The Implications of the Imus Debacle

What many people don't seem to realize about the Imus debacle, is that perhaps we are seeing what Orwell had written about in his book, '1984'. That is the 'thought police'. My fear as I have been watching this whole circus, is that it has opened the flood gates for people to now decide if they are "offended" by someone else's comments, they can take action to have said person removed from the arena of public discourse.

Of course, what I am referring to is the interjection of the 'extortionists' Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson. (I leave out their self-proclaimed titles of "Reverend" as both have certainly not exhibited any behavior conducive of such a title. I would imagine as 'men of the cloth', they would be the first to call for forgiveness, not the firing of Imus.)

The democrats have had a full on rage since they regained control of the house and senate to bring back the fairness doctrine. That is an old FCC requirement most notably, for political issues, that required equal time for an opposing viewpoint. ( As of early 2007, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) have announced their support of legislation which would reverse the 1987 FCC decision and restore the Fairness Doctrine)

The problem with the fairness doctrine is, that with all the conservative radio talk hosts currently out there, the most prominent of course, Rush, the democrats are looking to silence the voices of a 'new media' that has combated the lies and distortions that the Democrats have maintained are "truth". (Thankfully, in wisdom, the Reagan administration had the FCC abolish this archaic requirement in 1987.) This means, that such media outlets as Fox News Channel, Rush, Hannity, Hewitt, Medved, Gallagher, Levin, O'Reilly and other conservative hosts, would in effect be silenced or muzzled at best. And it wouldn't stop there. They would also try and manipulate the rules (by legislation of course, the democrats answer to everything, even thought) that would require the free market to provide, probably at a cost to the networks, time for their minions like Al Sharpton, Randy Rhoades, Jesse Jackson, Al Franken and the rest of their ilk time to 'rebut' the conservative voices currently on the radio. This is where government intrusion into free market smacks of socialism. Ronald Reagan always said that most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Currently, the reason why talk radio has the following it does and Fox News Channel is consistently beating both CNN and MSNBC (combined) in the ratings, is that they offer an alternative source of information other than the usual 3 networks and CNN & MSNBC. Rush Limbaugh's show is heard by at least 20 million people a week, which is why the kook liberal Democratic fringe have referred to him as 'the most dangerous man in America.' Say what you will, but from a purely professional standpoint and observation, I can honestly say with my experience working in TV and Radio that ABC, CBS (especially) and NBC all have a political agenda to push for the Democrats. They do have a liberal bias. Talk Radio, Fox News Channel and in print, the Washington Times, among a myriad of bloggers, websites, et. al, offer a more balanced view on political issues, even though people claim they are right wing. That is interesting as those very people are often themselves liberals who think that NPR is somehow impartial and balanced. Zell Miller, former congressman from Georgia had it right when he said, "I didn't leave the party, it left me." This is not your father's Democratic party indeed. It is run anymore by the George Soros, Moveon.org, KOS-Koolaid-drinkers that hate America and what it stands for, plain and simple.

No one elected Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to be the 'speech police.' No one elected the democrats to be able to legislate who and and what can be said on the radio or TV. That is a product of the free market. If conservative talk didn't appeal to people, then it wouldn't be on the radio to begin with. The reason why that Airhead America and the rest of the 'liberal talk radio' has not taken off, is that there is not a major market of people who are out there that agree with it. It is usually the KOS-moveon.org and kook fringe that listen to it and the liberal base has been controlling the media for years with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and virtually most major newspaper organizations.

My question is, why is not okay for someone like Don Imus to make such a crass statement, when all you have to do is turn on any 'urban radio' station and hear the rap & hip hop artists that reguarly use such terms as 'ho's' , 'bitches', 'nappy headed' and other terms and consistently write about such themes as murder, rape, drug use, drug selling and other such things and yet, not one word from Sharpton, Jackson or the rest over those kind of sayings. They claim it falls under the guise of "anger toward society and the product of racism that has existed in this country for the last 400 years.' Young people, being as impressionable as they are, look upon this kind of trash as the way to look at the world in general. People like Sharpton and Jackson have made an industry of keeping racism alive so that they can shakedown various people and organizations for money. They both have quite a few skeletons in their closets and have 'apologised' at various times for transgressions that had a white or conservative person said, would have resulted in a virtual lynch mob. But both have survived to continue on with their practice of extortion with no real consequences, the latest being the exoneration of the Duke LaCrosse players from any involvement in assault and rape, and Sharpton flat out rejecting the idea of apologizing for his accusations against the innocent men involved.

We are blessed to have a free press, albeit one that has a left leaning political agenda, with the 'new media' on the rise to balance it out. If, people like Sharpton, Jackson and the liberal left do get their way, it is only a matter of time before the counterbalancing voices that have risen will in effect be muzzled by legislation. Once again, from '1984', the democrats and the left will try to dictate how we 'must' think and what is 'acceptable' to say about issues. For a party that claims to value free speech, they have shown themselves to be the equivalent of the old Soviet style 'Pravda'.