This is an entry that was first published on my blog.
All that is proper and all that is not collided on Monday when Don Imus said "nappy." It was all over the local news, cable, satellite, radio, newspapers, telegraphs, and morse code. Imus humiliated the Rutgers Women's Basketball team by implying that they were prostitutes. Of course, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were up in arms and every news anchor put on his or her indignant face. But really, really is anyone really indignant or outraged? If you are, then you're naive. People like Don Imus are how Al Sharpton makes his living. Al Sharpton isn’t outraged – he’s probably dancing in the streets tonight. When arrogant shock jocks say something racist, immoral, irreverent, or just flat out stupid they are doing one thing. Their JOB. It's in the job title: shock – a sudden or violent disturbance of the mind, emotions, or sensibilities.
Imus has been saying alarmingly offensive stuff for 39 years. And do you know where it got him? Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. The Media embraces the obscene. One example, the action/horror gorefest Grindhouse, the double-feature by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez has a 91% approval rating on the Movie Critic website, Rotten Tomatoes. The Media craves obscene. But somewhere, there is an invisible line and when you cross it, Lord have mercy on your soul. The Media can’t have it two ways. Either you approve of smut or you don’t. If you do, fine – I’ll watch PBS if I have to. But when Don Imus is getting lynched for saying “nappy ho” and Quentin Tarantino is receiving accolades for making a movie where Kurt Russell tries to butcher 20 year old girls with a car something is skewed.
Whether skewed or not it doesn’t matter. Just because one shock jock is removed doesn’t mean radio formats will drastically shift. Opie and Anthony, Howard Stern, Loveline, and every other show that tries to replicate their formulas will fill the void left by Imus. But that whole genre in radio perplexes me. I have had explained to me that people want to hear these guys say something outrageous. When people watch Desperate Housewives they do so not because they want to watch something wholesome. They want to see Teri Hatcher’s chest. I get that, fine, it’s your prerogative. That isn’t the confusing part to me. What confuses me is that when you view the numbers, people really don’t buy scandalous or shocking entertainment.
If you look at the Top 50 All Time Boxoffice Movies, you will find that 28 of the top 50 movies are rated PG or G and 19 carry a PG13 rating. There are only 3 R rated movies – one of which is Passion of the Christ. Star Wars, ET, and Shrek 2are the three highest grossing movies all time behind Titanic. These aren’t Biblical quotes or Plato’s Republic. This is just the Internet Movie Database objectively saying that when people are given a choice, they would rather watch a funny looking character with a goofy voice. So why are we still inundated with crap on screens and airwaves?
