Last night on Craig Ferguson’s Late, Late Show, he interviewed the singer/actor Juliette Lewis who told a story of performing in China and having to change some of her lyrics to suit the government censors. At least she got the opportunity to rewrite her own work. In the cinema field there is at least one company (and Blockbuster Video allegedly did similar editing) that edits out the bad language, violence and sex from movies without the director’s or producer’s okay and then rents them. I am vehemently opposed to anybody expurgating another’s work without their permission.

Okay, for the sake of comedy and brevity, I’ll allow the Shakespearian troupe that cuts each play down to about ten key phrases, but that’s it! If a work is expurgated for television viewers, I won’t watch it and I don’t think anybody else should patronize such work. If a person isn’t willing to stop up their ears and cover their eyes during the objectionable bits, they have no right to watch it in the first place. I won’t disallow my other family members from watching gratuitous violence, but that doesn’t mean I stay in the room. I believe that another person’s art is theirs and not to be tampered with in any way shape or form.