Free speech and you... stand up for Imus' rights
54Stand up for Imus not because you agree or disagree with his program.
Stand up for him because you value our freedom... you value free speech.
This is the United States of America... where we all have the right to agree to disagree.
When someone is given the power to shut anyone down because they disagree with that person .... that freedom we hold so high and has been won and protected by so many lives over so many years is put in the highest jeopardy it has ever before been in .. for the enemy becomes one of ours ... a citizen of the United States.
This happened today with the firing of Imus. It would be different if it were coming from the people who the comment had been aimed at. It didn't.
There should be outrage coming from the door of every home ... it shoud be screaming across the frontpage of every newspaper in this country ... should be the top news on every TV channel and every radio station....
but.... is it????
Will you do anything to try to turn this around? Will you contact anyone? Do you feel you should???
Questions we all need to ask ourselves .... but most of all... this one...
How much do we value the freedoms we take so for granted here? So little that it won't be till they are all gone that we realize what we had????
Everyone needs to look long and hard at what is happening here then decide if it is worth fighting to protect what we have .. and I don't mean by going to Iraq.
Are you willing to fight enough to make a phone call? Do you care enough?
Just wondering.
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My concern isn't Imus or his finances.... only our freedoms. When a freedom is taken away from one person ... believe me .. it will effect us all down the road in our own. A very close elderly friend of mine escaped the holocaust. She was born in Germany and has said over and over again.... 'American's cannot see that every new permit that is required is one more piece of their freedom taken away.' That Al Sharpton could have had such power that he could be the catalyst to shut down a radio program is no small thing.
Imus's firing had nothing to do with free speech. He was fired only when the big advertisers pulled their ads because they didn't want their names associated with a pathetic racist, misogynistic, anti-semitic asshole.
yes.. Ralph.. you are right.. but they were driven to that by the fact that Al Sharpton brought it to the forefront... I am not saying I back what Imus says... I do not. Now... will Sharpton do the same to clean up the rap artists work .. those who recommend killing and shooting etc in all their work... which marketed mainly for one part of our society ... our teens and younger..... get the sponsors to cut them off for they too depend on advertisers to prosper.
Interesting commentary about this very subject (including Al Sharpton):
Very interesting.. and true. Sharpton can say what he wishes but who can confront him? Only a black who thinks as he? I feel if a black who feels the double standard is there confronts Sharpton about it.... Sharpton would immediately label him as "not black enough" .. in other words ... anyone who sees it and would dare confront him with it would be immediatel stomped down never mind color ... made out to be an ignorant idiot. Sorry... that is how I see it. Sharpton uses racism as he uses everything else... only if it will benefit him.
Let's not forget the controversy is about Imus, not Sharpton. I read 5 or six columns by other black op-ed writers ranging from Gwen Ifill of the Lehrer News Hour, who Imus called a cleaning lady, to Leonard Pitts, to Bob Herbert if the NYTimes, Maya Angelou. and several others. All condemned Imus. Sharpton was the first on the scene of the accident, but his role shouldn't be overestimated. In the final analyisis, the plug was pulled by the big advertisers.
It all began with Sharpton ... who brought Imus' words into the limelight .. then got his friend Jesse Jackson to help him set it on fire. My point is.... now that he got the desired result with Imus, will he go on and clean up the rap artist world.... bring their work into the limelight of the world as he did Imus and call for a stop to that? As I said ... their targeted audience is our teens and younger. Will he push as he did with Imus until the advertisers pull the plug on those rap artists ... or will he simply use his "power" to control those he deems not fit to be on the air?
Hey. It all began with Imus. Every black commentator from Obama on down condemned Imus. He's been making racist, homophobic, sexis, anti-semitic comments for years. Did you see what Mike Wallace quoted him as saying? "I keep McGuirk around for his nigger jokes." Or words to that effect. It was about time somebody pulled the plug on his life support system. He's a first class asshole and all you can do is carp about Sharpton. Get real!!
And nearly all white commentators as well. How can anyone defend Imus's calling a girl's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed whores?" on national television?
And nearly all white commentators as well. How can anyone defend Imus's calling a girl's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed whores?" on national television?
Hey Ralph... I don't defend anyone calling anyone names of any kind. You are missing my point completely here. WILL Sharpton go after those rap artists now.. who are telling our teens how to murder and slice and use drugs in what is disquised as music? WILL he? I feel if he did this for the right reasons .. to clean things up... to get rid of the mysogynists...then he has to go further. If that is not why he got so furious.. because of what was said....then why did he? My point is if you are trying to "clean things up" then keep going... otherwise DON'T MESS WITH FREE SPEECH .... for where do you stop once you begin????
Well, I hope he does. Several of the African Americans who have criticized Imus have also spoken out against the rap and hip hoppers. However, I don't think it's accurate to equate Imus with the rappers. The context is different and the intent is different. Much of the content really stinks, far worse than anything Imus has said. A black rapper can get away with more than an old white guy on network radio or Television. That doesn't make it right.
It ALL goes down to free speech... and when someone's right to free speech is taken away.. it affects us all. Adults can turn off what they don't want to hear. Parents should teach their chldren what not to listen to ... and tho they will listen probably anyhow.. at least those teachings will be with them and they will understand those teachings when they hear the words on the cds. It ALL goes down to free speech and Sharpton did all in his power to make sure it was ripped out of the hands of Imus. Oh.. I am sure Imus will get another job somewhere if he chooses to. He makes too much money for people.... the almighty dollar you know. So..it had nothing to do with content... it all had to do with control .. and how far Sharpton and Jackson could push. What was said was only the tool they used. Period.
