Retro-Censorship at the War Experience Museum in London

When I heard about this on CBC this morning, I yelled at the radio.

”]Basically, the poster welcoming visitors to the Winston Churchill’s Britain at War Experience in London, U.K. , has been retouched to remove the cigar from Churchill’s mouth. The museum has chosen not to reveal who removed the cigar or why and has not censored any other photos or posters in museum exhibits.

There are two things about this incident that really bother me. First and foremost, it’s a historical photograph — and an iconic one at that — and it is just not cool to retroactively remove key details! Even seemingly insignificant details, like passers-by  or buildings in the background, impact a photo’s potential use as a historical document. It’s a discussion I have had with fellow photographers in the Victoria Grid Project — my feeling is that the photos should capture the city as it is — streetlights, power lines, dog crap and all; other photographers casually edit the photos before they are submitted. Frankly, the attitude of retouching reality irks me; it’s no different than the ongoing controversy over retouching photos of super-models (or average people) until the image presented is completely unattainable by any human. On the other hand, I do respect photography as an art form and from that angle, it is perfectly acceptable to alter what is captured by the camera as long as it is presented as art and not documentary.

About as annoying to me is the idiotic idea that removing references to smoking — especially historical references — will somehow impact people’s attitudes toward smoking. If you want kids to try something stupid, be secretive about it. Isn’t that what years of “America’s War on Drugs” has taught us? Make sure any movie that includes drug use gets a specific warning and stricter rating from the MPAA and teens will want to seek out the behaviour that was deemed dangerous. Yes, I realize that drugs are illegal and smoking isn’t. So how about alcohol? Network television has very strict rules about it (not as strict as smoking which has virtually disappeared from the small screen) but teens still binge drink all the time. Seriously, not showing something does not stop it from happening (let’s add teen pregnancy to this list, too). The fact that Churchill is known as a cigar smoker — hell, Cigar Aficionado lists him as number 1 in the top 100 cigar smokers of the 20th century — makes this revision just that much more ridiculous.

Frankly, I’m more offended by the potential glorification of war through a dedicated museum than I am by images of a person smoking.

I don’t smoke. In fact, I’ve never inhaled anything first-hand —  I haven’t even put an unlit cigarette in my mouth. This is, in part, due to the fact that growing up I would listen to my father, a long-time smoker, cough his guts out every morning before his first cigarette. I know there are risks associated with smoking — just as there are with thousands of other activities we do and things we ingest.  (Remember, 2 out of 2 non-smokers eventually die, too.)

While I doubt I would be able to live with Mike if he were a regular smoker, I’ve never begrudged him the few times a year that he enjoys a cigar.

Smoking, for better or for worse, is a part of our society. More importantly, it is a part of our history and I’d really prefer that history, ugly as it may be, not be rewritten.