NOTE: There will be foul language used in this post to drive home some points. Yes, it could have been written without the cuss words but then, it would defeat the purpose. If you’re fine with that, read on, otherwise, look forward to some nice, wholesome, likely irrelevant, definitely random, posts to follow soon. Oh, and this post is rather long, too and all over the place. Smile.

You know how we take things for granted just because they’re always there? Like a chair, for example. You just know it’s there and you park your butt in it, not giving a second thought to its existence; like how it got there. You know, was it once a tree that bore beautifully delicious fruit? Was it a cow mothering playful calves (no, not ‘yams’ as in calf muscles but baby cows, where one is a calf. Don’t get it twisted now. You probably took THAT for granted too! Digression in the first paragraph? *sigh*) before being reincarnated as a Lay-Z-Boy without prior consultation or negotiation? At this point, you’re probably thinking – why do I care or where is Johnny Random going with this? (Would you be surprised, one bit, if I said I didn’t know myself?)

Well, here’s where I’m going. Since the 1980s (80s baby, holla!), well, 1990s in Nigeria, cable television has become a fabric of basic human existence. You just had to have cable television, otherwise, what would you watch? VideoMart, VideoNet & Mega Movies (all video rental clubs, for the uninitiated) could not provide on-demand entertainment. So the rise of MFP, ABG and all other pretenders (be it transmitted via satellite dish or rooftop antenna) was imminent and welcome. However, as the years advanced, a powerhouse rose to monopolize the cable game – DStv, promising ‘so much more.’

Most subscribers incessantly curse DStv for offering limited channels, even though they offer over 250 (or is that 350?) but they go bonkers when the ‘limited’ service is unavailable. For a man of simple tastes and such easy virtue (read that statement however you like, heck, I don’t even know why I wrote it), as long as I can watch the NBA, Around the Horn, PTI and SportsCenter on ESPN and catch the Barclays Premier League on SuperSport, I’m good. Any channel that airs classic sitcoms and movies (okay, and corny T-movie classics like Mega Piranha get airtime too – T-movie: since movies are classified as A or B movies, these programs are too terrible to rank high on the movies’ alphabetical rate scale. And being terrifically terrible, trivial and thrilling, these tearjerkers [from laughing so hard at the unintentional comedy, not from the highly emotional nature of these moving pictures] totally take on a T rating) as well get a look in from me.

Anyway, this isn’t about what or why I watch, neither is it about people’s complaints on viewing limitations. However, if you live in Nigeria, in a major city, chances are you have DStv at home, work or your local beer parlor. The monopoly is real (hitv turned bye-tv real quick) and it is part of your life – DStv is just there!

So here’s what it is – for years, I never thought about what the D and S in DStv stood for. All I knew was that I had DStv and there it was. It was never a big deal because it had become part of life, something that was just there because it was meant to be:

“What’s that?”

“It’s DStv!”

“Oh, ok. Pass the salt, please.”

However, the random generators kicked in one day while watching an old movie, I forget which, and I realized that the D stood for DON’T and the S for SWEAR! DStv is DON’T SWEAR TV! Anybody know what I’m talking about? Well, whether you do or don’t, lemme get into it.

Watching a movie on DStv, do you realize that cuss words are muted? For example, let’s say an angry character goes off, what you’re likely to hear is, “What the ____ would you do if you were me?” or maybe, “Could you please stop?! I don’t need this ____ right now!”

You might sit there thinking, “So why exactly is he complaining; isn’t censorship a good thing? Kids might be watching!” Well, I have two major issues with it:

One. It disrupts the natural flow of the movie/story and just pisses me the hell off.

Two. What then, is the point of their parental guidance feature and the little animation in the top right corner that tells you the age rating of the program and whether it contains N(udity), V(iolence), S(ex) or L(anguage)?

Surely, if the L is highlighted, we know there’s going to be F bombs dropped in there. Yes, I know we cannot control what our children watch all the time but there’s also the parental control function, however, most won’t even bother learning how to activate it, it is, after all, ‘such a hassle.’

Anyway, my issue is not with subscribers but the service provider. You chose to air a movie you advertised to me, the viewer, and then show me an altered version of the movie. What’s that about?

One. Why show it at all, then?

Two. Why bother with Parental Guidance, then, if you’ve gone in to alter already?

It beats and bugs me for real.

However, beyond the colorful ‘fucks,’ ‘bitches’ and ‘shits’ that get no airplay on DStv, the words ___ and _____ are not allowed either for some reason. Why are you confused? Oh, you don’t know what words those are? Well, maybe I don’t either because DON’T SAY TV won’t let the words come out of the characters mouths!!!

Anyway, the words are God and Jesus. I haven’t realized nor paid enough attention to ascertain whether Allah, Buddha and other religious figures receive the same treatment. Homeland is on DStv now, so I may try to catch an episode and keep watch. So, if a guy is trying to plead for his life onscreen, you’re likely to hear:

“Please, for the love of ___, don’t kill me!”

Or how about the startled young lady that didn’t notice her lover sneaking up behind her?

“Oh _____, you scared the ____ out of me!”