I think you are over-estimating Sharpton's influence on the outcome. Even Newt Gingrich strongly denounced Imus as well as just about everyone else, white and black, who commented on Imus's long record of racist, homophobic, sexistl and anti-semitic diatribes. When, for no reason, he called the Rutgers women whores he went over the line once too often. And the advertisers pulled the plug. Speech is free on the public air waves only as long as advertisers are willing to pay the bills.
That link I posted above (#5) has a link that demonstrates that Sharpton *has* gone after misogynistic rappers before. And I'm not sure exactly why you're gunning for him. What on earth did he do that was so horrible? Like Ralph said, Imus has been condemned by countless others.
And like it's been said over and over again: Imus's *free speech* has NOT been violated. What's being denied him now (and only now--you'll see, he'll end up richer out of all of this) is a paying audience. Sorry, but you're not guaranteed the right to a large, sympathetic audience and the right to make money off whatever garbage comes out of your mouth. He can continue to exercise his free speech and say whatever the hell he likes. But other people and companies are not required to pay him to do that.
Boy.. you guys are missing my point COMPLETELY! Sorry.
Don Imus’s sin was not so much what he said as much as it was that he used his privileged TV platform to degrade specific individuals who, by themselves, did not have a similar platform from which to defend themselves. The society rightfully and dutifully came to their defense. People may disagree as to whether or not the punishment fit the crime. It should be noted however, that his ill conceived comments were not premeditated. They were not said with anger or malice. They were not repeated. And he apologized. The only opinion that should count is that of the girls who were the targets of his ill-conceived words. They judged his apology to be sincere and accepted it.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson also used their privileged TV platform to attack the Duke University players, who by themselves also did not have a similar platform from which to defend themselves. Their attack was not just a slur; it also involved an ongoing criminal charge. Their attacks were premeditated. They were said with malice. They were often repeated of a period of months. And to date not a hint of an apology has come from either of them. Where’s the outrage?
I sincerely hope the Duke players sue the two “honorable” Reverends if for no other reason than to deny them, as Don Imus has been denied, of their privileged platform.
do you think it's possible that Sharpton and Jackson believed, as did many people, that the Duke lacross players were guilty. And, if memory serves me, there was evidence that one or two of them did send some pretty nasty racist emails. I don't recall exactly what Jackson and Sharpton said. Perhaps they do owe the boys at Duke an apology. As far as I know neither of them has a sponsored TV show. So, we'll probably continue to hear from them as self-appointed spokesmen for African-Americans. There are plenty of others who are more moderate who deserve to be heard more widely. Again, TV producers seem to think they have to have controversy in order to attract more eyeballs. Therefore we hear too much from the Sharptons and the snake who called John Edwards a faggot. There is no shortage of extremists, black or white, left or right, from what I can see. Too bad.
Thank you Don.. I hope they do too.
Here's a sample of constitutionally protected free speech. Bill Maher on what's wrong with the Bush administration. http://hubpages.com/hub/Bill_Maher_on_Elites_and_B
Free speech is not determined by what a person does or does not want to hear.
Imus's free speech rights were not extinguished. He can go on satellite radio, on the stand-up comedian circuit or expound on "nappy-headed hos" all he wants in Central Park or at a subway entrance. He has no right to a contract with CBS or to be syndicated by NBC, especially when the big advertisers pulled their ads. He's no different from a sitcom that bombed and was cancelled. Free speech is not the issue.
It is all about free speech and who thinks it applies to everyone and who thinks it applies to only certain ones. The networks and the advertisers were idiots to cave in.
Speech isn't free on radio or TV. Somebody has to pay for it--customers who buy products of companies who advertise. The advertisers and networks didn't "cave in." They didn't want a racist, sexist, homophobic asshole on their networks and associated with their products. They sell to people who resented being insulted by Imus. Not very complicated.
They caved in to pressure.
I agree with Ralph 100%, and sorry, silverstar, you're still not making sense to me. Imus's right to free speech was NOT infringed upon. He can say whatever the hell he wants about the basketball players. Neither he nor anybody else, though, has the *right* to make money off whatever the hell he wants to say.
Then there is a whole lot of shutting down to do .. isn't there?
Many of the people who criticized Imus also criticized the offensive rap and hip hop material that denigrates women and gays. Much of this material is already prohibited from playing on television or radio. But I guess a lot of objectionable sexist material does appear. However, not on mainline CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox TV. I catch it occasionally when channel surfing but don't watch it long enough to see who is sponsoring it. Rest assured it's none of the major consumer products companies like the ones who pulled the plug on Imus. I'm going to check this out to see who is apparently paying for the garbage. Interesting question. Several commentators have criticized Michael Savage. I'd never heard of him, but will look him up just out of curiosity.
And you would shut down anyone or anything you heard that you didn't like if you could?
Why would you say that? Of course not. That would require shutting down 90 percent of what's on TV. I just don't watch the ones I don't like. However, no one has the right to use the public air waves for hate speech. Why are you such a fan of Don Imus? From what little I've watched and heard, hate speech aside, he strikes me as juvenile. What's the big attraction?
Excactly... 90%. I'm not an Imus fan. I have never listened to him .. by choice. I am a fan of free speech.
So am I. I'm a strong believer in free speech.
I do agree with this.. You keep rocking... Thanks for the excellent Hub!... keep going on with the good process....This hubpage is very useful and filled with lots of interesting links stuffz...
livelonger says:
2 years ago
Two words: PUBLICITY STUNT
Imus is laughing all the way to the bank. Look at Michael Savage.