Just got this from the Wall Street Journal:
"CBS fired Don Imus from his radio show, the final blow for the broadcaster amid a mounting controversy over racist remarks he made about the Rutgers University women's basketball team on his program. A flood of advertisers pulled their ads from Imus's radio and TV programs under mounting public pressure."
Understand this: I do not condone the remarks made by Don Imus. I think that they were insensitive, and frankly, dumb. But, his firing raises an important question:
Does this mean that anyone who makes disparaging remarks about someone based upon race, creed, or color, must be fired? Or is it just people who make disparaging remarks of people who are of a different race, creed, or color?
If you watch movies, television, or see live comedy, you will see many cases of remarks that are not offensive if traded between people of similar heritage, yet very offensive if traded between people of dissimilar heritage or background.
Has someone published a guide that covers what remarks are or are not appropriate when exchanged in public? It would make things a lot less confusing.
Frank
1 comments:
Frank:
As much as I hate to admit it, welcome to the age of money-based censorship.
I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO this Friday, and Maher had Al Sharpton on as a guest. He attempted to have the reverend take the bait on Imus' termination as a First Amendment issue. Sharpton didn't bite.
For the first time in I don't know how long, I'm not siding with Maher's perspective. I find that as the Religious Right keeps gaining ground and influence, not only politically but economically, an increasing number of the Americans will begin to express their opinions in a more opened, unabashed fashion. What's more, they will vote their conscience through consumerist boycotts, literally taking justice into their hands through their purchases--or lack thereof--or censoring voices of dissent in cases where those who express their opinions freely do so in uncivil terms.
Leslie Moonves, the man in charge at CBS, acted pre-emptively in terminating Imus, knowing full well which consequences the company would potentially endure in the event of a consumer boycott.
Do not be surprised if this is the shape of things to come, as polemicists come into deeper scrutiny from this point forth. We can only hope that Imus' firing does not send a chilling effect through the average corporate structure. As if Human Resource departments weren't already policing corporatespeak enough, the nightmare scenario would be for the screws to be tightened even further.
Will there ever be a guide to what should and should not be considered offensive? I think the answer to that should be our God given right to access one of our greatest assets: common sense...
R
Post a Comment