I would sure love to watch The Passion of the Christ on DStv. Don’t know how I only just thought of this. However, it seems the censorship is limited to MNet Channels as TBN for example would be something to watch with a ban on ___ and _____, no? I mean, they’d have to blur the name on the screens as well, no? Like the works of the LORD (I believe you’re allowed to say LORD but I may be wrong, thinking someone meant to say ___ when they actually said LORD), the reasoning behind the censorship is a mystery.

So, thinking it was a choice between DON’T SWEAR and DON’T SAY, I learned there was yet another DS while watching Higher Learning on DStv one day. (Oh wow, I just realized that my mind went to work while watching a movie about higher learning – what, you didn’t get that from the title? – so I’m not a total doofus :D) In case you’re unfamiliar with this John Singleton movie or just can’t remember, it focuses primarily on racial tension and self discovery as the transition is made from boys to men and girls to women.

(Possible SPOILER Alert but the movie is about 17 years old)

A pivotal scene in the movie depicts the rape (or attempted, depending on how you look at it) of a female student by a male student (while that might seem the obvious sequence, you’d be shocked), both white. The girl’s roommate is black and she is called a bitch (at least, I believe that’s what he called her, as DStv was sure to hit me with a _____) by the white guy when he calls the room to talk to his victim. You know the sistahs don’t play that, so she calls her black buddies and they are more than willing to mobilize and head over to the guy’s dorm, where an all-white party is in full swing and deliver a can of whupp ass!

Here’s the thing, the rape scene was filmed but it wasn’t anything disturbingly graphic like Monica Bellucci’s rape scene in the disturbing yet brilliant Irreversible. The couple, a bit tipsy, was actually getting along and fooling around. She was willing to have sex with him but her issue was his refusal to wear a condom. He kept going, convincing her it was ok and she started trying to fight him off but he was already inside her. The scene depicts her struggle, fear and anger as she tries to fight him off of her. It goes on for a while before she successfully shoves him away and frantically scrambles out of the room.

Why speak about this scene? Because on DStv, it quickly cuts from them on the bed, her saying no and then to her scrambling away and out. So, having never watched the film, you may think nothing happened because she was able to hustle away from the situation before it went far but he had actually penetrated her and was having unprotected intercourse with her, much to her dismay. I can understand that rape is a very sensitive and touchy subject and they felt some responsibility to downplay it but it is a part of the movie, a pivotal one at that, which you’ve decided to air and again, you have your Parental Guidance ratings in play. Also, the movie was airing after midnight.

So in essence, DStv is also DON’T SEX TV!

In the movie Sex and the City 2, Charlotte has a well-endowed nanny that is averse to wearing bras. During a scene where she’s bathing one of the kids and has a vest on, the kid sprays her with the shower head and of course, it’s wet top city. DStv didn’t show the result of the spray. A Samantha sex scene is also omitted. It has Sex in the title but hey, what do I know?

The premise of Hall Pass has two wives giving their perverted husbands ‘hall passes’ which gives them a week off from marriage to do whatever they want to do. One wife gives her husband one but the other refuses to give her husband the ‘privilege.’ The scene features him going up the stairs behind his wife and when she says there will be no nookie for him that night, he says he forgot to take out the trash and the next scene has him being handed over to his wife by the police with nosy neighbors looking on but DStv would rather have one imagine why he got arrested. The reason is alluded to but can easily be missed. It turns out ‘taking out the trash’ turned into him masturbating in his car and being caught by the police. It was just his chest to head in the shot but his trembling arm and facial contortions pretty much gave it away but I guess DStv would rather have you guess why he got arrested.

Anyway, I have broken it down to DON’T SWEAR, DON’T SAY and DON’T SEX but DON’T SWEAR is the top contender and the reason I say this? I once watched The Original Kings of Comedy on DStv…

Now pause for a minute and let that sink in… The… Original… Kings… of… Comedy… on… DON’T… SWEAR… T… V! Yes.

In case you haven’t seen it or you don’t remember (I seriously doubt either applies to anyone reading this blog), the show closed with the late Bernie Mac breaking down the word, ‘motherfucker’ to the audience. He described it as a noun because “it describes a person, place or thing,” which is why black people use it so much.

Watch the video here and either refresh your memory or witness comic genius at its finest.

So, in closing (finally! yes, even I am tired), I have this to say:

Can someone tell _____________ DStv that they ain’t gotta censor every _____________ program they _____________ air because that _____________ ____ be pissing _____________ the ____ off. Trying to watch a _____________ classic ____________ of a movie and these _____________ here have to go edit out all the _____________ cuss words. What typa _____________ ____ is that? I mean, really, who _____________ does that? So, listen to me clearly you _____________ DStv operators. I pay my _____________ subscription every month, to watch some _____________ quality television and you _____________ keep _______ with the _____________ broadcast, pissing off a ____________! Just _____________ stop and show the _____________ movie the way it was meant to be _____________ shown and stop trying to be some _____________ holier than thou _____. If you keep pulling this _____________ ____, I swear to ___, one of these days, I’mma come on down to your _____________ office and whoop the ____ out of some _____________ ___, comprende?

And I’m out this ____________!

Yes, I really just made you read through 2000+ words of drivel.

I Am Random!