There is a lot to say about this. Following the Imus shindig, Russel Simmons, one of the label entrepreneurs who has released music by well known artists, gave a public statement saying that 'racist remarks' should be viewed as 'extreme curse words'. This is the part where my brain explodes and I transform into The Hulk and start smashing things. Jeff smash.
Let's begin with 'extreme curse words'. Curse words exist because, as an adult, I feel curse words help me relieve 'extreme anger' (e.g. when rap moguls condone censorship). All adults should have the privilege to utter whatever 'extreme curse words' they have in their arsenal. As an asian, I feel sometimes it is necessary to scream 'CHINK' as loud as I can to express the contempt I have for people who just don't get it. What are people not getting? They fail to recognize that language is our purest form of expression and to suppress it in any way is a violation to individual rights. If I want to burn the American flag, I will. If I want to write a song about black people and women, I will.
I won't lie to you, if our government made an amendment to ban profanity. My rage would build up to a point where the only other expression I'll resort to is physical. That's probably what happened to the shooter at VT. Everyone knew he didn't talk. Since he didn't talk, he didn't get to vent his anger. So it accumulated to the point where he snapped and shot everyone.
So, Mr./Mrs. Righteous-Puritan, are you condoning the VT shootings? You are if you believe profanities should be banned from our language (yes, even racist remarks).
Author's note: This was a little more extreme than my usual posts. I am a firm believer in individual rights and if people move to step on it, I will lay down the law and pimp smack potential usurpers. I do not condone flag burning or racism, but as I said earlier, I believe in individual rights. I would be a self-collapsing vortex of hypocrisy if I were to tell others what and what not to believe in.
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I also believe in individual rights and liberties. Those rights for each individual to utilize and express in their daily lives. But individual rights only go so far. The problem with freedom, is that in order for us to have some freedom, we must give up some freedom to a higher governmental power. We do not have the right to take others lives or infringe their rights as Americans. We give, we get.
So where is this rant going? Well comments made by Imus were not made by one person to another in an informal occasion. They were broadcasted (even posing as a news station; I would call it a vulgar op-ed entertainment show) to thousands of viewers in the public sphere. I am not saying here, though, that the government should step in and ban profanity all together. Just that the corporate owners of these stations really need to take more responsibility in the content they sponsor and how that content is affecting the general public. The problem is not just this Imus case or mesogynistic rap but the entertainment industry in general.
This industry is fueled by the vices of humanity. Pain, outrageous drama, sex, corruption, violence, etc... are glorified in mostly everything that comes as entertainment to us Americans. I am not saying all by any means, there are great media sources but few and far between. The stuff that is thrown in our faces every day on billboards, screaming commercials on tv and the radio, ads in magazines; all this is what seems to be promoting the vices of humanity. I think there has become a vicious cycle or spiral one could call it, where the people are influenced by these images though at the same time the people are breeding those images.
So, is it protecting individual liberties from the goverment? or protecting the state of our society from falling into an anything goes system?
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