Mary Whitehouse dies.

November 23, 2001 12:21 PM

Mary Whitehouse dies. Whitehouse was a campaigner for what she considered taste and decency on TV. So that meant no swearing, no violence, absolutely no sex (no matter who was doing it) and certainly no fun. Her perfect schedule would have been church services, cookery programmes and happy news about animals. For some peculiar reason she targetted Doctor Who in particular during the 70s for being too scary for children which led to that show moving from a taste for horror to tasteless kitch. Oh and Channel Four for be about young people, for young people. As former C4 controller Michael Grade relates: "She really wanted television to be propaganda for a very moral view of the world, not the imperfect world we live in. She was really detached from the reality of the creative process."
posted by feelinglistless (24 comments total)

Must not quote Pink Floyd lyrics...must not quote Pink Floyd lyrics.
posted by MrBaliHai at 1:08 PM on November 23, 2001

Hey you Whitehouse, ha ha, charade you are
You house proud town mouse, ha ha, charade you are
You're trying to keep your feelings off the street
You're nearly a real treat
All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused?
You gotta stem the evil tide
And keep it all on the inside
Mary you're nearly a treat
Mary you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry.

Well, someone had to do it. Here's somewhat of an explanation.
posted by geoff. at 2:05 PM on November 23, 2001

...and here is something dear Mary would completely disapprove of ... the Buffy Swearing Keyboard [via LMG, via My 2p] ...
posted by feelinglistless at 2:13 PM on November 23, 2001

Hey we all need some conservative voices to rein the media in. We have Dobson of Focus on The Family in America and Michael Medvale as our counterparts. TV is getting even more degenerate. Nowadays you hear the cuss words you never would think youd hear on network television. Sometimes Im so tired of turning on the tv and seeing gore, violence and stories about/with amoral people that I have realized I stick mostly to TLC, the Discovery channel, PBS and some religious broadcasting. How far do they want to take things?--its actually bordering on disgusting the way things are going. Perhaps television 20 years in the future will offer live sex acts and the F word without restriction on ABC/NBC and CBS. Not the kind of world I want to live in. People are sick of the filth, and nihilistic crap. Thank goodness for those willing to speak out.
posted by Budge at 2:58 PM on November 23, 2001

I heard the Michael Grade comments on Radio 4 PM. Thought he came out of it very well, very balanced. I never knew that Mary Whitehouse had "Thatcher's ear". Of course the best thing to come out of her was the mary Whitehouse Show.
posted by laukf at 2:59 PM on November 23, 2001

"People are sick of the filth, and nihilistic crap."

People are so sick of it, it's more popular than ever. I happen to love nihilistic crap. My whole apartment is decorated with it.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 3:28 PM on November 23, 2001

Wait, wait, unabashed nudity and hedonistic pleasures on the TV in twenty years? I better keep healthy.
posted by geoff. at 3:30 PM on November 23, 2001

Man...the "Swearing Buffy" keyboard link (www.afroman.f2s.com) had me thinking that the site belogned to Abe Froman...you know, the Sausage King of Chicago. Then I realized that it was "afro-man," not "a froman". Darn.
posted by davidmsc at 3:32 PM on November 23, 2001

Perhaps television 20 years in the future will offer live sex acts and the F word without restriction on ABC/NBC and CBS.

the only reason "the F word" is still pretty taboo is because of the stigma people like you have placed on it. if you didn't exist, neither would the "word."
posted by mcsweetie at 3:35 PM on November 23, 2001

Budge:

You're right Budge, people do need to speak out about what they believe in. This country was founded on (insert whichever group has the most talk radio air time at the moment)'s principles. I mean, we all know that adults have no right to switch off programming they don't enjoy, and I laugh when people tell me that I should simply monitor my children when they watch TV and use the Internet. Between work and attending Focus on the Family fundraisers, when do I have the time to take any part in my childrens lives whatsoever?

I tell you, I'm so tired of turning on the TV and seeing slick, jackbooted, charismatic preachers talking to now-born-again-formerly-amoral people, all of them singing and begging me to send them money, that I have realized I've been sticking mostly to the stations without restriction such as ABC/NBC and CBS. I wonder how far these stations will take things? Perhaps, if I'm lucky, within 20 years they'll be showing live sex acts and using the F word openly.

So, I'm mounting a crusade to have all the religious programming shut down. I mean honestly, if I don't enjoy it, clearly no one else does either. Therefore, people everywhere must obviously be sick of religious programming. Thank goodness for people like me who are willing to speak out and ruin a good thing for the wierdos out there who might enjoy this kind of nihilistic crap.
posted by Swifty at 3:42 PM on November 23, 2001

I'm wondering if the concept of network TV will even exist twenty years from now. Maybe in the future, everyone will have cable, and we'll all be balkanized into our little groups. I remember when I was younger that I watched exclusively Nickelodeon and Comedy Central (now I don't watch TV); maybe everyone in the future will have their own favorite set of channels, and ignore the rest, and the HBO model of programming will become dominant.
posted by Charmian at 3:46 PM on November 23, 2001

Maybe in the future, everyone will have cable, and we'll all be balkanized into our little groups.

Or maybe agents like TiVo will get more intelligent in bringing us stuff we like, regardless of channel.
posted by walrus at 4:15 PM on November 23, 2001

Does Tivo have a "I like porn" setting?
posted by Mick at 6:28 PM on November 23, 2001

Does Tivo have a "I like porn" setting?

