about a pivotal and harrowing time in our nation's history.
We need more of that communal acknowledgement of the tragedies and sacrifices in our history. The FCC can help by, at least a couple times a year anyway, staying the *bleep* out of our business.
Michael Green is pursuing graduate degrees in creative writing and film and media studies. Send him your sane and rational comments to michael.b.green@asu.edu.
