It’s time to come back and revisit the issue of Don Imus’ censorship. I would have done so sooner, but a couple of recent events took precedence. It’s amazing to me that in just two weeks, both the First and Second Amendments have come under fire. What will next week hold?
But I digress. I was disappointed to hear that Don Imus was fired over this whole fiasco. The issue was blown so far out of proportion from what it really was, that people grew blind to the fact that it wasn’t really that big of a deal. CBS had no place to fire Imus, since it was a firing that was done in response to angry pressure from people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. I have heard all of the excuses, but the truth of the matter is this:
Had CBS intended to fire Imus over the controversy, he would have been fired immediately. Instead, he was put on suspension. It wasn’t until pressure grew from external sources that CBS decided to change the suspension to a termination. This action cost CBS $15 Million in revenue and cost us another small bit of our freedom and equality as Americans.
But the question is what exactly is at stake here? After giving it some thought, I am wondering if this is actually a First Amendment issue, since Imus’ censorship was not at the hands of the government, which is what the Amendment assures us. Instead it was de facto censorship at the hands of individuals, which isn’t any better than government censorship. In fact, it may be worse.
Let’s look at this a different way. An author may write a book that offends some people. He has the right to do so. There is no law that prohibits him from doing this. That is first amendment protection. If the people he offended go out and destroy all of the copies of the book on the shelves to try to censor him, they are wrong. However, they are not violating his First Amendment rights since the Amendment only states that …Congress shall pass no law… However, that doesn’t make it right, and the opinions of some should not be allowed to trump the opinions of others.
The problem is not in a violation of Imus’ freedom of speech. The problem is that people allowed the opinions of a few other people to trample the freedom of another. In this case, it wasn’t the government censoring an individual, it was another individual, hence the double standard that we’re now facing.
As Americans, we all expect to be able to enjoy the rights granted to us by our Constitution. However, a double standard has broken out in our country that violates these freedoms. The fact of the matter is that some people believe that freedom of speech doesn’t apply to everybody, and they fight to ensure that their opinion is enforced. People like Al Sharpton believe that they have the freedom to say as they please, regardless of who or what they may offend, but as soon as they themselves are offended by somebody or something, they rush out and try to shut it down. It’s the same sort of censorship that the government is prohibited from doing, it’s just being done by individuals and the law turns very grey in return.
As Americans, we should not allow this. It’s called mob rule, and it’s the wrong way of going about things. The only people who had a right to take up issue with Imus were the girls he referred to. Other people who were involved simply because they were offended stepping up and trying to dictate Imus’ fate is wrong, yet it is allowed because of this double standard.
This is dangerous ground that we’re treading on here, because if individual’s rights aren’t protected from other individuals who don’t believe in equal rights, then what do we have?
Sure, Imus’ comments were offensive and inappropriate, but he has just as much right to say it as you do to comment about “that asshole” who just cut you off in traffic. I’m sure he would be offended by you calling him an asshole, but he doesn’t have the right to tell you that you can’t say it, even if he’s not an asshole and only cut you off because he didn’t see you. You, as an individual (or even as a mob), cannot tell me or Imus or anybody what we can or can’t say. You can express your opinion regarding it, but your power as an individual or a mob ends there.
Freedom, as we Americans are entitled to, applies to everybody equally. Each is afforded the same rights, not the government nor an individual has the right to violate that freedom.
