No “get out of jail free” card?
Where’s the “Get Out of Jail Free” card for Don Imus? You know, the one that’s given the Catholic bashers and anti-Christians?
Where’s the “freedom of speech” advocates? You know, the corporate execs and art moguls that defend the rights to speak against people of faith, or create “art” out of dung slung at a picture of the Virgin Mary, or a Crucifix in a jar of urine?
One reader commented on the “Imus Contradiction” thread that “Don Imus slandered those SPECIFIC gals…” and it was “a direct use of a term that’s aimed at a PARTICULAR group of women” which makes the difference between the way rappers do things and Imus’ comments.
But, as Donohue points out:
Penn Jillette (of the comedy team Penn and Teller) went on Showtime calling Mother Teresa ‘Mother F—king Teresa’ and called the nuns who worked with her ‘f—king c—ts.’
and
In 2005, Bill Maher went on HBO at the time of the death of Pope John Paul II and said, ‘For those who could not make the funeral, the Vatican has asked that in lieu of flowers, just stop touching your d—k.’
Oh, but wait. That’s comedy. That showbiz. That’s artistic freedom.
And that’s precisely what Imus does — or at least attempts to do.
This was part of my basic point on the the Imus thread.
Imus’ show was cancelled on MSNBC. Sponsors pulled their advertising. And Imus has been lambasted in the court of public opinion (although, I have to say, the blogosphere has probably been more pointed about the contradictions and hypocrisy).
But, Donohue points out that when he contacted Showtime and HBO he received responses defending the right of those guys to say such heinous, disgusting and ugly things about Mother Teresa, John Paul II, nuns, Jesus, Mary and Catholics as a whole.
I wrote to its chief, Sumner Redstone, to register a complaint. He wrote back extolling the merits of ‘artistic freedom’ and ‘tolerance.’
The letter I received from HBO said that ‘it’s a free country, and people are free to say silly things—even on HBO
So, why the double standard?
[tags]anti-catholicism, catholic, catholicsphere, catholic league, bill donohue, don imus, racism, bigotry, current affairs[/tags]
Matt,
You are absolutely right. The double-standard is blatant and deeply disconcerting.
Thank you for pointing me towards Mr. Donohue’s remarks.
Peace and mirth.
BG
Bill Gnade said this on April 12th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I think Imus should have been punished although maybe a temporary suspension without pay would have been enough. Radio stations hire these bold people since they improve the ratings. I’ve never heard Imus but I heard the Rutgers team spokesperson say that he’s made out-of-line comments before.
We had one here in Quebec who made comments to the effect that those who believed in the baby Jesus were like kids who believed in the powers of Santa Claus; he opined after the hurricane Katrina that “no woman should be given a position of authority” since they are too emotional and he also had scientific studies to prove that as a group(not individually) African-Americans had a lower IQ than other groups of Americans. That last one got him into a lot of trouble and he’s no longer on the air.
To say in effect that what Imus said about these women is not important because other people say worse about Christians doesn’t help IMO. All the targets of these demeaning comments have to stick together. There’s strength in unity.
MarioM3 said this on April 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pm