There was a joke about raping babies earlier this week on The Daily Show. Laugh out loud funny. And no outrage.
Similar but different, last night Mr. Perfect Jay Leno had Gilbert Godfried on and they were doing a bit which had jokes about the Phil Spector victim- not jokes about his hair, or his weirdness, jokes about actually killing a woman. Isn’t a joke about an acutal murder worse than jokes about a hypothetical rape? Where’s the outrage here as well?
Not to mention the vast amount of jokes about the brutal Nicole Simpson / Ron Goldman murders.
I guess its OK because Jay is a Nice Guy and the other two are assholes.
If “the offenderatti” now includes “people who object to public proclamations of the desirability of violently raping specific women”, I submit the phrase has finally been rendered completely useless.
Then, maybe we should go ahead and make such proclamations illegal, rather than de facto illegal.
That’s ridiculous. If I sell a product nobody chooses to buy, that’s like it’s illegal to buy it? Please.
Fans of the show decided to stop listening over this issue? Huh. I missed that part of the story.
Opie & Anthony can sell their program to their fans directly if they choose to, or stand on the street corner and give it away for free, for that matter. Are you saying that an employer is obligated to continue employing a popular employee or it’s like making working illegal?
No. I’m saying that those employees are wrong for giving in, and the backlash from the sponsors is beginning. I’m also saying that people saying that they should be fired are wrong for trying to limit people’s audience because they disagree with the message.
I can’t wait until the Family groups start going after shows that are more mainstream and then we’ll see how open minded we all are.
But that just doesn’t make sense. Again, it implies that we are all OWED a platform just because we have the right to one. If Opie & Anthony must be paid to say whatever they want no matter how their bosses feel about it, then why isn’t somebody giving me millions of dollars to post on the Dope? If they don’t, it’s like making my speech illegal! Opie & Anthony are still free to speak. No one is limiting their freedom to say anything, they’re just not paying them to say it. They can still give their message away if it’s that important, or find another way to sell it.
Fine. You’ve turned me around. I think everything that I have access to should be filtered first through all special interest groups. Focus on the Family gets to decide that the critically acclaimed The Sopranos shouldn’t be aired because of violence. Anti-abortion groups get to decide that a very special episode of Grey’s Anatomy where someone contemplates terminating a pregnancy should never air. The Moral Majority probably hates most hip hop, so MTV and the record labels should certainly be held hostage to them and we should pull all of that from the airwaves.
Or maybe, those groups should simply encourage people not to listen to the things that they don’t like, and not listen themselves rather than deciding what I get to listen to. I can’t even begin to imagine how arrogant I would have to be to decide that not only do I not like to listen to something, but you don’t get to listen to it either (all the while polishing my halo).
The thing is that this would not have made a blip on XM’s radar if it wasn’t for special interest groups who are not fans of the show listening specifically to find something to be offended by. Then they make a big deal out of it, and XM has to react in some way. The regular listeners of the O&A show certainly would not make this an issue in the media…its the NON-listeners who try to dictate what people should or should not be able to listen to. Do you think Sharpton listened to Imus because he liked the show, or because he was looking for something to offend him?
For the billionth time, you can still listen to the show. You can’t demand that anybody else pay for it if they choose not to, including and especially the people whose resources are used to broadcast it.
Good point, I’m sure if someone monitored Al Sharpton’s favorite station, they could probably find something offensive there, only no one does it.
Do you think Sharpton listened to Imus because he liked the show, or because he was looking for something to offend him?
If he was listening because he liked the show and he was legitimately offended, then by all means he should boycott the show.
If he was listening because he had an agenda of trying to get Imus off the air because he found him offensive, then why was he listening in the first place?
I have been reading a lot about the O&A issue and I have yet to see a fan of the show call for them to be fired or suspended. The people calling for that are people who are not fans of the show. If they aren’t listening, why do they care?
The people who listen to O&A on XM have made the decision to PAY to hear them. They can easily change their mind if they get offended by the program.
How does any of this mean that an employer is obligated to keep paying an employee if they don’t want to? It doesn’t matter why. What you’re proposing is absurd. You’re actually suggesting that it’s wrong to fire people if you’re not happy with the way they do their job.
Actually, what I am proposing is that it’s wrong for people who do not listen to the show to put pressure on the company to take an action that it otherwise would not have taken if it were left up to the actual listeners of the show.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with XM suspending, or firing, O&A. As you said, it is their business and they can run it how they want. What I object to is the reason they made the decision, which as far as I can tell was to appease the offended groups and get some heat off their backs. Good business decision? yes. Proper motivation for making the decision? no.
It’s not wrong for a politician to propose a bill eliminating all gun control laws, if they truly believe that is what their constituents want. However, IMHO, it IS wrong for them to propose it if they are doing so because of pressure from the NRA.
JollyDingDong is saying what I’m trying to say, but better. Thanks.
Update: They’re trying to get fired again. Al Roker said something about epilepsy and the 2007 Brit Olympic Logo. They’re replaying his apology but not what he said, giving out NBC’s phone number and the Today Show email, and asking people to call in and complain, to get Al Roker fired.