Freedom of Speech and Politcal Correctness; Don Imus
Everyone's talking about this.
I think we can all agree that there is a blurred line between what you can say and what you can't say nowadays. Derrogative words aren't harmful when used in certain situations and by certain people. I can't say I was alive at the time but I'm sure there was a time when you'd simply just get a beating for saying the wrong thing. Now you really gotta watch out for who you're going to offend. I'm not really here to defend Don Imus, but I'm not going to slander him either. What he did, in some ways, was wrong.
The situation. Don Imus is on the air - television and radio - and is watched/listened to by well over a million people a day. So what he's saying is being heard by less than .5% of the country, but that's more than most radio stations can boast. This being said, you really have to be careful about what you say. When you're talking about a select group of people the things that come out of your mouth can be considered as judgement of their character. When you say something derrogative it's considered slander. When written it's libel. Many people have been sued for such acts, and Don is not to be excluded from this list. He might have been lucky, but I'm sure he would have rather been sued than lose that well-paying job. A six-digit suit wouldn't have hurt him as bad as losing six figures each year. Don was commenting on a lady's college basketball game and decided he'd speak a little piece of his mind about the Rutger's womens basketball team. He called them 'nappy-headed hos'. This instantly stereotyped two 'minorities': blacks (noted at bottom as 1) and women. What he did was not taken lightly.
The people. When Imus first started out on radio he was a comedian. The extent of his jokes were crude and past the boundary of bigotry. He had been fired from other radio stations prior to the incident for the language he had used, but none such as this. The Rutger's womens basketball team is just that, a basketball team. Nobody knows about their personal life nor their hair for that matter. And then you have rappers. All of these people are part of this 'scandal' because one way or another they might have been part of it. We know how Don and the women were included in it, but why rappers? Certain rap artists have been known to use the term 'hos' in their songs. The difference between them and Imus, though, is the way in which the word was used and to whom it was used in reference to. The artist might be singling out a specific woman, but we don't know who that woman is. So, although it might still be degrading it's not the same case as what Imus did. Imus singled out a specific group of females, ones that people actually know.
Now for my take on the whole ordeal. I had heard his name before but now I know who Don Imus is. I guess the man had it coming. He's said things in the past and gotten away very cleanly, but you can't keep doing that forever. Had he said it and had no one got offended I think he would have kept his job. The only reason he lost it, in my opinion, is because his show lost sponsors. MSNBC makes its money off the people who advertise during the show. When they pulled out MSNBC lost a great deal of money. The easiest way to piss someone off is to fuck with their money. So they got even and cut his source of income. It's interesting because this man has had a job on-air for over two decades. So by now you would figure he has a loyal following. Most people watching that when he said what he did probably laughed or agreed with him. There's probably the occasional random listener who might have gotten pissed off by what happened, but I doubt there would have been enough to have all seen it and actually call in with a complaint. So you kind of wonder, "Why now? Why not twenty years ago when he made a comment about Jewish people?" I don't really know why myself, but I can assure you it's the growing rate of political correctness. We see it everywhere. I'm glad Don Imus got fired for what he said but what he did was more than just slander. He sparked a debate about political correctness all across the country. What can we really say now? Michael Richards really showed us what you can't, but Imus gave us a question.
Too many people take offense to words. That's how I see it. If it's used in a negative way, then take it negatively. If it's not, don't get so upset about it. Someone might not like Of Montreal and say, "This shit's gay." I don't take it offensively because that person isn't using it in a harsh way towards me. It's just being used as a descriptive word for something they don't like. It could be their lack of adjectives in their vocabulary but I don't jump down their throat. It really creates an awkward situation when someone looks at me expecting me to be offended by it. I'm not, so get over it. Now if you call me a faggot straight to my face that's a different situation. There are lines, but not the ones people are going by now. I hope that people learn to not be so PC about everything and lighten up a little. Just don't go as far as Don Imus.
--
1: I used the term 'blacks' instead of African-Americans because I feel the latter is used by people who don't want to cross some sort of racist line. African-Americans should be used to connotate an individual who is from Africa and is now an American. We refer to white people as whites not as French-Americans, German-Americans, Russian-Americans et al. I work with a few black people who are not from Africa but Haiti, France and Jamaica instead. It would be incorrect to call them African-Americans but some people are too worried about offending black people so they'll just use the term 'African-American' in general. That, to me, is offensive. Take the time to get to know them as the wonderful people they are and, if you must, reference to them as Haitian-Americans, French-Americans and Jamaican-Americans.
