I have just learned (via Andrew Sullivan) that the BBC returns some forty dollars or so of the annual television license fee it collects from all television owners in the UK to deaf viewers, presumably on the basis that the deaf cannot hear the BBC’s biases at work. As I think on it, this opens vast new realms of possibility. Shouldn’t the mindless seeker after entertainment be compensated for having to put up with nature shows, historical films, Shakespeare, etc? Is there some reason why the American viewer cannot sue the BBC on grounds of mental cruelty for one too many airings of Are You Being Served? Why can’t the BBC return the millions it gets every year to the millions it annoys every year? If not, why not?