More or less. Just give three thumbs up to all the porn you see, and your Suggestions screen will soon be filled with smut.
posted by kindall at 6:52 PM on November 23, 2001

"the only reason "the F word" is still pretty taboo is because of the stigma people like you have placed on it. if you didn't exist, neither would the "word"

Very doubtful, there would be just worse words in use--perhaps one of those doubleworded ones would take the place of the F word. Actually the way things are headed--the F word will have all the meaning taken out of it anyhow. It will be along the lines of darn or gosh!within 30 years. There wont be any true cuss words with any power left! No fun when you need to vent!

"So, I'm mounting a crusade to have all the religious programming shut down. I mean honestly, if I don't enjoy it, clearly no one else does either."

To each their own I suppose. The post-modernistic pseudo hipster "religion is the opiate of the masses" Christian-bashing gets old on here.

Does this mean you like the violent nihilistic crap? I suppose the answer is to that question is YES. Im not talking about taking The Simpsons off the air for goodness sakes but I would like to see some programming that doesnt sink down to every low level in the world. I also think porn is a great evil that objectifies and harms people and for those of limited minds--- though from some of the jokes on here, I can tell that opinion may not be shared.


Yes, we can give the old tried and true liberal mantra, "Dont watch it if you dont like it", but even as a person who actually doesnt support most censorship, I think society needs to start paying attention to the way things are going rather then giving into moral relativism as things go to hell in a hand basket.
posted by Budge at 7:44 PM on November 23, 2001

Don't watch it if you don't like it is more of a libertarian mantra. (BTW, if you want to have a valuable discussion, you'll throw children out of the discussion and focus only on adults) Both those labeled conservative and liberal attempt to influence the media to adopt their moral perspective. Approve or disapprove of this, but let's not ignore how this doesn't necessarily go across hard and fast ideological lines.
posted by Charmian at 8:01 PM on November 23, 2001

Can someone give me a clear example of where all this swearing and nihilism is? What programmes are nihilistic? Last time I looked TV was full of cuddly, good-looking young people pretending life is an episode of Blue Peter (v. conservative children's programme). If a guest accidentally swears on a live programme before 9pm in the UK the channel has to apologise. You can get some vaguely soft porn type stuff at about 11pm on Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the UK but it's all very camp and inoffensive. Last thing I saw that shocked me was the Brass Eye paedophile programme, and that was because of it's bare-faced cheek rather than its content.
posted by Summer at 3:58 AM on November 24, 2001

NYPD Blue, here in the states, uses the word "asshole" and occasionally shows a glimpse of someone's ass. (Or at least they used to, I haven't seen the show in a couple of years.) Is that what's bringing society down, budge?

things go to hell in a hand basket.

People have been saying that for millenia. News Flash: The good old days...weren't.
posted by jpoulos at 8:58 AM on November 24, 2001

millennia
posted by jpoulos at 9:29 AM on November 24, 2001

Foul Language Filter: "American Family Association supporters may choose between our two models, TVGuardian and CurseFree TV. Both silence foul language and abusive use of our Lord's name. Both have a setting that allows our Lord's name to be heard while watching programs with religious content. The main difference between the two lies in the selection of substitute words. TVGuardian tries to select a word that is less offensive without losing the context of the muted statement. CurseFree TV tries to select a word that is in no way offensive with less regard to the context of the statement. Another difference between the two, TVGuardian has an optional setting that lets you choose to allow mild words such as sucks, crap and butt (damn and hell are still muted)." (America, the Amazing!)
posted by Carol Anne at 9:30 AM on November 24, 2001

The reason people use foul language isn't because of what they see on TV, it's because they're angry. If they had maybe a sedation filter of sorts -- I'd buy that.
posted by geoff. at 10:56 AM on November 24, 2001

actually all I would like is to be able to turn on a tv and have several channels I could watch without blushing or being offended-at the moment all I can watch is The Weakest Link and the nightly news......on the other hand i suppose I should be grateful Iwill never have to worry about being a tv junkie.

Can't something be clean without being insipid????
posted by bunnyfire at 12:16 PM on November 24, 2001

Budge: ...I have realized I stick mostly to TLC, the Discovery channel, PBS and some religious broadcasting

You've hit on an excellent point here. Options. You have options. If you don't like what you're tuning into, stop tuning in. Turn something on that you would like.

Personally, most religious programming offends me. But that's me, which is why I don't turn on those channels, but rather other channels, channels I would like to see.

But of course many groups would rather people not have choices. They'd rather see wholesome, unrealistic television on every channel and every moment of the day and night. But then, freedom of speech hopefully prevails.

With the options given, and your control. People can no longer say, "what about the children?!?" because of the V-Chip and internal cable circuitry. If you don't want your kids to see something, set your television and cable/sattellite system as appropriate to block those channels to password-only.
posted by benjh at 9:47 PM on November 24, 2001

I watched the DVD of American Beauty over the weekend, and Sam Mendes' commentary describes how, during the preview screenings, a handful of people got up and left when Angela (Mena Suvari) wrinkles her nose and shouts "Cunt!" at two other girls. "Of course," Mendes says, "as a Brit, I find it really funny." After all, she's showing her own immaturity, in a film that's very definitely not for kids. He obviously grew up with Derek and Clive as well. Oh, and I'm sure that Mary Whitehouse was bankrolled by comedians in order to keep them in gags: I have a Goodies book from the late 70s where she's described as "Mary Whitearse"...
posted by holgate at 6:11 AM on November 26, 2001