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Now THAT’s how you make a PSA…

scaredpoet

The HomeFront Society, a watchdog group tackling social issues in Canada, made a couple of rather realistic Public Service Announcements addressing domestic violence. Unfortunately, they will not be aired by Canadian Broadcasters, because they are deemed too graphic by Canada’s broadcasting authority:

“Many people dismiss abusive behaviours in their homes as normal and do not recognize that assaultive actions are still criminal actions even when they occur in intimate relationships. Criminal behaviour would not be tolerated in a public place and should not be tolerated in the home.” Phil Copithorne, Ogilvy’s Creative Director said that “there is no comfortable way to bring this message to air. It is an uncomfortable topic that most want to ignore. To get the message across an accurate and truthful depiction of violence was required.”

Ogilvy, by the way, is the ad firm that created the PSAs for HomeFront.

I have seen the PSAs. In fact, you can view the first one and second one here.

Warning: these ads ARE graphic.

However, indecent? I don’t think so. What is indecent is that this same scenario, involving real people and not actors, goes on in countless homes every day, both in Canada and the US. And I have to agree with HomeFront’s approach to this. People must be shown how incredibly horrifying such actions are to get the breadth of how serious this problem is.

The ads definitely would not have made it past the censors in the US either, and that’s a real shame. In and of themselves, the content – save for an expletive or two that could easily be bleeped out – wouldn’t fit the definition of indecent material, but it would still be witheld from broadcast, for the sole reason that we as a society are simply too uncomfortable to address the problem of domestic violence frankly and truthfully.

Hands

scaredpoet

hands

You're in deep right now
And were bound to fall in and get stuck anyway.
You've seen it coming all along.

It seemed inevitable - that's why you kept denying
Who you are for so long;
Admitting causes you to fall in.

Perhaps you've been Down all along.
And this explains why you've never
Really gone home.

The point is you're there,
And you're alone, 
And the people who matter are in holes themselves
Looking up;
Searching for hands to grab onto,
The way you search for hands right now.

So you blindly crawl, searching,
Constantly searching;
Groping, 
Constantly groping - 
Not necessarily for hands
Since you've convinced yourself
That Down isn't such a bad place to be.

Before, you were looking for importance,
Something to immerse yourself in.
Passion is your motto,
And Down is devoid of passion.
But something went wrong along the way;
You see,
You're not supposed to know you've fallen in.

But you admitted
And you faced your demons
And you were enlightened
And now you're restless
And you can't do anything about it.
All that's left is searching for hands,
Because they're the easiest thing to focus on.

You've yearned for hands for so long,
And hands you still have not grasped.
You're far too young to be Down,
But don't despair.
Just remember,
That you can only be Down for so long.
One day the passion you are full of will have an outlet.

One day, hands will bring you Up,
And Up you'll stay.
Those hands won't let go.

Your knowledge doesn't have to be a curse.
Remember that all around you are cracks,
And people fall Down all the time.

But they all get Up,
And they all get Up smiling.
Realize this and you will be galvanized the next time you are Down.

And next time, you won't have to be Up to smile.

The same old story in Florida

scaredpoet

Blah blah Florida blahblahblah elections blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah voter discontent blahblahblahblahblah fraud and corruption.

The same old song and dance in Florida, I’m almost certain I’m boring the poor souls who read this website to tears with it. But never before (at least in a country that claims to be free) have we endured such massive coverage of blatant election fraud and voter disenfranchisement, while the powers that be so blatantly and defiantly continue to perpetuate it. I would argue that even when civil rights among African Americans was an issue, the people silencing African Americans had the werewithal to make it subversive. Now, in an era where we allege that the time of fighting for civil rights is behind us, the abuses are open, blatant, and unbelievably obvious, and yet no one charged with the responsibility has done anything to try and stop it.

Maybe Bush has hired Saddam Hussein as his campaign consultant, and is getting pointers from him on how to “win” a “democractic” election.