BBC censorship gone mad

They've banned the playing of it on the chart show.

 

Don't! Stop buying it as soon as we can be fairly sure it's at number 1, and then start buying it again next week.

In some ways this is the best possible outcome. Not only will it go down in history as "one of the songs banned by the BBC" (thus giving people in the future another chance to realise that she was not universally loved and that this press-engineered hagiography misses a crucial part of the story) but Thatcher herself would probably have hated the decision.

 

Has this train of thought been applied before? Didn't the Tory Mp's sing and dance in parliament whilst the chancellor WS cutting welfare for the disabled?

 

What , like Mad Dave saying that North Korea are going to bum us (well they can't bomb us so that must be what he meant)

 

the tory mp's had more or less 18 years of singing and dancing.Cheering like fukin kids at the feast in 1993 when they pushed through the closure of 30 odd pits,condeming thousands to to the dole que and sounding the death knell for what was left of dozens of communities in the aftermath of the strike.These closures were campaigned against from all walks of life including charities like the salvation army and Oxfam,from the church leaders including the archbishop of Canterbury and even from members of their own party,this was an act of political vandalism that destroyed thousands of lives and they cheered and whistled like they'd won a football match.
and some people wonder why the likes of myself offer no repect to thatcher.

 

They've censored a 1 minute song. It's so hilariously wrong Mr Orwell would no doubt jam a pen in his eye.

I'd suggest politely that people should sit down and ruminate on this for a few minutes in silence. It's extremely disturbing.

 

I dunno, it's just too light weight for me. It trivialises the real issues then and now. If I was Dave, I'd want it playing as much as possible, to take everyone's eye off the ball while I go out and fck up some other poor basterd.. I bet he dances around to it too, now he's out of her shadow. I bet he downloaded it. It's on his ipod.

 

True, but that's really besides the point of what's actually happening here.

 

All Tories coming on saying "well you know, dislike her policies but she deserves some respect in death.
No she doesn't her policies have killed thousands condemning them to premature deaths by poverty driven ideologies for those that got in the way of profits for the few.
Were supposed to stay silent while they hog the media and fill it with how wonderful she was with wave after fekin wave of sickly bile glorifying her contemptuous time as the leader of our country and that everything she did was for our own good.all this under the noses of communities she ransacked for the sake of profits for her lecherous followers hoping that if they give the best accolade a honour y come their way.
All this and then we have a very small minority from our own communities idolising her even though they have witnessed the devastation and hopelessness her policies wreaked upon their own.we do not live in a free democratic society just cos we can vote but by the freedoms of our citizens but it seems now all the power brokers have to do is get their media puppets to fill us with their thoughts and we follow like sheep.

 

No I can see what's happening. The BBC is caught between a rock and a hard place over it's policy of impartiality and what it regards as appropriate for it's overall audience. They are in an impossible situation and have made a decision guaranteed to piss off both sides and therefore protect it's neutrality. Had the BBC issued a total ban it could be construed as censorship. Any idea it has bowed to government pressure is wrong, the BBC is quite prepared to stand up to a current government as it has proved in the past. I actually find the absence of self interest in this situation quite admirable because they were bound to be hammered either way.

 

Why are they.
We aren't flipping idiots.
They do a show were i believe they play that week's most popular SONGS.
If i song get's in to top 10 then it's been bought a lot. If it makes the top 5 or top 3 then it's been sold a hell of a lot.
There's no trick for this song to be in top 10. people have bought this song and should it be in the top whatever they play then it should be in there.
BBC are a joke. They are meant to be independent from the government but all they are, are the government puppets. No better than what we see and people think are funny from the likes of NK....

 

Since when has the BBC been considered a government puppet, particularly when a Tory govt has been in power? Tories have always considered the BBC to be to the political left of Guardian readers.

I agree with your overall sentiment though - there's no need for censorship, IMO.

 

I agree with you but that's not the point. I won't be downloading it but if enough people do and it makes the charts it should be played in the same way as any other song would. Isn't that one of the basic principles of a democracy and a free society.

 

Aye, alreight Hemsworth. I wasn't talking to you but thanks for your well informed and enlightening response! It has completely changed my perspective on the whole subject.

 

the bbc was the strongest card the tories had during the strike,they vilified us from start to finish.It was unbelievable how you could go to a picket line and come home and see a completely different set of events on the telly,
their presenters were far more hostile to the miners than the itv were...and thank fu@k sky tv wasn't invented because things would have been even worse for us.

 

You need some perspective mate. Truly this sparrow-fart of an issue pales into insignificance when compared to the left's recent efforts to lock down increasing state regulation/censorship of the essentially free press in this country (against which I ought to point out Cameron was the only real dissenting voice), which, as opposed to this tiny non-issue, is a genuine example of the sinister activities/aspirations of the controlling authoritarian all-controlling state that was so presciently described by Orwell.

 

I dunno about this one. I'm an opponent of what Thatcher's government did as most people on here are, but I'm also uncomfortable about the BBC joining in with what is clearly a personal attack on an individual (who, despite her many many failings, has a family and has yet to be buried). I think they are doing the right thing in acknowledging the sales of the song this week, but not causing offence by playing the song in the context that put it in that position in the first place. All those who are saying it should be played because the charts are based on sales, etc, are being a tad naive. As far as I am concerned, the point has been made by the fact that the song is high in the charts and it is all over the news.

All this 'freedom of speech' argument is also missing the point, because freedom of speech doesn't mean that anyone has the right to say anything. A lot of people have the right to dislike Thatcher for what her government did to them/their communities and, let's face it, the north of England as a whole, but to start getting uppity about the BBC not playing Ding Dong the Witch is Dead in the days after her death, when it has been put in that position in the charts specifically to cause offence, is churlish. I'd be much more comfortable if the opposition to her government's policies and, more importantly, to the current government's policies is approached a bit more maturely. The row about whether this song gets played on the radio is really playing into the government's hands and makes us all look a bit flippant.

 

Quote "They do a show were i believe they play that week's most popular SONGS.
If i song get's in to top 10 then it's been bought a lot. If it makes the top 5 or top 3 then it's been sold a hell of a lot.
There's no trick for this song to be in top 10. people have bought this song and should it be in the top whatever they play then it should be in there."

They've not banned it mate but they do have the right if they so wish. Remember "God Save the Queen" and "Relax" both banned by the BBC. Just because people have bought it doesn't mean that it should be played over the airwaves irrespective of its content. I'm not saying that's the case with this one but you do have to have some form of censorship when required. What if that sick Sutcliffe song got to number 1 - you're advocating that it should be played because people have bought it. Mr C is right on this one.