You know a lot has been said about Imus' comments regarding Rutgers womens basketball team. I find this rather ironic given how we all behave towards one another. Our culture is one who thrives on put-downs and even foams at the mouth when we hear one person insulting another. It seems to be the way we get our laughs. We pacify our poor self-image by viewing others in a worse light than we see ourselves. We celebrate our ability to put others down in order to delude ourselves into thinking that we are better than the object of our ridicule. What is interesting to me is how we have justified this kind of behavior by hiding it behind the 1st ammendment...that is until now. Now, all of a sudden no one likes what Imus has said [myself included] and we want to hang him from the gallows.
Look America. We need to make up our minds. If we are going to allow freedom in expressing our opinions then we need to allow it. We don't have to like it. we don't have to support it or those who do. Otherwise let us come up with a universal standard that is acceptable.
But to say this speech is wrong for you to say but ok for me to say is hypocritical on our part.
Let us remember the words of the apostle James who said: "The tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, ...no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."
Therefore my friends, be mindful of your words. Be intentional about what you say. Use your words to make the listener a better person and not to comfort yourself or make yourself rich; you just may end up making yourself out to be a fool.
2 comments:
I would argue that the government is the entity that would have to be required to let such speech happen. Personal feelings aside (both supporters for Imus’s right to say what he did and those who wish he would have had been gagged before he had a chance to say something like this) are just that - people’s feelings and opinions. The 1st amendment is to protect people from government policing what we think, not from people to be protected from ridicule for what they say. But it takes brave people to stand up and say that regardless of how I feel about it, I’m not going to let them take his freedom to say it away
Sure, the media can blast him, because it is the popular thing to do. They have repeated what he said over and over again, stirring up more anger than his comment alone could have done. They defend free speech when it is popular to defend it, and put up stumbling blocks for those who use their freedom to talk about other less popular topics (like Christianity).
Fortunately we live in a market economy that will take care of Imus by killing the funding for his show. The bigger companies know better than to support hate speech like that.
I agree Cory, free speech needs to be protected, but it needs to be a protection for everyone. Otherwise sites like this blog will cease to exist.
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