- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
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Has our modern media (global) affected our perspectives on censorship?
This free-speech vignette references The Satanic Verses controversy, Al Jazeera, and the film Avatar.
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"On the set of the Al Jazeera TV network studio, a great discussion/debate was raging among the Islam-minded producers and coordinators. Recently, Al Jazeera started receiving hate-mail regarding selective-bias problems on the network after U.S. President Donald Trump roughly tweeted, 'Muslims dealt with the Satanic Verses censorship fiasco, so the Islamic world is not free from the modern problem of media-oriented scandal/censorship!'. Al Jazeera suddenly felt the social pressure to air/broadcast more incendiary/controversial subject matter, so the producers were considering airing a feature on the concept of 'racy art' in this modern age of liberal comics, movies, and music (e.g., MTV)."
"The producers decided to present a feature on two iconic daredevil-behavior oriented cartoon/comics characters, Cyclonus (a wolfish first-knight robot from Hasbro's Transformers) and Nightcrawler (a creature-like male 'sentinel' and member of Marvel Comics' X-Men team of mutant heroes/villains). Cyclonus represented an entertainment industry focus on themes such as terrorism, anarchy, and violation. Nightcrawler obviously symbolized radical crime-fighting and unusual forms of power. Al Jazeera reporters talked about the circulation of Cyclonus/Nightcrawler avatars/imagery as symbolic of a civilization interest in alternative forms of behavioralism storytelling. This may have been the 'edgy subject matter' Al Jazeera needed to please irate audiences."
"The feature on Cyclonus/Nightcrawler included a complementary analysis/exploration of two 'similar' avatars but on the opposite ends of the 'spectrum' --- Rodimus (a valiant and offbeat robot leader from Hasbro's Transformers) and Batman (a masked urban creature-like vigilante from DC Comics stories). Rodimus represented governance creativity, while Batman represented crime-fighting folklore. The Cyclonus/Nightcrawler 'axis' was therefore paired nicely/geometrically with the Rodimus/Batman 'axis.' The Al Jazeera reporters suggested that the Cyclonus/Nightcrawler axis and the Rodimus/Batman axis in modern avatar-oriented entertainment (comics, stories, movies) revealed a civilization focus on the 'visual aesthetics' of ethics, values, sin-evaluation, and crime folklore. Suddenly, Al Jazeera started receiving positive fan-mail message such as, 'I think Al Jazeera's investment in youth-oriented entertainment (e.g., comics/anime) analysis is a nice offering for a network otherwise criticized for not sufficiently exploring free-speech subject matter!'."
"When President Trump noticed this new approach of Al Jazeera, he decided to tweet, 'Well, it seems that all of a sudden, Al Jazeera (otherwise noted for its rather strong myopia towards the art world) is suddenly (and refreshingly!) exploring creativity subject matter relevant to new age audiences/readers, so perhaps modern media is truly becoming more 'commerce oriented'. When Al Jazeera read this tweet, they decided to feature a new segment on a future broadcast about the depiction of sensual female robots adapted from Isaac Asimov sci-fi stories about free-will and destruction of religion. The feature was a hit and received a lot of online comments from citizens/viewers, and suddenly, feminists started writing to Al Jazeera wanting to know more about Asimov's contributions to feminism."
TRUMP: Al Jazeers is certainly taking an active role in creative broadcasts!
CARTER: They were compelled by your incendiary tweets, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Well, Americans always welcome offbeat forms of intellectual analysis.
CARTER: The Cyclonus/Nightcrawler and Rodimus/Batman axes feature was iconic!
TRUMP: Yes, it was about the presentation of values and etiquette in modern media.
CARTER: Those cartoons/comics are so widely distributed to kids around the world.
TRUMP: The Muslim world is finally coming out of the 'shadow' of the Rushdie affair.
CARTER: Hail to the media!
TRUMP: We have to be sure that American news/culture networks keep pace.
CARTER: Yes, well, democracy in media is really a topic for censorship discussions.
TRUMP: We don't want neo-McCarthyism, do we, Carter?
CARTER: Of course not, sir.
TRUMP: Do you think Al Jazeera's feature on Asimov warranted feminist responses?
CARTER: Well, today's feminists are interested in the characterization of women in media.
TRUMP: They'd be intrigued by the presentation of female avatars (e.g., Scarlet Witch).
CARTER: Do you think Muhammad received false-verses from Satan in the desert?
TRUMP: That's what Salman Rushdie suggested, and it created a ruckus in Islam!
CARTER: Not unlike the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in America...
TRUMP: That was a fiasco of another order, Carter; one of shame (not heresy).
CARTER: I wonder what anti-capitalism terrorists make of modern Western comics.
TRUMP: They might think Captain America, Daredevil, and Spider-Woman are all 'weird.'
CARTER: Weird is alright; it's apathy that's...dangerous!
