WHY IS SEX AND SWEARING VERBOTEN, YET WE'RE FINE WITH ALL THE KILLING?

I've got a theory as to why all sorts of young punks in the Lower Mainland
are shooting each other dead in record fashion.

This theory tackles a possible reason why the killings seem to be so cold,
so automatic, so matter-of-fact, so devoid of even a snapshot-length
hesitation of conscience.

Of course, the real reason bodies are piling up, cold and stiff, is the
continued dinosaur-like stance of yesterday's men - John Les, B.C.'s
solicitor general, Stockwell Day, our nation's public safety minister and
George W. Bush, leader of the free world - who refuse to acknowledge the
fact their pursuit of prohibition only fuels these murders.

Legalization of drugs, if not all then certainly marijuana, would do two
things: virtually eliminate the killings and related crime that exists
solely because of increased prohibition; and result in making heretofore
illegal drugs far more difficult to obtain by minors.

Don't believe me?

Answer this: Ask a 15-year-old to get you a case of beer. Ask another
15-year-old to get you some pot.

Guess which one will deliver first?

Aside from finally dispensing with the failure of prohibition - which will
never happen because far too many people on both sides of the "war" stand
to lose too much - there is my theory.

It's not really my theory, as it deals with words and how society
determines which ones are harmful and which ones are acceptable to the eyes
and ears of impressionable youth.

Surely there have been numerous studies done on the issue, but I am
approaching from a layman's point of view.

It was 2:51 p.m. Thursday and Kamloops radio station 97.5 FM The River had
just finished playing What It's Like, a stunning song by a band called
Everlast.

And, as has been my experience when listening to this song on myriad other
radio stations, the decision on which words to bleep and which words to
ignore befuddled me once again.

The song is essentially a "there but for the grace of God go we" tune,
depicting three people whose hard luck we should be careful not to mock
unless we have walked in their shoes.

There is a verse dealing with a girl, Mary, who is pregnant and her
deadbeat boyfriend has taken off.

So Mary decides to have an abortion.

"And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walking through
the doors.

"They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a
whore."

On the radio, the word "killer" is permissible, as is the word "sinner."
But the word "whore" is excised.

Tim Tyler, music director at 97.5 FM The River, says this particular song
arrived edited from the record company, but noted he has been tasked with
edited other songs.

Tunes with the F-word, for example, will be edited.

He took the "god" out of "goddamn" in a Jann Arden song, and excised "crack
whore" from a Lily Allen song.

The River, Tyler says, is a family radio station that does not wish to
offend its listeners.

Still, he acknowledges the "strange," varied societal approach to violence,
profanity and sex.

"I think violence is just as bad," Tyler says. "Maybe even worse in some
cases."

Which leaves us in a strange place indeed.

The record company that released What It's Like to radio stations found
nothing wrong with labelling a pregnant girl a "killer," but God forbid if
our kids hear that the pregnant girl is being called a "whore."

It's OK for our kids to hear about "killing," about dying, about taking a life.

But it's not OK for our kids to hear about the sexual practises of their peers.

And we wonder why teens are desensitized to violence?

We live in a puritanical society where we shield our children's eyes from
the hint of erotica on the TV screen, yet allow them to watch death after
death after death while playing a video game or renting the latest
Hollywood blockbuster.

Another verse in the Everclear song focuses on a kid named Max who led a
very dangerous life.

"Until late one night there was a big gun fight, "Max lost his head, "He
pulled out his chrome .45, "Talked some shit, "And wound up dead."

Sure enough, the word "shit" was censored on the radio, yet the images of
being shot and killed, of dealing drugs, of hanging out with thugs, were
deemed fine for airplay.

If death and destruction is deemed fine for a general audience that
includes kids, yet words they hear on the playground and images about sex
are verboten, can we be surprised at the casual approach to life being
taken across the Lower Mainland by those who, only a few years ago, were
shielded from "damaging" words like "whore" and "shit," yet fed a steady
diet of death?

Christopher Foulds has been editor of Kamloops This Week since 2005,
arriving in the Tournament Capital after 13 years with fellow Black Press
paper, the Abbotsford News.