Activists have begun anew, their long-standing effort to ban derogatory and demeaning words from public airways. In 1985, the Parents’ Music Resource Center wanted to ban Prince’s Purple Rain album. Oddly, in 2007 the NFL accepted Prince as a safe choice to perform before an estimated ninety million Super Bowl viewers. During the spring of 2007, Don Imus kick started the activist when he inappropriately used words associated with many rap songs. The NAACP, with its “The STOP Campaign” and Al Sharpton, who through his National Action Network jointly lead the recent “March for Decency” have joined the traditional media activist. The recent efforts also include Russell Simmons’s Hip Hop Summit Action Network which calls for voluntary guidelines for music played on the public airways. The controversial L Brent Bozell III, Media Research Center founder and president has praised Russell Simmons effort (see his May 3, 2007 column). With these efforts in high gear, it is easy to praise the actions and to forget to question, is the effort worthwhile. Read more
Tag derogatory words
Imus – What I Think
I wanted to stay away, but the media coverage has been overwhelming. Here are my thoughts on the key questions.
Others Use the Terms, So Where is the Line Drawn
Only Don Imus chose to apply the stereotype to the women of the Rutgers Team. This issue is not about the words; it is his conscious decision to apply an unjustified stereotype to the group of young women from Rutgers.
The media wrongly, focuses on the words and talks about demeaning women. They seem to forget (who am I kidding they desire easy ratings), Read more
