What a reply to 50,000 complaints

The Observer has it neatly summed up. When a public service broadcaster thinks it knows better than the public you are in trouble.

Browny points, free links and Kudos to any blogger who can source email addresses for any of the names listed here who have come out in support of the show- lets see how they like thousands of polite emails on the subject (please do keep them civil)

Even though the number of complaints is running at 50,000, the BBC is not without powerful supporters: Nicholas Hytner, artistic director of the National Theatre, which first staged the play; Tom Morris, brother of the television star Chris Morris, who developed the stage show, and Stewart Lee, who wrote it with Richard Thomas, all say the BBC was well within its rights to screen the programme.

Critics say the broadcast has more than 400 swear words, including fuck and cunt, and shows Jesus in a nappy admitting he is ‘a bit gay’. Bishop Michael Reid of the Pentecostal Church in Brentwood, Essex, who is leading the protest by an alliance of Christian groups, described the musical as ‘filth’.

Hytner, who saw potential in an early Edinburgh fringe festival production of the opera, believes the criticisms are irrelevant and misplaced. ‘I don’t see much of a problem here for anybody,’ he said. ‘There are plainly people who see and enjoy this show and plainly plenty of people who are amused by it. Audiences like it because it pushes the boundaries of good taste and makes fun, very cleverly, of some musical traditions. If you don’t want to see it, then you should not be watching it.’…….

Protesters, championed by the national viewers’ organisation Mediawatch, which claimed the show had 8,000 swear words, alleged the it was obscene and not a suitable choice for the BBC.”

What is little known is that there is no formal organised campaign against the show or at least if there is the complaints go far beyond it. I have never even heard of mediawatch or the other individual who is supposed to be “leading” me. I wouldnt dream of saying I was “leading” a campaign even in the blogosphere. I have simply stated my views. The beauty of the blogosphre is that if there is no resonance with others then my views will die. If on the other hand others think “He’s right” or even “he’s wrong” then an exponentially growing debate will ensue, often being launched simultaneously by many different bloggers who have no idea that the others have spoken about it.

Speaking of which, Im off to technorati and blogpulse to see who else has been blogging on this subject