American censorship, no matter its reasoning, is always political. It represents an effort by a dominant or growing Political Thesis to ride the other side out of the debate.
The Comstock Laws of 1873, the most successful censorship regime, were used by Republicans to banish reformist impulses under the Civil War Thesis that reached its peak under then-President Grant. (That’s Anthony Comstock himself to the right, from Wikipedia.)
If you can’t describe the sexual violence and degradation attendant to the rise of industrial New York, you can’t possibly change it.
The great successes of the Progressive Movement, such as Jacob Riis’ classic How the Other Half Lives, lay in describing this reality so it could be addressed. Forcing attention on what needed reforming required defying what had become the common concept of the law.
The Hays Office, and the motion picture code of the 1930s, was also intensely political.
(That’s Will Hays there, from Wikipedia.) While it was first proposed as an attempt to put down liberals during the Flapper Era it
eventually became a key tool for New Deal Liberalism, which used movies as propaganda, both to sell the New Deal itself and, later, the fight against Adolph Hitler.
As media choices expanded, the rise of a new Political Thesis
is accompanied mainly by an attempt to ride one side’s ideas out of
broadcasting. The censorship of the Smothers Brothers
was just one example, as popular rock acts were ridden off broadcast TV
and exiled to the new FM band. This did not impact their popularity —
it actually made the musicians more money — but the political aim, to
take rock’s political ideas out of the "mainstream" debate — was
accomplished.
During any time of political crisis, when media executives become
unclear on what the rules are, where the boundaries should be, the
dominant entertainment form becomes pure fantasy. The Jack Benny Program
was a fantasy. The TV shows of the late 1960s — whether comedies like
Green Acres or nominal dramas like I Spy — were fantasies. Today’s
reality shows, like American Idol, are fantasies. Such shows become
popular because people aren’t certain what can be said, or should be
said, about the underlying reality of the times.
It’s in this historical context that we should see the Imus flap. For the first time in literally decades, left-wing pressure has halted a right-wing show.
A boundary has been set, on the right, against political speech.
Ritualistic personal abuse now draws a red flag. People are on the
lookout.
Which is why the right is now so obsessed
with trying to go after ghetto rap and Rosie O’Donnell. Al Sharpton is
happy to work with them on the first — gansta rappers are his
political enemies far more than they are Fox’s. The attempt to go after
O’Donnell is an attempt to create an equivalency, to restore the status
quo ante, to TV’s political debate.
As I mentioned yesterday, liberals smell blood in the water.
Can we really ride Hannity and Limbaugh and Beck out by saying that
racial or sexual or personal abuse won’t be tolerated, then squeezing
down on their acts until they’re either forced out or neutered? This is
the right’s fear.
My fear is that we risk going too far, as in Tim O’Reilly’s attempt to create a "voluntary code of conduct" for this medium,
which in fact would be mandatory, enforced by companies like Typepad
and ISPs. (That’s Tim O’Reilly to the left, from his blog.)
There are laws against harassment and every blog post, every
comment on a blog post, creates a record under which existing laws may
be enforced.
Trying to squelch speech we fear doesn’t squelch the thoughts which give rise to the speech.
I’d much rather have the evidence of your evil heart out in the open,
where it can be prosecuted later, in the fullness of time, when you
either act-out your inanity or seek some position of trust in society.
Let censorship remain the limited tool of riding people out of the
mainstream. Don’t try to clean the corners of thought. That way lies
madness.
Real censorship is
like mandated prayer in schools. As Orson Scott Card said on that
issue, if it’s strong enough to do good it will do harm. And if it’s
weak enough not to do harm, it can’t possibly do any good.
Imus a right winger? Here’s a snippet of the transcript from his show today, via Drudge:
Imus is a raging moderate. This is not a case of left vs. right but the press eating one of its own. That’s what makes it so newsworthy.
Imus a right winger? Here’s a snippet of the transcript from his show today, via Drudge:
Imus is a raging moderate. This is not a case of left vs. right but the press eating one of its own. That’s what makes it so newsworthy.
I agree. I believe in free speech, even speech that might be hateful or disturbing.
Note that this doesn’t mean anyone can say anything without accepting consequences. I also believe in freedom of association, to choose whether you want to listen to someone.
The nuts will get consequently get shunted off to the side and marginalized by society. There’s no law or rule against the KKK, but there’s a significant cultural stigma associated with it. There’s no law against what Imus said, but enough people exercised their free speech rights that his affiliates are taking notice.
(Posting anonymously because “nuts” include those who like to go to extremes when you insult them.)
I agree. I believe in free speech, even speech that might be hateful or disturbing.
Note that this doesn’t mean anyone can say anything without accepting consequences. I also believe in freedom of association, to choose whether you want to listen to someone.
The nuts will get consequently get shunted off to the side and marginalized by society. There’s no law or rule against the KKK, but there’s a significant cultural stigma associated with it. There’s no law against what Imus said, but enough people exercised their free speech rights that his affiliates are taking notice.
(Posting anonymously because “nuts” include those who like to go to extremes when you insult them.)
Censorship is when the government shuts you down. For a network or any other employer to shut you down because people don’t like you may be cowardly, but it’s standard practice in every business. And – people, left or right, have every right to tell his employers they don’t like him.
(Though Sharpton, of all people, has no room to talk! May those two dinosaurs be swept out on the same wave of public opinion.)
However, someone on the Fourth Turning website pointed out Imus’ comments would have passed without much comment if he’d picked on some tough pierced GenXers. Today’s youth are not seen in that light, but rather as the hard-working high-achieving kids these young women actually are. And insults to them are not seen in the same light.
Now, my personal opinion of Imus’ comment is that he was throwing fecal matter in the face of said hard work and achievement and the human spirit that makes it possible – but also that he may still see himself as the cleverly subversive Naughty Boy he was (or thought he was) 40 years ago. Alas, no. What was cute back then has soured beyond recognition.
Censorship is when the government shuts you down. For a network or any other employer to shut you down because people don’t like you may be cowardly, but it’s standard practice in every business. And – people, left or right, have every right to tell his employers they don’t like him.
(Though Sharpton, of all people, has no room to talk! May those two dinosaurs be swept out on the same wave of public opinion.)
However, someone on the Fourth Turning website pointed out Imus’ comments would have passed without much comment if he’d picked on some tough pierced GenXers. Today’s youth are not seen in that light, but rather as the hard-working high-achieving kids these young women actually are. And insults to them are not seen in the same light.
Now, my personal opinion of Imus’ comment is that he was throwing fecal matter in the face of said hard work and achievement and the human spirit that makes it possible – but also that he may still see himself as the cleverly subversive Naughty Boy he was (or thought he was) 40 years ago. Alas, no. What was cute back then has soured beyond recognition.
Vytorin.
Vytorin side effects. Vytorin.