Maybe we should just have computer programs write editorials and do sports reporting. All a person would have to do is select from a drop down menu.
Here is the thing. Jemele said something offensive just like Imus just like Rush.. Imus has had a history (a true history personal accounts) or calling black women the n-word and the b-word. There is testimony to Imus making racist remarks. I am getting sick and tired of seeing this ping pong match being played where we try to deflect one persons remarks onto another. SHE SAID THIS: SO WHY CAN'T HE SAY THAT? Stop it!
Fairly or Unfairly Boston carries a reputation as a Racist city. It was less then 30 years ago that Boston public schools went through a bussing crisis. In the 80's a time when Jemele was coming of age the Celtics were the team with the White marquee player and at any point in time could have 5 white players on the floor all at once. Jemele was drawing from her childhood and the perception/reality of the time.
I think the majority of the bitterness stems from people of this blog being Celtics fans. From that perspective you have every right to be upset but it is also a built in bias. A white Lakers fan could read the same article and snicker and not find it offensive. Perhaps if one was Jewish and read this article they would be incredibly offended.
One more thing about Imus.. He was fired but still got the money he was promised contractually and was back on the air six months later. Was that really punishment for him? He basically got paid for saying something offensive. Truth be told I really just don't like Imus, it is completely personal. What Imus and Jemele said are offensive but is it truly dangerous.
Should speech ever be suppressed? It's hard to say when you have a large corporation with money and influence promote a product to a mass audience in country with a racial majority. The first full length feature film was "Birth of a Nation". It is impossible for me to respect this film or it's "auteur" because it is a 2 hour advertisement for the KKK. It propelled membership into the organization and insight race riots. Can something so blatantly offensive and hateful hide under the veil of free speech? If there is a product that mobilizes people to be violent against another race or group of people or insights hate should it be allowed on the public airwaves? When a massive audience already has a seed of ignorance or hate within them, all they need is affirmation. Is there any counter-acting peoples preconceived ideals?
My overall point is Jemele and Imus may have said things that were hateful and ignorant but they were not threatening or dangerous. I don't think a kid is going to read or hear those things and think that it is right.
right, well done argument, but the point is, this si a women who, in at least 4 columons, has called for people to be punished "regardless of meaning" for thier poor "judgment" in offending people.
Then, she compares a group of people to hitler supporters and wants a pass because, among other things;
She's on a diversity panel- Who cares? what does that have to do with you being a gaint, hypicrtical race baiter?
boston fans are mean to her in emails- awwwwww.
she didn't think hitler had a bad histroy to it, after all, its not like she said anythign about the holocoust- this was incredible to me, are you kidding me hill?
its not the same because she's diffrent- This was said in the aol interview, where the interviewer was pushing her with questions abotu the multiple people she wanted fired, regardless of thier justifications.
remeber, she has gone on recored numerous times that "no matter what your justification (read: the massive rationalzing she does in her apology piece.) you have to be held accountable."
yet, she clearly thinks she shouldn't be held accountable.
it's not about suppressing free speech, its about holding yourself accountable. Shes made it perfectly clear, espically in her personal blog entry and the aol interview, that her standereds don't apply to her, only to those she writes about.
