Censorship, etc.
Ok, everyone has heard by now that AT&T made a BIG boo boo by censoring the webcast of Pearl Jam's set at Lollapalooza, by excluding Eddie Vedder's anti-Bush commentary.
Of COURSE, Pearl Jam was publicly PISSED! A message posted on the band's official website encouraged fans to fight censorship:
"If you have examples of AT&T censoring artist performances around political content, it's a good thing for everyone to know about. Feel free to post examples on the official Pearl Jam Message Pit."
AT&T came back with an apology, calling the whole thing a MISTAKE:
"We screwed up on Sunday night when we deleted some lyrics from a live Pearl Jam performance that we were webcasting on attblueroom.com. We understand why Pearl Jam and their fans are upset. We're upset, too, and embarrassed by this mistake which is totally against our policy - of never, ever censoring political speech. The attblueroom.com exists to bring great music to as many people as possible, free of charge. We're committed to musicians and know we have a responsibility to them and to all of their fans.
We've webcasted more than 16 free concerts featuring approximately 310 bands and over 350 hours of live music and this hasn't happened before. We're making changes to ensure it won't happen again. We apologize to Pearl Jam, Lollapalooza and music fans everywhere. We've asked the band if we can post the complete, uncut performance to our website immediately. "
Here is a complete unedited version of Daughter, which includes the political tag.
MY TWO CENTS:
While I generally feel that there is a time and a place for everything, I cannot condone censorship of this type. Personally, I share a disapproval of our president's decisions with regard to the war in Iraq, but I don't necessarily think a rock concert is the best place to hold a political rally. We are fans of pearl jam for the music, not necessarily because we all share the same political views as Eddie Vedder. That said, I do not think it was ok for AT&T to censor the webcast. Whether we, or the president, or anyone else for that matter likes it or not, Eddie Vedder has every right to express whatever opinion he may have when he is on the microphone, and as fans, we have come to expect it. This is America. The first amendment was drafted to protect our freedom for a reason. That's all.
Of COURSE, Pearl Jam was publicly PISSED! A message posted on the band's official website encouraged fans to fight censorship:
"If you have examples of AT&T censoring artist performances around political content, it's a good thing for everyone to know about. Feel free to post examples on the official Pearl Jam Message Pit."
AT&T came back with an apology, calling the whole thing a MISTAKE:
"We screwed up on Sunday night when we deleted some lyrics from a live Pearl Jam performance that we were webcasting on attblueroom.com. We understand why Pearl Jam and their fans are upset. We're upset, too, and embarrassed by this mistake which is totally against our policy - of never, ever censoring political speech. The attblueroom.com exists to bring great music to as many people as possible, free of charge. We're committed to musicians and know we have a responsibility to them and to all of their fans.
We've webcasted more than 16 free concerts featuring approximately 310 bands and over 350 hours of live music and this hasn't happened before. We're making changes to ensure it won't happen again. We apologize to Pearl Jam, Lollapalooza and music fans everywhere. We've asked the band if we can post the complete, uncut performance to our website immediately. "
Here is a complete unedited version of Daughter, which includes the political tag.
MY TWO CENTS:
While I generally feel that there is a time and a place for everything, I cannot condone censorship of this type. Personally, I share a disapproval of our president's decisions with regard to the war in Iraq, but I don't necessarily think a rock concert is the best place to hold a political rally. We are fans of pearl jam for the music, not necessarily because we all share the same political views as Eddie Vedder. That said, I do not think it was ok for AT&T to censor the webcast. Whether we, or the president, or anyone else for that matter likes it or not, Eddie Vedder has every right to express whatever opinion he may have when he is on the microphone, and as fans, we have come to expect it. This is America. The first amendment was drafted to protect our freedom for a reason. That's all.
posted by Talia
@
11:38 PM
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