It's nice when one person can share with another how someone is being a thorn in their side, isn't it? I was talking with a friend of mine who is in a band. He brought up being at an autograph table and someone brought up the Transformers movie, which they had recently seen. A youth pastor mentioned that he didn't like all the profanity in it. My friend couldn't bear to keep quiet. "You're kidding, right?" He infered that the only words he remembered was "pissed off" (and another one I can't remember). Certainly mild compared to most movies.
It's always interesting when two cultures intersect or collide. There are always differences. For us in the USA, saying "that's a bloody mess" is an innocent phrase that reminds some of us of our neighbors in England and their British accents. According to Brits, however, the metaphor of "bloody" used to color or describe something else is likened to a mockery of the blood of Christ, and is quite offensive. In Australia, the word "fanny" (or "fannie") does not refer to the derriere, but is instead quite a rude reference to a female body part. The old "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" song would have a rather off-color remark in it if sung to an Australian audience. I'm told that "to root, root-root for the home team..." would imply some physical behavior that would easily be classified as "sinful." But to millions of US citizens, it's an innocent and fun song to be sung with others during the seventh inning "stretch."
Recently someone's wife emailed me, asking me to justify my DVD reviews in HM Magazine. In their eyes, a review of a DVD in HM Magazine equals an endorsement of said movie. If a movie has a high rating of "cuss words" in it, it should never have been reviewed. My perspective, obviously, is different. I try to pick movies that are either popular with our audience; or are movies I know something about and happen to think will be of special interest to our readers. If one of these movies has lots of cusswords or explicit sex or gory "blood and guts" in it, I know that some of our readers would like to know this about the film. This information might help them make a decision on whether to watch it or not. Some people are so turned off at profanity that they might walk out of a theater if the movie is full of it. I see my information as a non-judgmental way of informing my diverse audience. Some believers don't have the same sort of strong adverse reactions to profanity in a film they're watching. For them, if I took a strong, strict and conservative approach and included lots of personal bias against profanity or something in a review, it would likely narrow my audience in a tactless way that could easily be avoided by a little restraint.
Having to explain this to a person that sees movies in black & white can be an exercise in futility for someone with my attitudes/beliefs/convictions that's in my position. Many of my friends would just avoid this type of conflict. Some people "won't dignify such and such with a comment." Some won't "suffer fools." I think they see engaging in a debate about something so petty as being a waste of time. I realized this as I went in, as well as my incredibly long To-Do list, but I nevertheless endeavored to dialog with this person.
I think we have to "pick our battles." None of us can fight every battle that comes our way. Same with opportunities. I probably shouldn't have picked this one. It's been draining and discouraging. But it really makes me appreciate encouragement when I get it.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at November 2, 2007 09:46 AM