Only on Independence Day

On Monday we went to a 4th of July celebration with a carnival, food, fireworks and music. As we were eating our food, a local band was playing cover songs, and one of those songs was Cee-Lo's "Fuck You". Well, technically it was "Forget You" as they played the radio-friendly version. I don't really have a problem with that per se, as this was a diverse crowd with families and people of all ages, though I do find the widespread censorship of music that occurs on the radio and through retailers abominable. The weird thing occurred after the song was over, when the singer of the group thanked the crowd and expressed how glad she was to live in a country where they can get on stage and sing naughty words because of all the freedom they have, and that this is not something to be taken for granted, as there are a lot of other countries where it wouldn't be possible. Either this was a genius and highly subversive criticism of the self-inflicted censorship that musicians in their position have to participate in, or it was the most ridiculous case of cognitive dissonance that I have witnessed in real life.