I think we can all agree that there is a blurred line between what you can say and what you can't say nowadays. Derrogative words aren't harmful when used in certain situations and by certain people. I can't say I was alive at the time but I'm sure there was a time when you'd simply just get a beating for saying the wrong thing. Now you really gotta watch out for who you're going to offend. I'm not really here to defend Don Imus, but I'm not going to slander him either. What he did, in some ways, was wrong.
The situation. Don Imus is on the air - television and radio - and is watched/listened to by well over a million people a day. So what he's saying is being heard by less than .5% of the country, but that's more than most radio stations can boast. This being said, you really have to be careful about what you say. When you're talking about a select group of people the things that come out of your mouth can be considered as judgement of their character. When you say something derrogative it's considered slander. When written it's libel. Many people have been sued for such acts, and Don is not to be excluded from this list. He might have been lucky, but I'm sure he would have rather been sued than lose that well-paying job. A six-digit suit wouldn't have hurt him as bad as losing six figures each year. Don was commenting on a lady's college basketball game and decided he'd speak a little piece of his mind about the Rutger's womens basketball team. He called them 'nappy-headed hos'. This instantly stereotyped two 'minorities': blacks (noted at bottom as 1) and women. What he did was not taken lightly.
The people. When Imus first started out on radio he was a comedian. The extent of his jokes were crude and past the boundary of bigotry. He had been fired from other radio stations prior to the incident for the language he had used, but none such as this. The Rutger's womens basketball team is just that, a basketball team. Nobody knows about their personal life nor their hair for that matter. And then you have rappers. All of these people are part of this 'scandal' because one way or another they might have been part of it. We know how Don and the women were included in it, but why rappers? Certain rap artists have been known to use the term 'hos' in their songs. The difference between them and Imus, though, is the way in which the word was used and to whom it was used in reference to. The artist might be singling out a specific woman, but we don't know who that woman is. So, although it might still be degrading it's not the same case as what Imus did. Imus singled out a specific group of females, ones that people actually know.
Now for my take on the whole ordeal. I had heard his name before but now I know who Don Imus is. I guess the man had it coming. He's said things in the past and gotten away very cleanly, but you can't keep doing that forever. Had he said it and had no one got offended I think he would have kept his job. The only reason he lost it, in my opinion, is because his show lost sponsors. MSNBC makes its money off the people who advertise during the show. When they pulled out MSNBC lost a great deal of money. The easiest way to piss someone off is to fuck with their money. So they got even and cut his source of income. It's interesting because this man has had a job on-air for over two decades. So by now you would figure he has a loyal following. Most people watching that when he said what he did probably laughed or agreed with him. There's probably the occasional random listener who might have gotten pissed off by what happened, but I doubt there would have been enough to have all seen it and actually call in with a complaint. So you kind of wonder, "Why now? Why not twenty years ago when he made a comment about Jewish people?" I don't really know why myself, but I can assure you it's the growing rate of political correctness. We see it everywhere. I'm glad Don Imus got fired for what he said but what he did was more than just slander. He sparked a debate about political correctness all across the country. What can we really say now? Michael Richards really showed us what you can't, but Imus gave us a question.
Too many people take offense to words. That's how I see it. If it's used in a negative way, then take it negatively. If it's not, don't get so upset about it. Someone might not like Of Montreal and say, "This shit's gay." I don't take it offensively because that person isn't using it in a harsh way towards me. It's just being used as a descriptive word for something they don't like. It could be their lack of adjectives in their vocabulary but I don't jump down their throat. It really creates an awkward situation when someone looks at me expecting me to be offended by it. I'm not, so get over it. Now if you call me a faggot straight to my face that's a different situation. There are lines, but not the ones people are going by now. I hope that people learn to not be so PC about everything and lighten up a little. Just don't go as far as Don Imus.
--
1: I used the term 'blacks' instead of African-Americans because I feel the latter is used by people who don't want to cross some sort of racist line. African-Americans should be used to connotate an individual who is from Africa and is now an American. We refer to white people as whites not as French-Americans, German-Americans, Russian-Americans et al. I work with a few black people who are not from Africa but Haiti, France and Jamaica instead. It would be incorrect to call them African-Americans but some people are too worried about offending black people so they'll just use the term 'African-American' in general. That, to me, is offensive. Take the time to get to know them as the wonderful people they are and, if you must, reference to them as Haitian-Americans, French-Americans and Jamaican-Americans.