Epiphany, Liberty, Modernity
"It" happened a couple of days ago. I reached the point where I wondered
whatever had gone wrong with the world. I usually kid myself I'm way
too young for such pessimistic musings, but sitting on a bus, surrounded
by argument and aggression, I finally reached the point where I
admitted that some days I'm not too fond of modern society. Please don't
misunderstand: I'm naturally liberal-minded, don't expect the world to
play like a Disney film, and I'm certainly not one of those
straight-arrow sorts who are absolute in their confidence that their
personal mark of comfort marks precisely the level of censorship to
which we should all adhere. I have little problem with cursing, have
been known to throw a fair few around myself, I can happily watch films
containing what the British Board of Film Classification call 'strong
language' or 'violence' when it's relevant to the story. Although, on
the subject of these classifications, I've often wondered whether they
actually do more harm than good. The tv companies now seem to show
warnings before almost any broadcast. 'This programme contains adult
themes' and 'moderate sex' are among their favourites. Although quite
what the latter means, I'm yet to establish.
But what I really don't understand is the nannying of a society that
tells us , before a showing of the classic family tale 'The Railway
Children' - certificate U, by the way - that it 'contains scenes of
characters in danger', yet appears to have a laissez-faire attitude to
the behaviour of real people. While I was sitting on a bus on the way to
town I certainly began to wish that we had a censorship board for every
day life. At the front a couple of surly teenagers discussed, using
what those censors would no doubt call 'mild language' the anticipated
fate of their friend, whose court hearing for some alcohol-fuelled
misdemeanour was later that day. A few rows behind them a young couple
argued. As her boyfriend casually stroked her thigh, the girl loudly
chided him for some insult he'd hurled at her in earshot of his friends.
Although the girl's apparent reticence did not prevent her from
broadcasting their argument to 30-odd assorted passengers and the scene
containing "strong language and scenes of a sexual nature' continued
unabated.
But the most alarming little scene was playing out behind me. On the
back seat of the bus two young men - one a scruffy looking man wearing
an overcoat that should long ago have been taken for dry-cleaning, if
not thrown out entirely, the other an overly-neat lad, with
close-cropped hair and wearing far too much aftershave were barking
insults at one another. What had started out as a debate over the
second lad mistakenly sitting on the corner of the coat of the first,
had quickly first degenerated into accusations of ill-intent, speedily
evolved towards mutual nasty threats and was, any moment now I was
certain, edging towards 'scenes of bloody violence'. As I looked around
for an escape route and wondered whether either might be concealing a
knife, the pair suddenly quietened down. I wasn't sure whether this was
good or bad. After all either might, even then, have been preparing to
silence their tormentor. As it happened the story came to a quick
denouement as the bus reached its destination, and most of the
passengers disgorged none the wiser to the Quentin Tarantinoesque scene
that had occurred. Even the warring lovers now seemed content to
indulge in only 'mild slapstick violence' as they batted each other
playfully, and I watched as the two young men strode off in reassuringly
disparate directions.
But as I stood there I had an epiphany. Just when did it become so
commonplace for ordinary, everyday arguments to escalate into acts of
such terrible violence that I would fear for my own safety on a bus ride
from a peaceful suburb to the city centre? When did couples decide it
was appropriate to discuss the ups and downs of their relationship
within earshot of strangers? And when did it become a boast, rather
than a moment of shame, for teenagers to reveal their drunken
misbehaviour?
Some people claim that what people are exposed to on tv and on DVDs is
responsible, but I don't buy that. Most of us know what it right and
wrong, what's acceptable and what's not or at least we did when we were
kids. Just because we sometimes see a different set of rules on a small
screen in the corner of our sitting room doesn't change that. And if tv
and films are so influencial, why is it only the negative behaviours
that we take on?
Blaming tv simply absolves people of responsibility for their own
behaviour. And I don't necessarily blame 'the parents' either. There are
plenty of adults of all ages, some born and raised well before the age
of so-called liberalism, who are every bit as guilty as the young.
I don't have an answer. I wish I did. I wish someone did because I fear
that, unless we have a huge shift in thinking, or more of us dare to
take a stand, before long there'll be nothing left to preserve. And all
the censorship in the world won't matter one jot.