peer pressure or being sensitive or being stupid

i have just finished reading a coulumn in a newspaper. now, this columnist is asked what he thinks about a spesific situation observed in tv shows. i dont really watch tv so im only rephrasing him. as you know we are in the holy month of ramadan. and in tv shows, when people are drinking, the glasses, the bottles, or whatever are blurred so that people dont see what they are drinking. and i mind you that they are not doing this auto-censor because they are sensitive about giving bad ideas to the kids who might be watching the show. they are doing it because we are in the holy month of ramadan and they want to show that they are sensitive about it.

from my point of view this is just stupid. and i think this is a peer pressure. i know how tv channels work and how they are money oriented, which also means they get as populist as it gets. so i have no little doubt that they are in such a foolish act just because they want to look like politically correct.

now, these channels are run by clever people, and i can assure you that they all know that this is stupid. i dont know what show they are talking about or which channel it is aired, but i know the mind of these people. i used to work in a tv channel, but in fact, you dont really need that kind of an experience to figure out.

so, i guess there is also a debate going on around this issue, and this particular columnist is also asked about his opinions. and he prefers to share it with his readers. this guy says that, producers know when ramadan is. so he says, the best way to avoid losing time in endless debates such as this one, is that the producers should be more sensitive about it and they shouldnt shoot alcoholic scenes for the episodes to be aired during ramadan.

i just hope i am not the only one who thinks that this guy is talking nonsense. what he suggests is as stupid as the self-censorship itself. or isnt it? he is right for one thing: turkey should not lose time and energy for such stupid issues. i cant agree more. but should we just accept that the public is more sensitive in the month of ramadan so the producers should avoid drinking scenes? is this the normal thing to do and i just cant realize it, or is it really as stupid as it sounds to me?

from techical point of view, his suggestion is quite hard to apply. first of all, even though the air times are pre-determined, you can never be sure about that until the last moment. and even if it is achieved, i mean even if the producers just manage not to shoot drinking scenes for the ramadan episodes, what about the re-runs?

also, we might be in the month of ramadan in real life, but the virtual people of tv series dont have to follow our agenda. they might be enjoying the sunny beaches while it is snowing outside of our very windows. they can drink because they are not supposed to be in ramadan. or, they can be in ramadan and they can again drink, because those drinking characters might be representing those infidel secular citizens of turkish republic who have no respect for the common values of our moslem yet supressed population. then should we blur the raki glass? and does this change the fact that they are drinking? does showing or blurring such scenes make any change in the lives of those moslems who watch the show? or perhaps, dont they juts care and they are only those money oriented media barons who come up with such stupidity? why they werent practising such stupidness in the past but now, for the cost of our very valuable brain cells.

i sort of like that columnist actually. and i know that he is not a jihadist who is trying to turn our society into a sheria-driven population. i just think that he is only getting ridicolous about this issue, and perhaps he has lost his vision under the weight of peer pressure.