I rarely have listened to Don Imus on his radio talk show, Imus in the morning. I think the only time I have seen him is when I happened to be surfing the local cable T.V.networks when sleep would not welcome me.
I just heard that MS NBC has given him the boot and will no longer carry his show via simulcast.My hunch is that his Radio show will be given the same action soon...
I don't really give a damn about Imus or his show...I always thought that he was a "caricature" like Howard Stern of what they thought the 60's and 70's "rebel" should act like.I could laugh with and at Stern. I could not understand much of anything Imus said because of the way he speaks.Is this then just rewards for people that have the audacity to speak freely about whatever is on their goofy minds?...Or is this a form of censorship that we all need to pay closer attention to?
What Imus said was ugly , gross and totally out of place...over the line..however you want to say it, it was stupid and should not have been said.But if we are going to remain a place where freedom of speech is a given, then what does this signify?
Is it racism at it's glaring and most obvious example? After all the target of Imus'remarks were the women's Collegiate Basketball Champs and the team is apparently made up of black athletes.So there seems to be merit merit to that charge.Was it simply as Imus wants us to believe a way of bringing to everyones attention a culture of hate filled rants given by "rappers" everyday via music and video's? Well only Imus knows the truth about that. My hunch is it was an aging hippie trying to get the attention that he craves. Well, he got the attention but it came in the form of consequences that most people in the political and entertainment field are so surprised to see visiting them after they say or do something that offends people.
Someone has finally figured out that the way to shut "shock-jocks" up is to threaten their sponsors with boycotts if the offender is not fired. Is it fair to use a persons livelihood as a means of getting rid of them?
If , than, this is the acceptable way that we punish these idiot's, than who will be next?
Will we see this form of censorship to become the norm for offensive language and behavior by Comedians,Rap Artist and ....politicians?
If we are so naive as to believe that this is an isolated example of "just rewards" for a jerk's behavior than I think we have not been paying very close attention to what's happening to our freedom's in this country.
If we all believe that when you say something ugly or base you deserve to be "excused " from the dialog, then all of us better be concerned...
"Inappropriate" behavior is always defined by the current management of whatever forum we are part of...I was a part of some pretty lively and controversial debate at a couple of "free speech" platforms on this Internet. Because I took the opposing view on some very nasty subject matters, I was targeted by the "leaders" of the more popular opinion as a troublemaker, I was asked not to come back...Well I said I thought this was a platform where diversity and different opinions were encouraged...no response. That than was the way I was muzzled..nobody would even acknowledge my thoughts anymore...I have seen it happen here. When someone said something that was not in keeping with who and what was popular, that person was just ignored and finally has gone elsewhere.
I worry not so much about if any of our opinions are popular,interesting,or...politically correct. I worry about those that have opinions that are not given a chance to explain them.
In the end, we are all like Imus in some respects. Who here has ever said something about a person or group of people that could have been labeled wrong, stupid,ugly or base? We get hold of a holier than them attitude and can't or won't see that the ugliest of all attitude has become our best friend..it's called hypocrisy.
I just heard that MS NBC has given him the boot and will no longer carry his show via simulcast.My hunch is that his Radio show will be given the same action soon...
I don't really give a damn about Imus or his show...I always thought that he was a "caricature" like Howard Stern of what they thought the 60's and 70's "rebel" should act like.I could laugh with and at Stern. I could not understand much of anything Imus said because of the way he speaks.Is this then just rewards for people that have the audacity to speak freely about whatever is on their goofy minds?...Or is this a form of censorship that we all need to pay closer attention to?
What Imus said was ugly , gross and totally out of place...over the line..however you want to say it, it was stupid and should not have been said.But if we are going to remain a place where freedom of speech is a given, then what does this signify?
Is it racism at it's glaring and most obvious example? After all the target of Imus'remarks were the women's Collegiate Basketball Champs and the team is apparently made up of black athletes.So there seems to be merit merit to that charge.Was it simply as Imus wants us to believe a way of bringing to everyones attention a culture of hate filled rants given by "rappers" everyday via music and video's? Well only Imus knows the truth about that. My hunch is it was an aging hippie trying to get the attention that he craves. Well, he got the attention but it came in the form of consequences that most people in the political and entertainment field are so surprised to see visiting them after they say or do something that offends people.
Someone has finally figured out that the way to shut "shock-jocks" up is to threaten their sponsors with boycotts if the offender is not fired. Is it fair to use a persons livelihood as a means of getting rid of them?
If , than, this is the acceptable way that we punish these idiot's, than who will be next?
Will we see this form of censorship to become the norm for offensive language and behavior by Comedians,Rap Artist and ....politicians?
If we are so naive as to believe that this is an isolated example of "just rewards" for a jerk's behavior than I think we have not been paying very close attention to what's happening to our freedom's in this country.
If we all believe that when you say something ugly or base you deserve to be "excused " from the dialog, then all of us better be concerned...
"Inappropriate" behavior is always defined by the current management of whatever forum we are part of...I was a part of some pretty lively and controversial debate at a couple of "free speech" platforms on this Internet. Because I took the opposing view on some very nasty subject matters, I was targeted by the "leaders" of the more popular opinion as a troublemaker, I was asked not to come back...Well I said I thought this was a platform where diversity and different opinions were encouraged...no response. That than was the way I was muzzled..nobody would even acknowledge my thoughts anymore...I have seen it happen here. When someone said something that was not in keeping with who and what was popular, that person was just ignored and finally has gone elsewhere.
I worry not so much about if any of our opinions are popular,interesting,or...politically correct. I worry about those that have opinions that are not given a chance to explain them.
In the end, we are all like Imus in some respects. Who here has ever said something about a person or group of people that could have been labeled wrong, stupid,ugly or base? We get hold of a holier than them attitude and can't or won't see that the ugliest of all attitude has become our best friend..it's called hypocrisy.
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