Saturday, April 14, 2007

'Shock jock' fired? Shocking....

Good morning, all! Just a little news for ya. In addition to my blog, I am working on writing my first CD review (since college) for a kick ass website called TheyWillRockYou.com. I will let you know when it's posted so you can check it out. In the meantime, feel free to check the site out for interviews, concert and CD reviews as well as cool photos of some great bands.

Now the fun stuff!


Brutal Honesty
We've all heard the term 'brutal honesty.' In theory, it's not a bad thing; sometimes sugarcoating the truth does more harm than good. Iraq war, anyone? That being said, I'm sick of people being tactless and using 'brutal honesty' to back up their words. There is a time and a place for no-holds-barred honesty; however, there is a difference between brutal honesty and just plain being an asshole. You know the type; the kind of person who'd say something heartless and without tact and then follow it up with, "Hey, I'm a brutally honest person." No, you're not. Don't try to bestow any kind of virtue upon yourself and use honesty as an excuse for hateful words. You're not brutally honest, you're just brutal. Brutal honesty is best appreciated when it's given in a sincere form. It doesn't always have to be kind, but it doesn't have to be malicious.

Word!
"Conversate" is not a word. Sorry folks. You can make conversation, you can converse, but you cannot conversate.

Also, when a father and son go on a fishing trip, that's called bonding, not bondage. Bondage may involve fishing wire, but....well, let's just stop there.

This may all seem obvious to you, but I've heard people misuse the above words enough times to warrant a little space in my blog.

Urine Trouble!
A new study has found that niacin, the B vitamin popular for its rumored abilities to flush one's system of toxins and provide clean urine for drug testing, is not only ineffective, but has been linked to various health complications, such as rashes and even liver failure. Oops! So not only is there no real scientific evidence that niacin works, it might be worse for your body than the drugs you're taking in the first place! Listen, Cheech, it might be worth it to lay off the grass for a while if you want to get that job at Jiffy Lube.

Here we go again….
What a debacle this whole Imus ordeal has become. Radio personality and 'shock jock' Don Imus, called the Rutgers' women's basketball team a bunch of 'nappy headed ho's.' Well, the backlash has been pretty severe. I mean, calling someone a ho outside the context of a rap song? What kind of world are we living in?!

The latest is that CBS has cancelled Imus' radio show. It's a sad day for freedom of speech. The good news is that the Rutgers women's basketball team have accepted his apology; after he was fired, of course. No reason not to now. He's been made an example of.

First off, since when is calling a woman (of any race) a 'ho' worthy of this kind of attention or shock? You ever listen to rap music? Calling someone a ho is actually a term of endearment, or at least it is used as such. If you want to stop this kind of verbal abuse towards black women, and women in general, you have only to look towards rappers, most of whom are also black. This is one area that I actually agree with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson about. I'm not an advocate for censorship, but I feel there is a double standard that exists that needs to end.

I've heard the audio of the remark. I believe Imus when he says he was making a joke. Granted, it was in very poor taste, but our culture is extremely two-faced when it comes to what words, and in what context, we will and will not accept. It's also dependent on who is saying them. Let's stop pretending it was the words that were really the offensive part and focus on the fact that it was an old white guy saying them. He gets labeled a racist and misogynist, whereas if he were black, he'd be…well, a hip hop superstar.

Imus is one of those types that is hired and gets ratings because of his controversial views, yet society acts appalled and shocked when he actually says or does something controversial. Should he have thought harder before he spoke? Probably. Do his words deserve the media attention they're getting? Not by a long shot.

By the way, has anyone even brought up the fact that the guy Imus was speaking with called the women's basketball team 'jigaboos?' That seems a lot worse than anything Imus said. Oh well....

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