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Stupid White Men: Don Imus' Racial Trash

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injest:
there have been a few cases of women's groups beginning to protest rap music in general for how they protray women. but I have not seen anyone from a national group complaining about Imus. Wonder if they figure that he is getting enough flack for being racist....if so they are wasting a good opportunity.

opinionista:

--- Quote from: Scott on April 11, 2007, 07:38:01 am ---1.  Why is he receiving such criticism for using the words he did, when you can
     buy any hip-hop or rap recoding and hear the very same sexist/racist words.  Is
     it OK for some to use that language but not others?


--- End quote ---

I agree with you that certain lyrics not just in hip hop but in other genres as well, are sometimes extremely sexist, racist and homophobic. But it comes to music it is hard to prove they're being bigots because they tend to defend themselves saying they're being sarcastic, ironic or whatever. That's the problem with art. I remember a few years ago there was a big controversy within Spanish language music industry with a very popular Mexican rock group, Molotov. They have a song called Puto, which depending on context could mean fag. The song says terrible things about gays, especially the chorus, but has a very catchy melody which helped turn it into a success. A lot of groups accused Molotov of homophobia and of promoting violence against the gay community. The band called a press conference to explain that their song was critique to Mexican government's homophobic actions and violence against gays, and not an homophobic statement on their part. And the controversy was over. Even today I wonder if they were honest. Everytime I come across the song's chorus I can't help to feel they're making a direct attack against the gay community.

dot-matrix:
The points raised by everyone here are very valid and a shining example of why I insist that his words no matter how offensive to the majority of us are protected by free speech.  The freedoms given to us by the Constitution are for everyone not just the folks we like, the words we like, the opinions and beliefs that we like but for EVERYONE.  It's advanced citizenship and like most tough issues involving a moral dilemma (like the death penalty) the answers are not easy but censorship of any kind is not the answer.  Censorship is a slippery and treacherous slope we DO NOT want to start down, the consequence will be fatal to the freedoms we hold so dear.

David, You ask where do we draw the line?  My answer is that free speech by it's very definition says there is NO line.  The idea being that no person, no ideology, no corporation, no government has the right to regulate what you think, feel or say.  It is our morality that governs speech and we must all accept that their are individuals whose moral compass points in a different direction than our own and they have a right to speak.  They have a right to know that their homes, families and livelihood are not in jeopardy because they hold and share unpopular opinions and beliefs just as we do.

The words of people like Imus, Limbaugh, and Phelps, to name a few, make my blood boil but I truly believe in the concept of free speech so I support their "right" to say what they think but like wise I have the right and responsibility to challenge their speech and their assumptions whenever I can as publically as I can.

These are tough issues and we won't solve them here but it is fascinating to read everyones thoughts on the subject.

David In Indy:
Ultimately I suppose we can only hope people will boycott Don Imus once he returns to his rat nest  at MSNBC. I also hope CBS and MSNBC don't decide to drop this and forget about it. It may be free speech, but people like Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter are abusing it. They may have the right to say it, but we also have the right to not listen to it, and CBS/MSNBC has a right to not air it.

I guess this is the best we can hope for, isn't it?   :)

HerrKaiser:
I think the title of this thread is racist, actually.

Imagine the backlash and anger to a thread (or radio host) saying "...stupid black men" as an all-encompassing label based on one person's comment/opinion.

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