The tentacles of censorship have always uncurled in insidious ways, but usually the grip is more immediate than 26 years later and in reaction to one (count ‘em....ONE) complaint about content.

However, the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council, the independent body responsible for what is aired over Canada’s television and radio air waves, in response to that one complaint has decided to ban the original version of the song Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. This is because it contains the anti-gay epithet "faggot" three times in the fourth verse and therefore the song contravened the Human Rights Clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code.

Now, if the song had, in fact, been a nasty piece of anti-gay diatribe calling for listeners to go out and beat the crap out of us perhaps such censorship might (and I stress the word might) have been appropriate. However, it is no such thing. If ever there was an argument about the importance of context when it comes to dealing with controversial/offensive material, this is a textbook case.

Mark Knopfler, the band member who wrote the piece, was not attacking gay men. The entire context of the song is about a manual labourer who resents the rock musicians he sees on MTV and it is this individual from whose point of view the song is written...and the individual describes those he is envious of as "faggots". This is clearly not a reference to their real or perceived sexual orientation, since right at the top of the song he complains about how "them yo-yo’s" get their "money for nothing [i.e. they don’t really work for it like he has to] and [their] chicks for free."

This casual use of a homophobic term is familiar to all of us, gay or straight. Hang out in the food court at any mall, or a school yard, a convenience store, or a bar and "faggot" is used as a putdown of anyone the user doesn’t like, disagrees with, or has issues with. It’s like calling someone a dork, or a rehab, or a doofus, only perhaps a bit nastier. Do I find the word offensive? Of course. Is it more offensive when used so casually, rather than as an epithet involving sexual orientation? To be honest, I’m not sure but my gut response is the casual use is marginally more offensive, if only because it is such an unthinking use of a pejorative term....rather like someone declaring he’s been "jewed" when he means he was cheated. Is the use of the term in the song, therefore, offensive? To some, absolutely it is, so the question then becomes, is the use of the term, given the context of the song, so offensive it warrants censoring it? I would argue it is not.

I’m not a fan of Dire Straits but I’ve heard this song and their other great hit, Sultans of Swing, on the radio for years. Money for Nothing has an interesting riff, or hook, to it that is immediately recognizable even to non-fans but other than that, I never paid much attention to it. I certainly never picked up on the word "faggot" in the lyrics and I’d say, and I doubt many would disagree, that I tend to be rather sensitive to such things.

In a 1985 interview with VH1 music critic Bill Flanagan, Knopfler talked about the genesis of the song: "The lead character...is a guy who works in the hardware department in an...appliance store. He’s singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store - I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real..."

Ironically, given the current controversy, the song won the Grammy for the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal in 1985. Assuming you were even born before then, do you remember what else was playing on the radio that year? I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner, The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and The News, We Built This City (On Rock’n’Roll) by Starship, Crazy for You and Material Girl by Madonna, Heaven by Bryan Adams, We Don’t Need Another Hero and Private Dancer by Tina Turner, and Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. With the possible exception of the blue-collar anthem, "Born in the U.S.A.", all were typical AM radio "pop". For 26 years, this Grammy winning song received air play throughout North America with nary a complaint. Most people probably couldn’t have told you what the lyrics were due to the mumbled nasal whine of the vocals; I know I couldn’t, apart from some reference to microwave ovens and colour TVs.

Having done radio for 14 years with my own show on CJSW 90.9 I understand the issues surrounding "controversial language" and the responsibility a broadcaster has to ensure any use is not gratuitous. The show I produced and hosted, Speak Sebastian, was quite often politically-driven and frequently dealt with "sensitive" topics. If I or a guest ever used the term "faggot" on air, which I don’t recall but in 14 years of doing a GLBT radio show it probably happened at some point, it was in context of a larger issue being discussed. To me, that is therefore appropriate. We never had a problem with station management or the Standards Council. I do know the term "dyke" was used periodically and certainly "queer" was but, again, it was within a cultural/political context.

The Standards Council received one complaint about the song’s content after the song aired over a St. John’s Newfoundland radio station. Since calling for the ban, more than 250 letters questioning the ban have been received and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is now asking the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to review its original decision. The role of the CRTC is to ensure "...all Canadians have access to a wide variety of high-quality Canadian programming as well as access to employment opportunities in the broadcasting system. Programming in the Canadian broadcasting system should reflect Canadian creativity and talent, our bilingual nature, our multicultural diversity and the special place of aboriginal peoples in our society." According to its own website (www.crtc.gc.ca) the Commission does not regulate the quality and content of TV and radio programs. In other words, its role is not to censor or otherwise interfere in content but to serve as a licensing and marketing body.

