censorship and the common wine writer

Censorship and the Modern Press

Censorship is an ugly word. To use it, in a blog that writes about writing about wine, indicates a touch of hysteria; someone who perhaps takes themselves rather more seriously than they they ought. Nevertheless I stand here before you politically incorrect, socially inappropriate, my head bloodied but unbowed.

For I was again edited. Not for syntax or space. But because I wrote the following:
“I spent most of the weekend studying Revelations. I borrowed a bible from my MLA - he has some affiliation with a church - to make sure I had the most up to date translation. Revelations was pretty much as I recalled it, other than the Number of the Beast is now the area code for Alberta. But there was nary a mention of wine in cardboard cartons signaling the End Times. This was a relief, because I think the twelve Tetra Pak wines....”

And I ended the column saying
“...My recommendation would be to buy the container that best suits your budget. All these wines are cheap and cheerful. And they are as convenient as, well, hell.”

I thought this quite good. It’s theologically sound even. But alas the punters weren’t allowed to read it, for fear of hurting their tender sensibilities. (You have no idea how hurt MY sensibilities were drinking tetra wines.)

Tetra Pak wines have a place in the wine consumption universe. All of us get quite misty eyed about clay carafes in French Cafes, but I’m here to tell you the wine isn’t that great. In fact bulk wine today is probably better than the romanticized wine of yore. So I have no apologies for the topic, nor my support for it, though I must confess I use it for cooking wine.

And actually I carry no real bile for the editor that made the call to clip my lead. They are literally inundated with emails, letters, and phone calls, all of which, every single one, is from some person, hurt, deeply offended by what they read that morning. I think it sad, mind you that (to quote Byron) we live in an age when "Cant is stronger than Cunt." Blogs, email, and ubiquitous reporters with cameras and thrusting mikes, seeking to know what your feelings were when your religious impulse was so deeply offended....

Folks, lighten up. If you live a good life, you’ll get into heaven. You won’t be saving me between here and there. So give it a break. And next time you’re offended by what you read, take a deep breath, count to ten, and turn the page.

ps. for the non-canajans reading this, an MLA = state congress representative
pps. for the prissy reading this, my apologies for quoting such a nasty man as Byron, when there are perfectly wonderful poets like Joyce Kilmer out there, people who never let such vulgarisms drip from the nib of their pen.