Lynching Free Speech by James Novak

Lynching Free Speech
by James Novak

Shock Jock Don Imus recently referred to the Rutger's Women's Basketball team as, "nappy-headed hos." The racial slur led to a two week suspension from his job broadcasting from CBS. MSNBC followed suit by dropping the simulcast of his morning show. This raises a few important questions: Are we becoming too politically correct as a society? Are people over reacting to Imus' comments?

Junior guard Matee Avjon said, "It kind of scars us. We grew up in a world where racism exists, and there's nothing we can do to change that, I think that this has scarred me for life." She should spare us all the dramatics. I can't fathom the mindset of a 20 year old who actually cared what an increasingly obscure (before all of the press) shock jock said. Other members of the team expressed similar reactions to Imus' joke. I bet you that most members of this team had no idea who he was before this great act of evil took place. They all need to stop being so thin skinned. Do they have a right to be pissed off at him? Sure. Should they act as if it is having a great impact on their lives? Not at all. If some decaying loser in a cowboy hat called me a fag on the radio, I think I'd either ignore it or laugh it off saying, "Who the hell cares about him? The guy is a freaking joke." The outrage is also an overreaction because Don Imus has been making jokes like this for years. MSNBC, CBS, his listeners, and his sponsors were all aware that he says stupid stuff like the "nappy-headed hos," all of the time. On that note, it is also possible that it is selective outrage in light of that fact.

American society is becoming too politically correct. It's suddenly becoming a crime to have an opinion or to tell a moronic joke that insults people. ABC dropped Bill Maher's show, Politically Incorrect because a ton of thin skinned people got offended because he expressed (ironically) a politically incorrect opinion, saying that he thought the 9/11 hijackers had guts. He later clarified his position on the O'Reilly Factor by saying he thought they were moral cowards for attacking civilians, but not physical cowards for carrying out the acts. That didn't matter though, he had said something that had offended people, and they wanted him gone. The same type of thing has happened with Ann Coulter for describing Presidential candidate John Edwards as a, "Faggot." Campaigns to boycott the political commentator soon sprung up left and right.

Al Sharpton, the so called civil rights leader who has a long history of instigating violence against Jews has decided to throw in his two cents. On Amy Goodman's Democracy Now radio show he said, "I'm calling for Imus to be fired. I think that what he said was racist and sexist, and there must be accountability. If there is anything at all to FCC regulating and protecting the public, and if there's any kind of ethics at all among advertisers, they would immediately move to have him removed. This is no borderline amusing comment. This is as racist and sexist as you can get." I believe that Sharpton has every right to try and discourage advertisers from supporting don imus. However, I do not think it is the role of the government to make sure he gets his way. Adults shouldn't be told what they can and cannot say by the FCC. It absolutely goes against the very idea of free speech. Human beings do not have a moral right to not be offended. The very reason we have freedom of speech in this country is to allow people to say things that are controversial, and even wrong. The people who enjoy listening to Imus' crumby show shouldn't have the government telling them they aren't allowed to enjoy a certain type of humor or listen to a certain type of point of view. Sharpton's reasoning that the government should decided what is good or bad for us to hear is the type of mind set I'm sure is shared by great libertarian thinkers such as Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Mao Zedong.

The censorship mentality has been seen before. Michael Richards got in trouble for his racially charged verbal attack at the Laugh Factory last year. He apologized to Jesse Jackson and the black community at large. Was the end result Michael Richards earning the forgiveness of those he offended? No. What ended up happening was Jackson called for a boycott of the Seinfeld DVD. Even if a person admits guilt, and asks for the absolution, certain elements of society will still seek to shut them up.

People in the 9/11 Truth Movement often tell society to, "Wake up!" I have a similar battle cry for the American people, "Grow up!" Controversial opinions that upset people are a fact of life. If some one doesn't like an opinion, they don't have to read it or listen to it. Society is better served by having morons like Don Imus out there, than having the thought police regulating what can be said.