====
This free-speech vignette references The Satanic Verses controversy, Al Jazeera, and the film Avatar.
====
"On the set of the Al Jazeera TV network studio, a great discussion/debate was raging among the Islam-minded producers and coordinators. Recently, Al Jazeera started receiving hate-mail regarding selective-bias problems on the network after U.S. President Donald Trump roughly tweeted, 'Muslims dealt with the Satanic Verses censorship fiasco, so the Islamic world is not free from the modern problem of media-oriented scandal/censorship!'. Al Jazeera suddenly felt the social pressure to air/broadcast more incendiary/controversial subject matter, so the producers were considering airing a feature on the concept of 'racy art' in this modern age of liberal comics, movies, and music (e.g., MTV)."
"The producers decided to present a feature on two iconic daredevil-behavior oriented cartoon/comics characters, Cyclonus (a wolfish first-knight robot from Hasbro's Transformers) and Nightcrawler (a creature-like male 'sentinel' and member of Marvel Comics' X-Men team of mutant heroes/villains). Cyclonus represented an entertainment industry focus on themes such as terrorism, anarchy, and violation. Nightcrawler obviously symbolized radical crime-fighting and unusual forms of power. Al Jazeera reporters talked about the circulation of Cyclonus/Nightcrawler avatars/imagery as symbolic of a civilization interest in alternative forms of behavioralism storytelling. This may have been the 'edgy subject matter' Al Jazeera needed to please irate audiences."
"The feature on Cyclonus/Nightcrawler included a complementary analysis/exploration of two 'similar' avatars but on the opposite ends of the 'spectrum' --- Rodimus (a valiant and offbeat robot leader from Hasbro's Transformers) and Batman (a masked urban creature-like vigilante from DC Comics stories). Rodimus represented governance creativity, while Batman represented crime-fighting folklore. The Cyclonus/Nightcrawler 'axis' was therefore paired nicely/geometrically with the Rodimus/Batman 'axis.' The Al Jazeera reporters suggested that the Cyclonus/Nightcrawler axis and the Rodimus/Batman axis in modern avatar-oriented entertainment (comics, stories, movies) revealed a civilization focus on the 'visual aesthetics' of ethics, values, sin-evaluation, and crime folklore. Suddenly, Al Jazeera started receiving positive fan-mail message such as, 'I think Al Jazeera's investment in youth-oriented entertainment (e.g., comics/anime) analysis is a nice offering for a network otherwise criticized for not sufficiently exploring free-speech subject matter!'."
"When President Trump noticed this new approach of Al Jazeera, he decided to tweet, 'Well, it seems that all of a sudden, Al Jazeera (otherwise noted for its rather strong myopia towards the art world) is suddenly (and refreshingly!) exploring creativity subject matter relevant to new age audiences/readers, so perhaps modern media is truly becoming more 'commerce oriented'. When Al Jazeera read this tweet, they decided to feature a new segment on a future broadcast about the depiction of sensual female robots adapted from Isaac Asimov sci-fi stories about free-will and destruction of religion. The feature was a hit and received a lot of online comments from citizens/viewers, and suddenly, feminists started writing to Al Jazeera wanting to know more about Asimov's contributions to feminism."
TRUMP: Al Jazeers is certainly taking an active role in creative broadcasts!
CARTER: They were compelled by your incendiary tweets, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Well, Americans always welcome offbeat forms of intellectual analysis.
CARTER: The Cyclonus/Nightcrawler and Rodimus/Batman axes feature was iconic!
TRUMP: Yes, it was about the presentation of values and etiquette in modern media.
CARTER: Those cartoons/comics are so widely distributed to kids around the world.
TRUMP: The Muslim world is finally coming out of the 'shadow' of the Rushdie affair.
CARTER: Hail to the media!
TRUMP: We have to be sure that American news/culture networks keep pace.
CARTER: Yes, well, democracy in media is really a topic for censorship discussions.
TRUMP: We don't want neo-McCarthyism, do we, Carter?
CARTER: Of course not, sir.
TRUMP: Do you think Al Jazeera's feature on Asimov warranted feminist responses?
CARTER: Well, today's feminists are interested in the characterization of women in media.
TRUMP: They'd be intrigued by the presentation of female avatars (e.g., Scarlet Witch).
CARTER: Do you think Muhammad received false-verses from Satan in the desert?
TRUMP: That's what Salman Rushdie suggested, and it created a ruckus in Islam!
CARTER: Not unlike the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in America...
TRUMP: That was a fiasco of another order, Carter; one of shame (not heresy).
CARTER: I wonder what anti-capitalism terrorists make of modern Western comics.
TRUMP: They might think Captain America, Daredevil, and Spider-Woman are all 'weird.'
CARTER: Weird is alright; it's apathy that's...dangerous!
====
