Last week in Manila, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) removed billboards along EDSA showing burly rugby players clad only in Bench underwear. Top star Angel Locsin’s Century Tuna billboard was also taken down for the same reason: the content was found “offensive” and "indecent”.
I could understand the uproar of years back over the double entendre in a whiskey billboard: Nakatikim ka na ban ng quinze anos? (Have you tasted a fifteen year old?). That was bad taste and pedophiliac. But men in briefs and women in sexy attire? I’m sure most motorists loved what they saw. Some could’ve been upset. But the displeasure was colored with envy.
I stand against censorship of any kind. Government and religion have no business telling me what I should read, see or listen to. They must not erode my basic right to think or behave as an individual, most often in the name of moral values or protecting the innocent.
Censorship of any kind necessarily stifles freedom of thought and expression. It wants us to constantly feel guilty and threatened, rendering us weakened and neutralized -- until we don’t have the moral strength to challenge current norms, and discover, explore.
If Government really wants to protect the innocent, shouldn’t they fix the traffic on EDSA first? Precious time is waited sitting in traffic. Kids in cars and public transport age unnecessarily. Their innocence, wasted.
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