Imus
This whole Imus thing reminds me of a piece I wrote some time ago about how no one has the right not to be offended. Now I’m not downplaying anything about what was said nor how it impacts anyone, I’m just commenting on the backlash.
This is a radio show. One that is well known for the antics, comments, and slurs of its host. It is not the BBC news desk. Imus is what is known as a shock jock. His job is to shock and offend and he offends all groups equally. Anyone listening should understand this. Yet when he shocks and offends the wrong group he suddenly must be taken off the air. Silenced.
Now I’m not a big fan of shock jocks, I tend to find them offensive, juvenile, or some combination. So I don’t listen to them. I turn the dial. I don’t demand they be taken off the air because they offended me. This is because I do not have a right not to be offended. This right does not exist.
I can be assured that many things in life will offend me. This is life in a free state. The spectrum of what offends whom is so broad that you can’t have a free state where nobody is offended by anything. And favoring one group over another certainly isn’t the path to an equality based free state.
This is where personal choice comes into play. If I don’t like the show, I change the channel. If I don’t like the shock jock, I change the channel. Speaking out, demanding an apology, they are also options open to me. But demanding that what I dislike be silenced, that’s not one of my options. I’m not forced to listen.
Nobody is forced to listen. Silencing the speaker because he/she offended someone is not the mark of a free state. Certainly not one that promotes equality and freedom of speech. To live in an equality based free state means that I do not have a right not to be offended and neither do you.
