Wednesday, April 02, 2008
One Story, Two Comments [Andrew Stuttaford]
Here's a revealing story from the
Daily Telegraph about comedian Ben Elton (who is I should add, not exactly a man of the right):
The BBC is too scared to make jokes about Islam, the comedian Ben Elton has claimed. Elton, who is also a scriptwriter and author, accused the corporation of being too concerned with political correctness for not allowing jokes about imams but allowing ones vicars. He said: "I think it all starts with people nodding whenever anyone says 'As a person of faith...' "And I believe that part of it is due to the genuine fear that the authorities and the communities have about provoking the radical elements of Islam. "There is no doubt about it, the BBC will let vicar gags pass but they would not let imam gags pass." Elton, who has written scripts for BBC comedies Blackadder and the Thin Blue Line, said the BBC might pretend that this reluctancy had something to do with moral sensibilities. "But it isn't. It's because they're scared," he said. Speaking in an interview with Third Way, a Christian culture magazine, he added: "I wanted to use the phrase 'Mohammed came to the mountain' and everybody said, 'Oh, just don't! Just don't! Don't go there! "It was nothing to do with Islam, I was merely referring to the old proverb, 'If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.' And people just said, 'Let's not!' It's incredible.
This rings all too true - and it's very sad. When it comes to humor, no ideology, religious or otherwise, should be off limits.
This, on the other hand, strikes me as being nonsense at best, weasel-worded at worst:
A BBC spokesman said: "No subject is off limits for BBC comedy. The treatment should not cause harm or offence as defined by the BBC's Editorial Guidelines or breach other BBC Guidelines. There is no evidence that the BBC is afraid to tackle difficult subjects."
Ah yes, 'guidelines'...
04/02 09:57 AM
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