Censorship is a b****

There is a time and place for censorship, but it seems to be becoming more widespread on the internet. A place where regardless of what it is, you can find it if you really want to look for it. Sometimes, this censorship affects us in our day to day offline lives too, and it can be baffling at that.

When I was a young lad, all that time ago, Alanis Morissette had the hit song 'Bitch'. It was uncensored and the controversial word was in the title. While it has an intended usage as the term for a female dog, this was not its purpose within the song. The song was played on the radio and many paid it no heed. It was just another word within another song.

Years later, we found YouTube to be a Godsend. No longer was it necessary to call into a radio station and wait for hours until the requested song was played. Just type it in and away you go. While I am for supporting artists, it is baffling when songs hit VEVO and become edited, especially when there is no way to watch the uncensored versions. This is particularly true in the case of rap videos. It's utterly pointless listening to most of these on VEVO. It becomes two minutes of silence with the occasional beat thrown in for good measure.

What is interesting is when rap hit mainstream radio. Suddenly it became acceptable to play it during the day, but the naughty words still had to be taken out. The most prominent example in my mind is when a local station played Eminem's "Ass Like That". Now it contains that particular lyric a number of times within a four minute window. Each and every time, the word "ass" was removed...Only for the radio presenter to come on at the end and announce the song name in full. What was the point of that exercise?

If there is a song that I'm unfamiliar with, and I hear silence that appears out of place, I immediately become more curious as to what should be there. When I was younger, one of those songs was "Fat Lip" by Sum 41. The word "gas" is censored in the line, "all the gas you've been huffing". Without the silence, it would have been another lyric but when censored, it becomes all the more interesting. The same occurred recently in the song "Like a G6"; why is "slizzard" a bad word? - "when we drink, we do it right gettin' slizzard". Yes, it means drunk, but it's not going to add to the problem of underage drinking.

Why stop with that word? Lady Gaga is responsible for plenty of dodgy thoughts, lyrics and videos. Yet is left practically in touch. Listen to any given song and there will be some examples that shouldn't be sung by her target market. Maybe I have no innocence left, but what is the difference? Where is the line between OK and banned? And why are children allowed to sing about, "going for a ride on a disco stick"?

The main reason that this has come to a head is the release of Mortal Kombat Legacy. For those not in the know, it is a web series based on the game, Mortal Kombat. It is gritty, grimy and apparently subject to censorship. I would advise checking it out. BUT watch the uncensored videos. As someone commented, Mortal Kombat without violence is like Street Fighter without Hadoukens. If you don't want spoilers, look away now - go watch the series.

I have really enjoyed the series so far. However, episode 2 bothered me. The early release showed Jax punching Kano's eye out - resulting in the half bionic face. However, this was removed in an edited version. This removal makes the opening two episodes pointless. They act as a background to how the characters come to be and interact, and yet we're losing the knowledge about Jax and Kano, and how Kano loses an eye. It's graphic but viewers will quickly realise that someone could throw jam at the camera for the same effect. Interestingly, there is also a surgery scene where Kano's eye is replaced. This is present in both episodes despite being far more graphic and uncomfortable.

Episode 3 was the straw that broke the camel's back. It centres around Johnny Cage. It is full of grit, adversity and swearing...or silence if you watch the censored version. It breaks the tone and feel of the series. It actually came close to ruining that episode for me. I went back and watched the real version when it was released later in the week and it is so much better. From here on out, I will only be watching the uncensored cuts.

There is a time and a place for censorship. A series based on Mortal Kombat is neither.