If the song had in fact been an anti-gay diatribe calling for violence against us, it would have likely fallen under section 319 of the Criminal Code, the so-called Hate Crimes provision. However, the complainant did not pursue a criminal complaint, but rather filed a complaint with the Standards Council which would be the appropriate agency to approach. That is not the issue. The issue here is whether the Council was correct in banning the song. Is censorship appropriate in such instances? Again, it comes down to context and intent. Censorship should never be a first response mechanism. In fact, censorship is such an extreme reaction, its use needs to be very carefully monitored and rarely used, and then only in extreme cases. This clearly was not the situation here.

The history of the use of censorship is not a good one. Rarely, if ever, has censorship really been about the common good. It wasn’t during the McCarthy Era in the United States; it wasn’t under the Third Reich or Stalinist Russia; it wasn’t when employed by the Church during the Middle Ages (or any other era one might care to name); and it isn’t under the theocracies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, or any number of Taliban-controlled territories. Simply put, censorship is bad. It is about control and the removal of individual choice. It is the State, or agents of the State, deciding what the populace can see, listen to, read, or experience. It is the antithesis of democratic freedom.

As an aside, even Dire Straits has over the years modified the lyrics when performing in concerts, replacing "faggot" with "queenie" or "mother" (itself a sanitized version of a well-known insult involving sexual relations with one’s mother...), which is a type of self-censorship no artist should engage in. The band, I assume, modified the lyrics in concert out of concern for offending gay or gay-affirmative fans but I think the concern, while appreciated, was misplaced. People at concerts are there for the music, not the lyrics. When the band goes into the opening riff of the song, that is when the crowd starts to cheer and shout and wave their arms in the air. It’s the melody or a particular aspect of the tune, like the hook this song has, that taps into that part of the human brain that can make us feel good or excited or sad and, it is that which makes or breaks a song.

In its request to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the CRTC has asked them to examine the context of the word within the song’s overall message, the age of the song and how frequently it has been played since its release, and use of the word since the song was released.

These are important questions to ask, which should have been part of the original process - especially the question of context and overall message. Censorship too often tends to be a gut-level, knee-jerk response to something one finds offensive or upsetting. When I was the Regional Co-Director for Egale Canada we had to deal with a letter published by the Red Deer Advocate by Rev. Stephen Boissoin.

While one cannot compare the lyrics of "Money for Nothing" to the vile Boissoin letter - they operate in totally different contexts and on entirely different levels - the concept of using censorship to address real or perceived slights is probably not the best approach. Especially with a song that has received considerable air time over the last 26 years.

I happen to think the song, or rather its lyrics, are hardly the stuff of greatness. It’s a commercial pop song, something one has playing as background while at work or driving the car; all in all, pretty innocuous. Banning it has given the song more notoriety than it probably deserves. There is far worse stuff out there, stuff that is truly offensive. Most Hip-hop lyrics are far worse, far edgier. Punk was more dangerous than this. John Lennon singing "Imagine there’s no heaven" was anti-religion but it didn’t get banned and it shouldn’t. Neither should this have been.

Money for Nothing
by Dire Straits
Now look at them yo-yo’s, that’s the way you do it,
You play the guitar on the MTV.
That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it,
Money for nothing and your chicks for free.

Now that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it,
Let me tell you them guys ain’t dumb.
Maybe get a blister on your little finger,
Maybe get a blister on your thumb.

We got to install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries.
We got to move these refrigerators,
We got to move these colour TVs.

The little faggot with the earring and the makeup,
Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair.
That little faggot got his own jet airplane,
That little faggot he’s a millionaire.

We got to install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries.
We got to move these refrigerators,
We got to move these colour TVs.

We got to install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries.
We got to move these refrigerators,
We got to move these colour TVs.

Look at that, look at that,
I should have learned to play the guitar,
I should have learned to play them drums.
Look at that mama, she got it sticking in the camera
Man we could have some fun.
And he’s up there, what’s that? Hawaiian noises?
Banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee.
Oh, that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it,
Get your money for nothing get your chicks for free.

We got to install microwave ovens,
Custom kitchen deliveries.
We got to move these refrigerators,
We got to move these colour TVs.

Listen here,
Now that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it,
You play the guitar on the MTV.
That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it,
Money for nothing and your chicks for free,
Money for nothing and chicks for free.

Get your money for nothing, get your chicks for free.
Money for nothing, chicks for free.
Look at that, look at that.
Get your money for nothing, get your chicks for free (I want my, I want my, I want my MTV)
Money for nothing and chicks for free.
Easy, easy.

That ain’t working.