Shut Up & Sing

Another Un-American Act

Last month I wrote a column for The Bryan-College Station Eagle about the un-American act of banning books. Yes, despite the fact that we long ago left the dark ages, some folks here in this country still try, and sometimes succeed, to ban books—like Laura Mallory, an evangelical Christian in Georgia who wants the Harry Potter books banned from the library shelves of schools because they have “evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells, and they teach children all of this.” (And why is it that it is always zealous Christians, but not, say, animists, skeptics, wiccans, or atheists who demand the banning of books that contain themes that they don’t subscribe to? Hey, I'm just asking here.)

But, to get to the matter of this post, there are many other un-American acts committed by folks who consider themselves upstanding U.S. citizens--including the one just committed by NBC executives. According to a report in Variety yesterday, NBC has refused to air national ads (like this one) for the Dixie Chicks documentary "Shut Up & Sing" because the spots "are disparaging of President Bush.

Without doubt, our most disingenuous president has earned contempt. But, given the screwy system we’ve got concerning our “public” airways, NBC can legally choose to put just about whatever the hell it wants or doesn’t want on its network. Their refusal to air the Shut Up & Sing ads, however, on the ground that it may cause someone to think poorly about our president is self-censorship of opinion. And because NBC is supposed to be a steward of our public airwaves, I think their refusal is an un-American Act.

I guess ABC didn’t have this qualm about disparaging another president when it aired The Path to 9/11.