Here's what is going on...and I'll use radio as an example. A majority of the radio stations are owned by one or two very large corporations. In this instance, Viacom and Clear Channel. Now what happens is this: a certain group of people, a minority group (I"m not saying minority as in race so put your race cards away, hair splitters) at that, decides that they've been offended. Who knows what happened. Maybe they saw a titty on TV or maybe someone was speaking to loosely about sex or God forbid someone said a foul word. Either way, they get offended. They become outraged and need to pull out their laser pointers and set their sites on someone who symbolizes the type of entertainment that has offended them. They rally and cry and the FCC starts handing out fines. In the end, the people who have some goddamned common sense in their head and KNOW when to turn off the TV or radio when they hear something they don't agree with suffer. The people who aren't afraid to hear something controversial or intelligent (granted Howard isn't always the MOST intelligent broadcasting but he tests you) are the ones who are paying the price.
And here is my second point to all this. I may be off the mark here but first, none of these shock jocks have really gotten any worse over the years. Its not like in the last few months they've stepped up their game and started raping calves on their show to see how far they can go. NO! What has changed is power that some of these groups and people have. I believe that they have a right to voice their outrage. They have a right to say whatever the hell they want to say. What they don't have a right to do is stop someone else from doing their thing.
It sure seemed like this media crackdown started after the SuperBowl...I call it Janet's Mammary Malfunction. Here is my stance on this one. Janet was way wrong to pull out the can during superbowl. You can argue either way...it was just a boob big deal. But the bottom line is this, it was unexpected, it was prime time family broadcasting, kids were watching and most parents don't want their kids seeing it. They would just rather not have to explain it. Was it shocking? No not really. Was it something that will damage young minds? I really doubt it. But regardless, it was during an event that really doesn't need that sort of thing. And that leads me to the third point: when you tune into Howard, or Rush, or Mancow, or Dave Chappell Show, you pretty much know exactly what you're in for. There's no guessing there. These folks are famous for racy content and we all know that so its not like these folks are invading your home. Its not like you can't avoid them. So I say this: Use your head...turn it off if you don't like it but don't be a stifler...its unconstitutional aint it?
I'm sorry to keep going over stuff like this with ya. I just think that we're starting to walk backwards as far as our Government telling us what to do. Personally, I don't want to be told who to pray to or what to listen to or who I can marry. I want everyone to be able to choose for themselves. You should too.
posted by Michael Witmer @ Tuesday, March 02, 2004
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