Boycott!
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I’ve decided to boycott any films I’m unlikely to find educational, enlightening, amusing or entertaining.
And I’m seriously thinking about extending this idea to other forms of media too, like books, DVDs, newspapers, radio stations and websites. If they don’t offer me something worthwhile, I will read/ watch/ buy/ listen to/ surf somewhere else instead.
However, I’ve decided not to call a national boycott on anything I find offensive, distasteful, bland or boring.
Firstly I like the idea of free speech, and that means if I want to be able to express my opinions on anything, I have to allow people to express other ideas with which I profoundly disagree.
Secondly, calling for a national boycott only serves to promote and advertise the very thing I’m trying to turn people away from, while at the same time making me look like I have a closed mind.
Remember when the Sex Pistols shot to Number 1 in the charts after their song, “God Save the Queen” was banned by the BBC?
Remember how Monty Python used the condemning statements of “Life of Brian” by archbishops as a promotional tool?
Remember how you’d never heard of Salman Rushdie until he had a Fatwa placed on his head for writing “The Satanic Verses”?
Remember what you thought about the people calling for the bans, boycotts and fatwas?
But when it comes down to it, I’m a philosopher, not a politician. I want to help people think for themselves, not tell people what to think.
So if anyone wants to know if they should boycott this or that film I’ll have to say, “Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me, you don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!” *
*No bonus points for correctly guessing which film this quote comes from, but minus several million if you get it wrong
.
I’ve decided to boycott any films I’m unlikely to find educational, enlightening, amusing or entertaining.
And I’m seriously thinking about extending this idea to other forms of media too, like books, DVDs, newspapers, radio stations and websites. If they don’t offer me something worthwhile, I will read/ watch/ buy/ listen to/ surf somewhere else instead.
However, I’ve decided not to call a national boycott on anything I find offensive, distasteful, bland or boring.
Firstly I like the idea of free speech, and that means if I want to be able to express my opinions on anything, I have to allow people to express other ideas with which I profoundly disagree.
Secondly, calling for a national boycott only serves to promote and advertise the very thing I’m trying to turn people away from, while at the same time making me look like I have a closed mind.
Remember when the Sex Pistols shot to Number 1 in the charts after their song, “God Save the Queen” was banned by the BBC?
Remember how Monty Python used the condemning statements of “Life of Brian” by archbishops as a promotional tool?
Remember how you’d never heard of Salman Rushdie until he had a Fatwa placed on his head for writing “The Satanic Verses”?
Remember what you thought about the people calling for the bans, boycotts and fatwas?
But when it comes down to it, I’m a philosopher, not a politician. I want to help people think for themselves, not tell people what to think.
So if anyone wants to know if they should boycott this or that film I’ll have to say, “Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me, you don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!” *
*No bonus points for correctly guessing which film this quote comes from, but minus several million if you get it wrong
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