Three cheers for Walmart which took a stand in not selling Green Day’s newest CD “21st Century Breakdown” because Green Day refused to offer a CD edited for language and content.
Green Day is crying censorship.
Censorship? So should Walmart be required to sell anything and everything with no regard for content? Does Walmart not have the right to choose what CDs it sells? Or should it be required to sell everything single CD available. Geez, I guess Green Day would have no problem with a “back room” at Walmart for porn DVDs. After all, refusing to do so is censorship since Walmart only sells G, PG, PG-13, and R rated movies.
Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer for Green Day, said, “You feel like you’re in 1953 or something.”
No, Billie, we feel like it’s 2009 where a company actually has the nerve to refuse to carry your unedited CD and you’re whining about it.
Walmart 1, Green Day 0
Email Walmart and thank them for their stand.
This popped up on a Google alert, and it’s been bugging me so much that I just have to reply.
I’m sure that every PG-13 or R-rated movie Wal-Mart carries is censored for “dirty words” then. What about books, too?? And oh, there might be some foul language in a magazine…ooooh. That is exactly why this CD is not being sold at Wal-Mart. Dirty words. They’ve got to be kidding. I wonder who actually sits down and makes these decisions and what year he/she thinks we are living in?
Green Day and their record company applied a Parental Advisement label on the front of 21st Century Breakdown (as they’ve done in the past with other CDs), so that a parent can make the decision whether to buy it or not and allow thier child to listen to the “dirty words” or not. Is it not the responsibility of the parental figure to ‘parent’?? Why do we leave our responsibilities to some corporate or governmental authority?
I don’t think you should give Wal-Mart any thanks or any points for censoring a piece of art. And a damn good one, too. I think they epically lose for not selling this album – this is America, and I think sometimes we all forget that.
Although you are certainly entitled to your opinions, your snottish views of Walmart refusing to carry an unedited version of 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day, is unacceptable to Green Day fans whom in reading would most certainly be offended by your views. Green Day refused to censor their album for Walmart because them asking the band to remove curse words IS censorship, you don’t see Walmart refusing to carry rated R movies, or taking their gun sections out of the stores, which to a lot of people is worse than any band throwing the ocasional curse word to prove their point.
Idioicy belongs in the narrow minded and you are definately a narrow minded idiot!!!
you have no right to CONSOR them , its the 20 century get with the times , like its 2009 not 1953 .
You all kind of cds why not this one !!!, its censorship !!!!!
angela
xx
Ok, I don’t know who you are and I agree with you that Walmart has the right to sale wich albums they want and its a family store, but just because they won’t sale 21st Century Breakdown because its not edited doesn’t mean it will hurt Green Day’s CD sales. I mean people could go anywhere else in the world to buy it. In my opinion that decision will only hurt Walmart not Green Day, besides its an awesome album.
Oh yes, because I definitely feel an overwhelming need to thank Wal-mart for wanting to ruin a work of musical genius just so they can sell it in their disgusting stores. Bravo.
Cheryl is completely right.
I was writing in regards to your refusing to carry the Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown album. I worked for Walmart for 2 years as a cashier. I don’t see the problem with placing a warning sign for “explicit lyrics” on the album. The registers warn you when an age requirement/ID is necessary for a particular purchase. Why can’t you do that for ANY music album, not just Green Day?
You sell rated R movies, highly violent video games, that parents could give a crap less when they are purchasing either of those items for their children, You sell guns, and alcohol, and cigarettes.
All of those items …even spray paint, along with certain aerosol items require a age limit/ID to purchase, and lest I remind you again, with a warning on the register prior to purchase.
So let’s not cry “Walmart has morals” just yet. I say to you… refuse to carry other “age limiting” items then we shall see who “scores”! Looks like Green Day sales did just find without Walmart.
Can you say…HYPOCRICY?
That item was an email I sent to Walmart….
Walmart has the right to refuse to sell a CD that they don’t agree with. Let’s not forget that this is AMERICA. And we have the freedom to NOT sell vulgar, lewd, immoral material in our stores!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Below is an excerpt from my blog. Enjoy.
It is interesting to note that most people today, when entering into moral debates with one another, resort to name calling as their method of “argumentation.” This is especially true of chatting and commenting of sorts over the internet. I have personally come to the conclusion that attempting a civil and logical format for debate online is a complete waste of time.
