May 26, 2005
BBC: Bestiality Broadcasting Corporation, or
BBC: Bestiality Broadcasting Corporation, or My Pony and Me
We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” like to fashion ourselves as savvy media professionals. Naturally, this is kind of like Jenny McCarthy fashioning herself as a Hegel scholar. Still, we pride ourselves on keeping up with matters journalistic.Even so, dear reader, every once in a great while, a story crosses our collective desk that is something of a surprise. Such was certainly the case with a recent story from The Guardian, a British left-wing daily.
A correspondent from our London (UK) office sent us a copy of an article from this venerable publication penned by a reporter with the quarterback-esque name John Plunkett. We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” feel as if the title of said piece says it all: “Ofcom says OK to sex with animals.”
Well, gee: How very nice. Ofcom, the BBC’s de facto Overseer of Public Morals, has deemed bestiality appropriate for Britain’s viewing public. The story begins:
Clean-up TV campaigners seeking succor in Ofcom’s new broadcasting rules suffered an immediate blow today when the regulator gave the all-clear to programmes about “sex with animals.”
Hmmm. We don’t mean to quibble with Mr. Plunkett’s journalese, but don’t you think it would be better, given the context of the passage, that the writer not use the phrase “suffered an immediate blow”? The piece continues:
The comments by Richard Hooper, the Ofcom deputy chairman, came at the unveiling of its long-awaited new broadcasting code and will have had the regulator’s spin doctors holding their heads in their hands.
May we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” humbly suggest that, given the context of the passage, Mr. Plunkett not employ the phrase “holding their heads in their hands”? The article resumes:
“[What about] a programme about sex with animals? Yes, it’s potentially possible. It all comes down to context,” he said….
Mr. Hooper’s comments recalled [the] Channel 4 bestiality documentary, Animal Passions, which featured a man who admitted to have [sic] sex with his pony and a woman who had sex with her dog.
Although it was cleared by Ofcom last year, it generated 75 complaints from viewers who said it “normalised bestiality” and could encourage copycat behaviour.
May we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” humbly suggest that, given the context of the passage, Mr. Plunkett not use the phrase “encourage copycat behaviour”?
