A return to public decency?

By: American Decency Staff

It’s hard to have not heard about the stir caused by radio broadcaster Don Imus and the racially and sexually degrading comments he made regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. The outrage has built leading first to his dismissal from NBC’s televised version of his radio program, followed by yesterday’s firing by CBS who employed Imus on their radio network. I have watched with interest as many have protested Imus’ repulsive comments – even some within the broadcast industry have called for his dismissal. For example, Al Roker of NBC’s Today Show stated: “CBS Radio and NBC News needs to remove Don Imus from the airwaves. That is what needs to happen. Otherwise, it just looks like profits and ratings rule over decency and justice.â€Â In addition, the cultural debate has also questioned ‘shouldn’t we also hold accountable rappers and other entertainers who spew hatred and vulgarity’? Are these signs that our cultural conscience is being awakened? Are we as a society realizing we have gone too far in tolerating degradation in the name of entertainment? A Newsweek reporter wrote last week concerning the Imus controversy: “… But just because it’s inexcusable doesn’t mean it’s inexplicable. And while Imus should not be spared any blame, we are undoubtedly complicit. It is our dubious taste that has spawned America's prevailing entertainment culture. We have countenanced the insult industry into which talk radio has devolved. We have allowed humiliation to become a centerpiece of network TV programming. And we encourage cutting-edge humor, without much concern that women and minorities endure most of those cuts. These dubious entertainments all share one currency: unabashed delight in cruelty and debasement. And we the audience laugh and laugh and laugh until somebody hits us over the head and we realize—or somebody tell us that we should realize—that this time it was way out of line and actually not all that funny. …â€Â Sadly, however, I don’t think we as a society are in the midst of recognizing the harm caused by debasing entertainment and speech. The Imus hoopla gained momentary attention for it’s political incorrectness, not for a renewed sense of morality. I find it incredibly ironic that CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves in announcing the firing of Imus stated: “There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision.â€Â This is the same Leslie Moonves who has employed Imus for decades and his demeaning language and brand of “entertainmentâ€Â is nothing new. In addition, Moonves and CBS empowered and defended Howard Stern for the more than fifteen years Stern was employed by CBS. CBS was happy to rake in money from Stern’s filth who daily spewed the most incredibly vile and degrading trash. Where was CBS’ and Moonves’ concern then for the “effects on our young peopleâ€Â from Stern’s flood of vulgar and sexually explicit “languageâ€Â? What about the effects upon women and girls that resulted from Stern’s daily degrading comments – far too crude to give example of here? Instead, CBS defended Stern when Stern was fined by the FCC and did nothing to rein him in. Some have claimed that the firing of Imus was motivated by a few big name advertisers pulling their sponsorship from his show. We at ADA monitored Stern in dozens of cities across the country for numbers of years, encouraging advertisers to stop their sponsorship of Stern. Over 90% of the thousands of advertisers we contacted dropped their ads from Stern, causing dozens of radio stations to cancel their contract with Stern. CBS lost millions of dollars from some of the largest companies in America – just one of these advertisers had a quarter of a million dollar contract – yet still CBS refused to drop Stern. CBS has very deep pockets to absorb the loss of advertising dollars. So CBS’s firing of Imus was not motivated by money or by moral conviction, but out of a need for damage control – protecting their image in the face of criticism for Imus’ crude and bigoted statements. Jesse Jackson stated CBS’s decision was “a victory for public decency. No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation.â€Â We agree, the public airwaves shouldn’t be used for racial or sexual degradation, and we would add religious defamation as well. However, I sadly doubt that we are seeing a return to decency. If we were witnessing a true change in the culture and in the broadcast industry, we would see no toleration for the sexual immorality and trash that passes for entertainment on television airwaves. We would see protests over other “shock-jocksâ€Â who follow the example of Stern and Imus and see them held accountable. We wouldn’t see anti-Christian bigotry that is rampant on network programming. Where was the outrage just months ago when NBC used one of their programs to call Christians “whack-jobsâ€Â and “psychosâ€Â and compared Christians to members of the Ku Klux Klan? Or when Rosie O’Donnell compared Christians to the Taliban? Sadly, I believe, the justly earned consequences meted out to Imus for his repulsive and vulgar comments are not a sign of greater cultural morality. Instead are merely the reaction of a corporation caught in the glare of the public spotlight protecting their name from the label of ‘bigot’ and ‘sexist’. The only way we will see a return to morality is by following II Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.â€Â ========================================================= Let's encourage one another and strengthen one another to be more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org

---