Relative Values

Peter Cuthbertson on CBS being fined over the Janet Jackson nipple furore:

"What bothers me about this episode is the way the smug superiority of those who laugh laugh at those prudish yanks so often combines with an equal fervent crusade against the images of anyone carrying cigarettes or guns.

A few months after Janet Jackson's semi-naked moment was shown in front of millions of families, Britain banned a TV advertisement because it featured someone firing a starting pistol. It's not the Americans who are the odd ones here."

What Peter neglects to say, is that it is only at the pay-off of the advert it is revealed that the gun is in fact a starting pistol, up until that point we were supposed to think the woman was reaching for a real gun with violent intentions. Implied gun violence vs fleeting partial nudity. Hmm.