It's NOT about Imus, it's about decent civil discourse.

[Raven]

We have all but lost it in our society. Imus is only one example. It happens every day on talk shows and news shows and in the interactions between people. We are shrill, insulting and venal. We think we will get attention if we scream obscenities, if we talk over people, if we are shocking. THIS HAS BECOME THE CURRANCY OF OUR SOCIETY...if you look closely, it makes people very rich.

The new millionaires of this American Century are the insulters, the screamers, the venal ones, the irrational ones, the ignorant ones. They are the guys and gals who make big bucks defaming people, defaming, in this immediate case young, hard working, innocent women who just wanted to win a ballgame...that's the last time I will ever think of or utter the retrobate Imus' name, or refer to his assault here. Imus is the tip of the iceberg. He is the canary in the mine. He is a poster child.

There was a time when we could fight fairly. When we could listen to an opposite opinion. When we didn't immediately type cast someone who didn't agree with us, where we didn't answer an argument with "scum sucker, bitch, whore...."

Maybe we are losing the language of decent discourse. Maybe it's easier to throw insults rather than to think through an opposing argument and respond to it rationally.

I hear this on the radio, on the TV and from my friend who is being verbally and emotionally abused by her spouse...it is THE CURRENCY OF DISCOURSE in our society and it will go from words to guns and violence...more guns and violence than we have ever imagined. Believe me, we are just a few steps away.

We need to make a pledge here on DU to do better with this ourselves and then we need to get to every advertiser on every program that offends. I know that there are free speech issues here but there are also limits. We need to rediscover the limits.

I can't help but wonder what a 10 or 12 year old child is taking from all of this spew except that it is acceptable to avoid intelligent discussion by screaming obsceniies...sad future for us all and we are leading the way.

[jeff30997]

1. "There was a time when we could fight fairly"

Mhh...When?:shrug:

[medeak]

2. Jon Stewart on Crossfire ...

remember? And that program never came close to the adolescent behavior of morning radio programs. But he made his point and we never had to endure the pointless screaming again...

maybe another miracle will happen.

[sandnsea]

3. Most educated generation in history

spawns PT Barnum culture.

How did that happen?

:shrug:

[azureblue]

4. Rats

That is the Skinner rat experiment: Put of few of them in an enclosed space with plenty of food & water: they over breed and start fighting each other, soiling their nests, stealing, even though there is no reason to steal, killing each others' young, maturing way too soon, becoming very territorial, etc.
Anyone still think Mother Nature is stupid and mankind does not behave like mammals?
think again..

[JeffR]

5. Yes.

"shrill, insulting and venal" has as much to do with the dysfunctionality of society as being "governed" by criminals and "informed" by corporate jackals masquerading as journalists.

[theoldman]

6. Rush Limbaugh has said worse things than Imus.

Nothing is going to change as a result of what Imus said. I would bet that his rating goes up after this. I may not agree with Imus but I don't agree with most talk shows anyhow.

[NNN0LHI]

8. ESPN fired Rush Limbaugh after the first racial remark he made a few years ago n/t

[BuyingThyme]

9. I think there needs to be a different standard for Imus.

It's kind of like comparing a school teacher and a construction worker. Kind of like.

[roguevalley]

14. advertising is being pulled from Imus. The market speaks. Maybe he

has the 'right' to spew bullshit, but the world doesn't have the obligation to pay for it. this could be something good.

[BuyingThyme]

7. It's about Imus.

He attacked a select group of beautiful young women as they were stepping from the top of the world into the real world. He reminded them, and all of us, that some things haven't changed. He took them down a notch, and brought the rest of us with him.

I don't usually say things like this when it comes to speech, but he should be fired from NBC.

[Raven]

10. But this is not all about Imus.

He just brought it to the forefront. It is about everything.

[BuyingThyme]

12. I'm not so sure if he brought it to the forefront as much as he

brought it to the wrong place. Well, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, drawing my own lines.

[mentalsolstice]

11. Yep, whether you're religious or not...

...it doesn't matter where your moral (ethical) code comes from...it comes down to treating others as you would want to be treated, and realizing that civilization is dependent on this one rule. It doesn't matter if you're an individual, a community, or a country. Imus crossed the line.

[Carolina]

13. Excellent post, Raven

and I agree totally. I was speaking to the father of a 7 year old today, lamenting the very fact that it must be so difficult to raise a child today with all the inescapable vitriol on the airwaves. We have bigger, better, brighter televisions but for what? Garbage and hate!

Imus, Rush and their ilk are a huge part of what is WRONG with America today. It's not the overt racism or sexism ... those existed before. It's the coasening and degradation, often for profit and ratings, of our airwaves. It's the poisoning of the culture ...

I am so glad I was born and raised in a different era and that my child is grown.

[july302001]

15. I agree

I agree.

It's a consequence of Reaganism.

Since Fairness in broadcasting was dropped during the Reagan years, things have gotten worse and worse.

If you listen to broadcasting from Europe (BBC, Radio Netherlands, whatever), the discourse is at a much higher level because it's properly regulated.

It's time to demand that the Fairness doctrine be reinstated.

[stellanoir]

16. In this land that used to be lauded for being

"the land of the lively discussion" with a repetitive leader who's completely disconnected with reality and a co opted media that indulges and reinforces this "misadministration's" oligarchical hypnogoguery, we've sadly digressed into intractable dualism when there are in actuality far more than merely two points of view.

"Divide and conquer" has been the technique of oppressive regimes for a very long time.

The utterly disingenuous labels of extreme corporatists masquerading as "conservative" Christians and the inaccurate demonization of "liberalism" truly hasn't helped at all.

I'm hoping that this revelatory crack in the "civil discourse" will be purgative and though I've heard far worse, that the quality of national dialogue will be raised as a result and more "lively discussions" will ensue.

Silly me.

K & R'd