There is, presently, an alarming lack of knowledge in the area of argumentation. I would venture so far as to say that all those who resort to name calling when engaged in a disagreement (especially online) are doing so simply because they lack the knowledge required to defend their position. They are ignorant, illiterate, and unlearned; and while they may not be stupid in the true sense of the word, they nevertheless render themselves equal to such a state due to their profound lack of knowledge and their deplorable refusal to access their intelligence.
yeah. because “I don’t give a shit about the modern age” is just as bad as porn. Wow. Maybe YOU’RE living in 1953. I personally think Green Day should have lashed out harder at them. Walmart is way abusing their power, and everyone knows that even casual fans are going to buy the CD to make a statement.
@ Andrea – of course Wal-Mart, or any other store for that matter, has the right to refuse to sell whatever they choose. This is America, and the great thing about this country is that we are free to do things like that.
The question is ‘why’? Why does Wal-Mart choose not to sell an amazing piece of art as in 21st Century Breakdown, but yet they stock their shelves with video games that have the very ‘vulgar, lewd, immoral’ material that you refer to? Or movies that have the same ‘dirty words’ in them as some Green Day lyrics? I am not saying that I have a problem with them selling any of that (again, this is the USA, so more power to ya); it just doesn’t make sense to me that they would single out one form of ‘vulgar’ material (if that indeed is their ‘policy’) and not another.
I don’t have to resort to name calling because I guess I am not just ‘most people,’ but maybe you shouldn’t rush to judge people on their writing skills or their way of speaking. To a Green Day fan, ‘idiot’ is a compliment. 🙂
@ Cheryl: It is the policy at Walmart not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.
You obviously disagree with this policy. But the question is, “Do they have the right as a company to decide what they will carry and what they will not carry?”
Of course they do. They make that decision thousands of times a day in regards to thousands and thousands of items including music, movies and magazines.
They do not sell every single CD available.
They do not sell every single DVD available.
They do not sell every magazine available.
No one accuses them of discrimination or censorship over this. We realize that it’s not practical to sell every thing available in a single category. So what upsets you is their policy. But, again, do they have a right to set policies and rules in how they run their company? If not, why not?
Walmart is under no obligation to carry any particular group’s CD.
Second, Walmart is consistent with their policies. They have different types of policies for different types of media. Their policy is to not carry CDs with Parental Advisory stickers. They followed their policy. They made no exceptions. Are they consistent with their various policies? That’s another debate.
You can call their policy one that promotes censorship but at least they consistently apply it. They didn’t single out Green Day.
You said: “Is it not the responsibility of the parental figure to ‘parent’?? Why do we leave our responsibilities to some corporate or governmental authority?”
To answer your first question: Yes, it is the responsibility of the parental figure to parent. And while this deals with parenting in a loose sense it more deals with public morality. Simply put, they don’t want CDs like that in their store. End of story. You don’t like it. I do.
To answer your second question: I do not leave my parental responsibilities to companies or the government. But how far are you willing to take your statement? Most people give over the parental responsibility of educating their children to government-run schools. People don’t even think twice about it. And we definitely want law enforcement involved in our lives when our children are threatened, harassed or molested even though it’s our responsibility to protect our children. So, yes, parents are responsible but we definitely take help in the various forms we are given. There are too many fronts to fight to go at it alone.
So I appreciate it when a company takes a stand for virtue not vulgarity. It doesn’t happen too often so when it does, I applaud them especially since such stands are not popular.
@ Shelli
@ angela
What’s wrong with censorship?
I appreciate that certain gas stations don’t sell pornography. That’s censorship.
I appreciate that Blockbuster and Hollywood Video don’t rent pornography. That’s censorship.
I appreciate that the video game consoles in McDonald’s are “kid” friendly and don’t have violent games. That’s censorship.
So what’s wrong with censorship?
@ Julie
You are right that it will not hurt sales for Green Day. And think even more how much Walmart lost out on! About 215,000 albums were sold in the first week! That’s a lot of cash. And Walmart was willing to forgo the money from the sales they would’ve made. So I applaud them for following their policy.
@ staci
Walmart has not singled out Green Day from any other group with objectionable material on their CDs.
You bring up a great point! Is Walmart’s policy consistent with its other policies for movies, magazines and books? An excellent question. It veers off topic so I won’t address it here.
And compliments to you for expressing your Freedom of Speech and emailing Walmart. I’m sure they read your email and didn’t censor it. 🙂
@kaytie
I don’t have the “objectionable” lyrics to the CD. I have searched online and been unable to find them.
My porn reference was to make the point that censorship in some form occurs any places where music, movies, magazines or books are sold (the sticker the RIAA requires to be put on certain CDs is a form of censorship in and of itself as they’ve labeled the CD “objectionable” and by doing so have set it apart from others). So if Billie Joe Armstrong is going to cry “censorship” on his music then how far does he (and you and others) want “un-censorship” to occur?
