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Hasta la Free Speech

An apology probably should have sufficed for saying something stupid, unfunny and defamatory.  Not that I want to defend Don Imus. He should have been fired years ago for his colossal body of stupid, unfunny work on an unlistenable show. 

One of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut stories was the one about mandatory handicaps,* and the grotesque ballet of dancers wearing weights so they wouldn’t be more graceful than oanyone else.  That is where we are headed.  Safety helmets, kneepads, blacked-out see-no-evil goggles and gags all around. 

Enough’s been said about racist double standards in the free speech department, I don’t need to repeat it.  I’m just hoping this might mean Howard Stern gets brought out of orbit and gets Imus’ slot.  So the next time people are shocked by something a shock jock says, the response will be ”Eff you, it’s a joke.” 

More Stern on Imus:

“If it was me and I did something stupid like that I would just go on and say, ‘I’m not going on Al Sharpton’s show. Al Sharpton is a piece of s**t. He’s just a human being that is bankrupt, and he should pay his bills…. I would rather just leave the radio than apologize to that man…. I like Al Sharpton, by the way.”

“I mean, come on, Al Sharpton. Imus, get some f***ing dignity.” [Burps.]

“I’ve never seen a 67-year-old guy look that bad.”

“Imus is a moron.” 

Big winner in this thing, Katie Couric. Looks like we can only take one media scandal at a time, and her ghost-written plagiarism has dropped off the radar.  According to the standard set in the other, excuse me, latest CBS scandal, they just should have fired Imus’ producer, because he’s the one who set up the stupid remark.

*thanks ghamid.

Topics: media, moronocy

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:30 am on Friday, April 13, 2007

11 Responses to “Hasta la Free Speech”

1. ghamid Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

   Sadly, the story you refer to, “Harrison Bergeron”, is becoming less and less fiction by the day.

   Here’s a URL to a reprint of Vonnegut’s story:

   http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

2. mattjduffy Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

   True dat.

3. Bloodthirsty Liberal Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

   I don’t know about that, Jules. Al Sharpton has seemed free to say anything he wants, without any consequences–to him at any rate (Yankel Rosenbaum may dissent from this opinion). And rappers have only gotten richer employing language that would make even Imus blush. There’s a television series called Iconoclasts, in one episode of which Maya Angelou takes Dave Chappelle to the proverbial woodshed for his free and easy use of the “n-word”. Chappelle hears her out, but won’t change his ways. That’s how he and his friends talk. Fine, I say. But if he’s going to talk that way, and if Ludacris, Snoop, Fitty Cent, et al are going to rap that way, why is Imus the bad guy for using words which every newspaper has seen fit to print repeatedly?

4. El Cid Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

   Jules, from your Katie Couric link

   But It’s Okay For Couric To Fake Her Memories?

   Betcha’ Katie ain’t fakin’ some stuff, especially with her new young boyfriend. That twinkle in her eye is for REAL, this time.

   Damn, now I have to wash AND soak my laptop, too.

5. AW1 Tim Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 12:43 pm

   Jules,

   I came close to gagging listening to Sharpton dealing with Imus. Sharpton was the media leader of the virtual lynch mob of those Duke lacrosse Players, and here he is lecturing Imus?

   The whole lot of them ought to be taken to the woodshed. And left there.

   I was however, able to listen to some rap music the other day. It was coming from a car about three blocks up the street from me…..

   Respects,

6. RebeccaH Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

   I reread “Harry Bergeron” yesterday, following the helpfully provided links. The first time was during my college years (enuff said), so I didn’t really get it. But, boy, do I ever get it now.

   The loudest racist doublespeak is mostly rehashed old 60’s stuff, which was then, and is now, just bullshit. I’m waiting for the 60’s era bullshitters to die off (and hoping they go before I do), to see if things improve.

7. Mr. Bingley Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

   Man, I hadn’t read that story for awhile.

   I’m with you, Rebecca.

8. Bill's Bites Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

   2007.04.13 Politics/1st Amendment Roundup

   Politics/1st Amendment? It gets tough trying to separate the two some days. Updated from the top. Please treat this as a blog-within-a-blog, come back often, and scroll down till you hit something you saw on your last visit. ACLU To

9. More Imus « Michael P.F. van der Galiën Says:
   April 13th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

   [...] 13th, 2007 by mvdg Jules Crittenden on the firing of Don Imus: “An apology probably should have sufficed for saying something [...]

10. Purple Avenger Says:
    April 13th, 2007 at 5:41 pm

    Stern is right. Imus is a moron. I’m enjoying the fact that its the left that’s skewering him too. He’s carried a lot of water for them in the past. That they eat their own couldn’t be illustrated clearer.

11. garys Says:
    April 13th, 2007 at 6:39 pm

    “He should have been fired years ago for his colossal body of stupid, unfunny work on an unlistenable show. ”

    In the end, this was his worst crime. He stopped being funny or entertaining. If he were still either, CBS and MSNBC (which needs the ratings) would have stuck with him.

    On a separate note; Howie Carr should have at least mentioned that he has a show on a competing radio station. Poor form, but what else would we expect from Carr?

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