Do I miss Imus?
04/13/07 09:26 AM
Of
course not. I wouldn't recognize his voice if I heard
it. All I know about him prior to this week is that
he's reportedly a very crude but funny and insightful
guy. If you can't be funny and/or insightful without
being consistently crude, I'm not interested.
This week he got fired for referring to some black college basketball players as "nappy-headed ho's". Many conservatives appear to be appalled by this, apparently because:
A. Black rap musicians use terms like this frequently, including last year's Academy Award winning "Best Original Song".
B. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton wanted Imus fired, therefore he shouldn't be.
C. There's a lot of hypocrisy in what kinds of "hate" speech our culture does and doesn't allow.
Christians, like myself, tend to favor freedom of speech both on moral grounds and because there's a lot of people out there who would love to shut us up. Call that self-interest if you will, but a Christian believes that everyone NEEDS to hear the Gospel - for their own self-interest.
OTOH, we are disturbed by the increasing acceptance and promotion of "filthy talk" in all its manifestations- throughout the media and entertainment industries at all levels and throughout daily speech. And it isn't just a matter of taste or preference (though for people who generally avoid such language, it is that also, especially when it comes to excrement), it's also a belief that human beings should aspire to what is good and beautiful and uplifting and that to call other people graphic names is demeaning and unloving and also because crude sexual terminology de-sacralizes something God intends to be held sacred and beautiful and private.
So Christians often have sought, by various means, to get the media to clean up its act. Thus we should be at least somewhat happy to see the likes of Imus get their due, right?
Yes, right. Whether or not such restrictions are applied perfectly (they never will be), at least there is an acknowledgment that we should try to maintain a certain civility in our public discourse. Hey, that's something! The problem with Imus' speech isn't it's content (it appears, like many similar instances, to have been simply a spontaneous attempt at humor that fell flat) but the manner.
Personally, I'm not all that bothered by scatological humor or terms. To be honest, as a card-carrying guy I frequently find it quite funny (though, as a pastor I am careful to suppress my laughter in public). De-frock me if you will but I still believe that if Jesus were teaching his twelve in a small room and, at a crucial moment, one of them "tootled vigorously" - that Jesus His Own Self would have burst into laughter with all the rest.
Much sexual humor and crude sexual terminology is demeaning and de-sacralizing and is thus seriously harmful. Taking the Lord's name in vain, telling people to be damned or go to hell, are sins that trivialize the most serious and holy truths that God has revealed to us. The oft-mocked question, "Is nothing sacred?" is really a serious inquiry that deserves a serious answer from people whose main concern is not an adolescent desire to offend or amuse but a deep concern for what is best for humanity in general and specific humans in particular.
If the Imus firing leads others to get in touch with their inner censors and be a little more careful about HOW they express themselves, we will all benefit.
This week he got fired for referring to some black college basketball players as "nappy-headed ho's". Many conservatives appear to be appalled by this, apparently because:
A. Black rap musicians use terms like this frequently, including last year's Academy Award winning "Best Original Song".
B. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton wanted Imus fired, therefore he shouldn't be.
C. There's a lot of hypocrisy in what kinds of "hate" speech our culture does and doesn't allow.
Christians, like myself, tend to favor freedom of speech both on moral grounds and because there's a lot of people out there who would love to shut us up. Call that self-interest if you will, but a Christian believes that everyone NEEDS to hear the Gospel - for their own self-interest.
OTOH, we are disturbed by the increasing acceptance and promotion of "filthy talk" in all its manifestations- throughout the media and entertainment industries at all levels and throughout daily speech. And it isn't just a matter of taste or preference (though for people who generally avoid such language, it is that also, especially when it comes to excrement), it's also a belief that human beings should aspire to what is good and beautiful and uplifting and that to call other people graphic names is demeaning and unloving and also because crude sexual terminology de-sacralizes something God intends to be held sacred and beautiful and private.
So Christians often have sought, by various means, to get the media to clean up its act. Thus we should be at least somewhat happy to see the likes of Imus get their due, right?
Yes, right. Whether or not such restrictions are applied perfectly (they never will be), at least there is an acknowledgment that we should try to maintain a certain civility in our public discourse. Hey, that's something! The problem with Imus' speech isn't it's content (it appears, like many similar instances, to have been simply a spontaneous attempt at humor that fell flat) but the manner.
Personally, I'm not all that bothered by scatological humor or terms. To be honest, as a card-carrying guy I frequently find it quite funny (though, as a pastor I am careful to suppress my laughter in public). De-frock me if you will but I still believe that if Jesus were teaching his twelve in a small room and, at a crucial moment, one of them "tootled vigorously" - that Jesus His Own Self would have burst into laughter with all the rest.
Much sexual humor and crude sexual terminology is demeaning and de-sacralizing and is thus seriously harmful. Taking the Lord's name in vain, telling people to be damned or go to hell, are sins that trivialize the most serious and holy truths that God has revealed to us. The oft-mocked question, "Is nothing sacred?" is really a serious inquiry that deserves a serious answer from people whose main concern is not an adolescent desire to offend or amuse but a deep concern for what is best for humanity in general and specific humans in particular.
If the Imus firing leads others to get in touch with their inner censors and be a little more careful about HOW they express themselves, we will all benefit.
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