Political correctness has gone too far. In today’s volital climate of shock jocks and bible pushing conservatives we are subject to everyone’s opinions. As we move towards a new administration and the House and Senate fight to win back the truth in a corrupt government is society leaning more towards the Right in the realm of free speech?
The most notable downfall of a verbal mishap is held by Mr. Don Imus who managed in a matter of 2 minutes diminish a 40 year career filled with high profile interviews and equal degrading of various groups. Imus has never been shy when it comes to telling it like it is and has made a career of offending every group equally so why was the Rutgers girls any different? What made the girls basketball team of Rutgers the catalyst for silencing radio personalities everywhere. In reality Don Imus is entitled to his opinion no matter who he may hurt or offend. I do believe that the right to free speech allows us the ability to say whatever we want to say and NBC had long relied on Imus for high ratings due in large part to his blunt offensive ways. Please don’t misunderstand me, what Imus said was wrong and the Rutgers girls were in no way deserving of such a barrage of sharp words but when you are figures in the media whether it’s college or professional ball you are subject to criticism. What made the public jump up was the fact that the girls had just finished a Cinderella run of sorts coming from last place to face Tennessee for the championship, they lost but it does not take away from the belief it gave New Jersians all over the state.
Where I think Rutgers went wrong? They should have played ball and kept themselves out of it instead they allowed the media and Al Sharpton to use them as bait for a greater ideal. Al took this as a way to thrust himself back into the media and take the focus away from Rap music and African Americans themselves and push it back to the white man keeping them down. For years Rap music has been an advocate for racism, sexism, homophobia, and everything else in between but as it states in our constitution it is their right and we must allow it. We may not agree with what they say but they have a right to say it just as we have a right not to buy their music. The same can be said for Don Imus, we may not agree with him or condone his words but we too have the ability to change the station, change the channel and change our view of someone who we feel is wrong.
For years now the Conservative Republicans have called the National airways the breeding ground of Liberals as if the Conservatives haven’t cornered the market on all media, Rupert Murdoc, hello? The FCC and groups like Focus on the Family have protested against free speech and freedom of art and expression since its inception rating what they feel is offensive. It’s a slippery slope of slowly taking away your freedoms when you allow groups such as these to dictate what is decent and what is not. Russel Simmons has since come out and expressed his frustration with the way Rap artists have categorized African Americans and has called for an outright ban of certain words commonly used in Rap. Should we bow down to this, should we take away certain freedoms as dictated by our constitution for over 100 years? You can agree or disagree with him, Al Sharpton, Don Imus, or any of these key figures and you’ll find that that’s your right. In a world where no two people are alike is it fair that we should impose our will on the rest of humanity or should we adhere to an age old tradition of going against the grain and being a generation that paves the way rather than follows it.
Since the days of Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln and Presidents like John F. Kennedy we have always been a society of Progressives. Where Bill O’Reily sees treason I see change. There is only so much time a person can spend living on the sidelines of their country and only so many times we can have the wool pulled over our eyes before we stand up and be counted for. The elections in December showed us many things but I think what stands out the most is the cry out for change. While the Democrats are giving President Bush a run for his money we are still far from ahead of the game. During a week when multiple newsworthy events were happening we were focused on Don Imus and his mouth malfunction. In the month of April over 80 of our soldiers were killed in combat and to date over 3,000 soldiers killed in the Iraq war. These numbers are staggering and have yet to slow down. Our focus shifted from what should always be topic of conversation to the distraction of the month. Political correctness has gotten so bad that we can’t speak freely without the worry of losing our jobs or being labeled un-American. A classic argument to the Right is that if we aren’t for the war we are against the troops and as we all know that just isn’t true.
Putting a spin on people’s words is just the icing on the cake just ask Rosie O’Donnel whose words have been taken so out of context she’s misquoted more than God himself. Our mainstream media stations were created initially to inform us about news 24 hours a day 7 days a week keeping those who normally aren’t near a newspaper the ability to keep up with world news. While this worked for a short time much like everything else it was violated by big corporations looking to make a buck. While stories like Anna Nicole Smith’s baby issues were making news sadly world news such as the hostages in Iran was rarely discussed. Since President Bush took office it’s been one attack on our civil liberties after another and the ones who are standing by and watching are the same people whose liberties he is taking. The American people are at fault for just not caring enough if it doesn’t affect you immediately it’s nothing to worry about and that is the thinking that has gotten us where we are today. We are a society of “we want it now” and when issues such as Global Warming come up we are torn as to just how much we’ll give up to save our planet.
CNN was the groundbreaking news channel that brought you award winning coverage of the Gulf War and positioned itself to be the leader in all of news. Since the days of full blown coverage and pulling no punches CNN has become just another news channel bowing down to administrative pressure from the White House to censor all photos of fallen soldiers and the coffins coming home. During the Vietnam War the public was treated to in your face news showing pictures from the war zone soldiers injured and coming home in body bags, the reality of war. Today we are suppressed the use of free speech and freedom of expression to include the realities of war and this allows the country to believe things are going better over in Iraq than they actually are. Call me a conspiracy theorist but it seems to be the White House is more concerned with good PR than they are with allowing the public to make their own decisions about this trumped up war. Most recently there have been hearings in the Senate to determine if Alberto Gonzales is guilty of firing U.S. Prosecutors for political gain and two U.S. soldiers are testifying that their stories exaggerated and in some cases completely false all to put a positive spin on the Iraq War. Day by day we are slowly getting back to the accountability factor in our government and using the Ethics Committee to find the weakest links and bring them to justice. We are long overdue for an overhaul and now that the Democrats have taken over office we are starting to see the way the government should have been run all along.
They say when you begin to take away basic civil rights such as Freedom of Speech you begin to take away the meaning of our country and step on our forefathers for all the vision they had for our future. While I do believe that the Constitution is open for tweaking and adjustments as we see years pass I do not believe that basic civil rights should be taken away. While you may not agree with some of our most prominent figures and their opinions we have an obligation to allow them to voice and express themselves through any means they choose. The beauty of living in the United States is that we are free, the same liberties we want to give to other countries we seem to be pushing to the side for the sake of National Security. The Patriot Act was put into place to condone torture and the chipping away of the rights of every American to their privacy. As long as we continue to allow this kind of action without speaking out against it we will never have a grasp on what it truly means to value your freedom and value the rights we have been given as a nation.
In the wake of Don Imus my only hope is that this encourages a healthy dialogue between people about preserving our right to freedom of speech so that our children’s children can enjoy the same rights that we had been given when we were young. Until then keep fighting the good fight.