You have no problem with all sorts of music being sold at Walmart. But what about movies? Do you want Walmart stocking porn movies? So where does it start and where does it stop?
How is Walmart abusing their power?
@ Cheryl
You say, “To a Green Day fan, ‘idiot’ is a compliment.”
Then apparently I’m receiving a lot of compliments. 🙂
I think Andrea’s point is that people are attacking me instead of my position/belief. I’ve been said to have “snottish views”; I’ve been told to “get with the times”; I’ve been called a “narrow minded idiot”; I’ve been told that perhaps I’m “living in 1953”.
These are all comments about me. They have nothing to do with my position or why the belief I have is wrong. These people have attacked me, instead of attacking my position and belief and showing why they are wrong.
Wow! Congrats on the traffic! Your blog is living up to it’s subtitle.
@Cheryl:
You say, “maybe you shouldn’t rush to judge people on their writing skills or their way of speaking.” I find this very interesting. I never thought I was judging people on their writing skills or on their way of speaking (not sure what you define as “way of speaking”), but rather, I was judging their manner of treating other people. To call someone a name is very disrespectful and uncalled for. It simply is not necessary.
Mike is right in saying that, by calling him names, people are attacking him and not his argument. It is a logical fallacy-an “Ad Hominem” argument. Instead of addressing someone’s argument, they rather try to degrade the person’s argument by calling the person names. Admittedly, it is much easier to just call someone a name than to address their argument. In our New Age, public-schooled culture, the art of logic has been lost and many don’t understand how to properly argue.
I have been engaged in many conversations online concerning numerous topics and I have to say, people have directed at me some of the rudest and most profane comments I have ever read. I say “read” because whenever I have entered into a controversial conversation with someone face to face, never have they called me a name or said anything degrading towards my person. I think this says something. It is much easier to debase someone whom you can’t see and have never met, than it is to do it to their face. And it is even more difficult if you have even a general knowledge of who they are.
I don’t know you, Cheryl, or anyone else who has commented, but if I did, I would want to treat you with respect. So why do we think that if we don’t know and can’t see someone, that it is OK to disrespect them and be rude to them? And I freely admit that I am also tempted to do the same. It is much easier to react than to think. I find this very disconcerting.
“So I appreciate it when a company takes a stand for virtue not vulgarity.”
I would totally appreciate that as well, IF they took that stand across the board. If virtue is what Wal-Mart stood for, then I would completely understand. I wouldn’t call Grand Theft Auto virtuous by any means, and that item seems to be ok to sell at Wal-Mart.
I don’t understand why they deem it ok to sell one type of media but they have a problem with a CD that has ‘dirty words’ on it? (And yes, I do realize that they are not singling out Green Day – it’s a general statement.)
I do understand that Wal-Mart has a ‘policy’ about CDs, and that they (of course) cannot sell EVERY CD made. First of all, I just have to say that this is just not any CD. And this might just be one humble person’s opinion (but I don’t think so) – 21st Century Breakdown is a masterpiece, a wonderful HUGE piece of art that quite possibly may be the next album of the year.
This is personal to me because music is such a big part of my life; it’s a shame that people might miss out on this wonderful gift because of a backward policy.
The lyrics are all over the net, btw. Try http://www.greendayauthority.com and click on the lyrics link to the left.
I feel the issue is not why they are refusing to sell it, but the fact they are asking the band to edit their art before they will carry it (art is a statement and should never be censored, IMO). They are, of course, within their rights to decline to sell the CD for any (or no) reason and if it’s for a moral reason then I suppose they could be commended for it. But props to Green Day for refusing to comply and censor their art. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind at all if Wal-Mart flat-out refused to sell it (hell, they’ve made a huge stack of money they don’t even need any more already from the album) but they are miffed by basically being told ‘do what we tell you and we’ll sell it’. Well done for not watering down your statement, lads.
Hi, very nice post. I have been wondering bout this issue, so thanks for posting.
The article is very good. Write more please.
Yes, thank you Wal-Mart for filling your stores with products made by under paid chinese workers, thus kicking out the legs of our tumbling economy. So thank you, Wal-mart for having some morals and making sure we don’t hear those dirty words.
There are a million things you could say about any number of topics. Although I am not very forward on many topics, I came across this topic while attempting to find un-edited content. Honestly, what we are all missing is the beauty of opinion and the privilage to share it. Perhaps this experience willassist Green Day in realizing that even though they rhyme, Art don’t need the Mart.
The comment about underpaid chinese workers is somewhat amusing considering that you have bought plenty of items made by them. Aren’t you therefore a contributor to our tumbling economy? This is America. It’s to the point where it is virtually impossible not to purchase things “made in China.”