On the way into work today we were listening to Howard Stern and realized that Jackie and Stuttering John were on the show so it had to be an old one. Just yesterday a new episode had aired, so we chalked it up to illness or vacation. Yesterday Howard had been talking with 50 Cent about "bitches" at which point Gary came into the studio and said, "you have to stop using that word". Tom came in and told Howard that repetition of a mildly offensive term (in this case "bitches") is not permitted. Howard went into a several-minute rant about how he was just having a conversation, just joking around, and all these restrictions make him want to stop doing the program. He begged Tom to just let him go so he could start his work with Sirius radio.
Today CNN writes that Howard was suspended for one day because during the rant he expressly promoted Sirius, which he knows is a no-no. Telling the self-proclaimed "king of all media" he can't talk freely is his trigger - he becomes irrational when he is told he cannot speak freely, and during the rant he happened to promote his new programming.
Whether or not you like Howard Stern, whether or not you are offended by the term "bitch", do you not agree that our freedom of speech is slowly going down the drain? I'm sure Howard is having an awesome day off, and is using the day to do more work with Sirius. If it were not so dang expensive to purchase the hardware and the service we would buy it as our Christmas present. I'm going to really miss Howard, but not his daily battle for freedom of speech.
9 comments:
I'm not a fan of Howard's, but I am a fan of hime being able to say whatever he damn pleases. It's America!
i bought my sirius radio yesterday for $79.99, but it has a $50.00 mail in rebate! you can buy it in the clearance section on the sirius website. i can't go one day without howard and I am sick of what the FCC deems "acceptable" - hell, i'm so sick of it, i'm willing to pay to listen to howard and satelite radio!
Well . . . gosh, this is such a tough issue for me. Because I do believe in free speech, even when we may not like the speech or agree with it.
At the same time, I think Howard Stern is an immature jerk---he doesn't push the envelope out of some noble purpose but out of a knee-jerk reaction to any kind of authority beyond his own and a desire to enhance his own image. My perception of him is that he doesn't care about free speech nearly as much as he cares about creating publicity for himself.
And this is going to sound elitist---and it probably is elitist---but when people like Howard Stern and Larry Flynt start waving the free speech banner, it just makes it harder for those who really are concerned with free speech and with exposing censorship. Because with their immature stunts, they give the censors all the ammo they need to make free-speechers look like a bunch of sex-crazed, obnoxious nutcases who want to bring us all down to the lowest common denominator.
So everytime Howard does something like this, I just want to shake him.
My other problem with Howard Stern is that he makes it impossible to have a real discussion about the merits of his material because as soon as anyone says that they don't find him funny or entertaining, he calls the person a "censor." He's as bad as the people who cry "traitor" and "unpatriotic" at anyone who opposes the war.
I don't want Howard off the air because I want to censor him but because I think he's an unfunny blowhard.
Those are all excellent points. The merit I see is that he's not afraid to interview anyone so he has some great guests that no other radio shows in my area would ever be able to get. I really enjoy tuning into Howard to hear some of my favorite celebs, but there are definitely days when I resent that I am riding in Hay's car and therefore don't have control of the radio dial to turn it off or at least turn the station.
I don't see Howard and Larry as people whose level I sink down to because I'm a perverted potty-mouth so I'm already "down there" with them. (I know, you can't really tell from my blog, but I really am.) I think their free speech about sex is perceived as immature because America is so guarded about sexuality.
And, so what if Howard and Larry talk about sex? So what if they want to be immature? At least they're brave enough to do their thing while the rest of us sit on the sidelines of society with our hands neatly folded in our laps and our mouths closed except to say "please", "thank you", and "pardon me".
Heh. I look at this specific instance as not a freedom of speech issue but as an employer/employee issue. He is effecting their (his current employer's) bottom line by spouting on about how great his new employer who is a direct competitor of theirs. I would see it the same way if this were a Pizza Hut employee standing at the counter with a long line of customers talking to a coworker about how awesome Domino's Pizza tastes and how he can't wait to get off shift and go get himself a Domino's pizza.
Secondly, he's well aware of the constraints the federal government place on his ability to speak. Whether or not he agrees with those constraints is moot, in his current situation they are what they are. If you want to fix the system, work within the system to do so. Which, in my opinion, is how the FCC has managed to get so tight assed. Those that are conservative work within the system with their organized complaints and protests and present a very powerful voice for their views. I think Howard Stern's insistence on pushing the envelope is actually counter-productive in getting changes made because the conservatives can hold him up and say look, even with rules he isn't following them, if we made them looser he'd just get worse.
ditto (and applause) to what joanne said. i agree wholeheartedly on all accounts!
See, more good points. I have no counter argument. I am still ....uh, what's that word, let's try wary, or perhaps concerned... that when Howard moves to satellite there will be restrictions placed upon that medium (because of him? because he's the first shock jock to go to satellite? just because that's satellite's fate?) so that the only way he can do the show he really wants to do is if he goes back to how he did it in his childhood - behind his closed bedroom door with a hairbrush for a mic.
It really feels like a yo-yo effect has happened over the past several years. Suddenly we were allowed to hear "shit", "damn", "hell", "bitch", and even "fuck" on local radio and television stations (I'm thinking NYPD Blue) then the FCC starting cracking back down on this. I have absolutely no data to support this, other than my own personal experience.
I still wish we had enough extra money to subscribe to Sirius. I'm pretty sure the first few Howard Stern shows are going to be extreme, hard core, incredible. Diamond Lil, can I come to your house to listen? ;)
I think that currently because you have to pay for satellite radio, it will be the same as fancy cable networks. If I wanted to I could be watching sporn (softcore porn) many hours of the day thanks to skinimax, or if I paid even more I could get the real deal. I don't know if there are regulations on what's shown on the playboy channel.
I think you're right that TV got more liberal with things said and seen and that we're reverting back to more conservative restraints on TV. I think the problem is in part with the networks. When the conservatives had their "family hour" from 8 - 9 I think where less controversial shows were on, they were less inclined to care about what was on at 10 (isn't that when NYPD Blue was on?). I think as the "offensive" stuff started creeping into earlier and earlier shows that's where they started noticing. Most evenings now there's not a lot on that a more conservative family could watch together. And I don't know that I'm against a 'family hour.' Throw them a fricken' bone and they back off. (Or you know get power hungry and they become worse. :P )
Definitely, Poppy. We can sit in my car and listen away all day if need be.
I really do feel that Howard, more than any other media figure, has been vilified by the FCC, the media and the religious right. He's an easy target because everyone has an opinion about Howard Stern. But, this is America, and Freedom of Speech is one of our greatest civil liberties. Howard's show is just like anything else in the media, people have the power to turn it off if they don't like it. Hey, I turn Michael Savage off all the time :)
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