While your opinion is a valid one, if there was never any kind of public response on people's opinions or actions, we would be in a society where government control is absolute, where women do not have the right to vote or be educated and where blacks are slaves. How's that for facism?
The first amendment, which includes freedom of speech, does not grant the right to verbally oppress; it is the right to defend yourself from being oppressed.
The reason we live in such a free and fair society today, where MOST groups have equal rights and freedoms, is thanks to millions of people who expressed their right to free speech and peaceful protest to disagree with the way things were. We are fighting for equality, and for the same rights and freedoms that other minority groups are able to enjoy. Nobody said anything about punishing anyone other than those who directly stated what their said - the two radio hosts in question - just that they realize what they did was wrong, that they crossed the line and said some very dangerous things, and to apologize and learn from it. Which, thanks to a huge public outcry including the loss of support from several high-profile advertisors (which all stated something similar to this: "SONIC in no way condones violence toward children and does not wish to be associated with media content that condones or promotes such activity in any way."), it seems they have finally woken up - see what I linked below.
Yes, everyone has the right to their opinion. That is free speech. But no, you don't have the right to violently and obscenely degrade any members of society over a public broadcast such as radio, television, etc. Can you imagine what would happen if a popular radio host aired a thirty minute segment expressing that blacks are "creeps, idiots" and have a "disease"? That society should "beat them down"? To ADVOCATE violence against them? He'd be arrested! There are reasons why quality control and the Federal Communications Commission (http://www.fcc.gov/) exists - to prevent this kind of thing from happening through rules and regulations governing telecommunication employees ethics and conduct. The FCC has in fact fined this radio station for obscenity before. I suggest you do some research.
I respect your opinion, and I do not wish to force anything on you. I merely believe that adults should act like adults and not advocate physical violence or ANY different kind of treatment toward ANY group that is "different" and use this hate speech to make a buck. You encourage people to make decisions for themselves, and then you question me when I do. Changing the station perpetuates the problem. By turning a blind eye to the behavior, you are accepting it.
This is part of a message from the show directly (the capslock is due to a direct c&p from their website, href="http://www.robarnieanddawn.com
"TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,
WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.
WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.
SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS “JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE,” WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.
WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M."
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Date: 2009-06-07 10:59 pm (UTC)While your opinion is a valid one, if there was never any kind of public response on people's opinions or actions, we would be in a society where government control is absolute, where women do not have the right to vote or be educated and where blacks are slaves. How's that for facism?
The first amendment, which includes freedom of speech, does not grant the right to verbally oppress; it is the right to defend yourself from being oppressed.
The reason we live in such a free and fair society today, where MOST groups have equal rights and freedoms, is thanks to millions of people who expressed their right to free speech and peaceful protest to disagree with the way things were. We are fighting for equality, and for the same rights and freedoms that other minority groups are able to enjoy. Nobody said anything about punishing anyone other than those who directly stated what their said - the two radio hosts in question - just that they realize what they did was wrong, that they crossed the line and said some very dangerous things, and to apologize and learn from it. Which, thanks to a huge public outcry including the loss of support from several high-profile advertisors (which all stated something similar to this: "SONIC in no way condones violence toward children and does not wish to be associated with media content that condones or promotes such activity in any way."), it seems they have finally woken up - see what I linked below.
Yes, everyone has the right to their opinion. That is free speech. But no, you don't have the right to violently and obscenely degrade any members of society over a public broadcast such as radio, television, etc. Can you imagine what would happen if a popular radio host aired a thirty minute segment expressing that blacks are "creeps, idiots" and have a "disease"? That society should "beat them down"? To ADVOCATE violence against them? He'd be arrested! There are reasons why quality control and the Federal Communications Commission (http://www.fcc.gov/) exists - to prevent this kind of thing from happening through rules and regulations governing telecommunication employees ethics and conduct. The FCC has in fact fined this radio station for obscenity before. I suggest you do some research.
I respect your opinion, and I do not wish to force anything on you. I merely believe that adults should act like adults and not advocate physical violence or ANY different kind of treatment toward ANY group that is "different" and use this hate speech to make a buck. You encourage people to make decisions for themselves, and then you question me when I do. Changing the station perpetuates the problem. By turning a blind eye to the behavior, you are accepting it.
This is part of a message from the show directly (the capslock is due to a direct c&p from their website, href="http://www.robarnieanddawn.com
"TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,
WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.
WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.
SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS “JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE,” WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.
WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M."