RUTGERS v. IMUS: LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME

“I cried when they shot Medgar Evers, Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy, As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming; He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal. . . . Get it?!”
Phil Ochs

When one adds the names (good or bad) of Senator Robert Kennedy, Reverend Martin Luther King and yes, even Governor George Wallace, to the many unnamed civil rights activists bombed in their churches and beaten in their homes, it cannot be disputed many were attacked, and some died, for their “bad” ideas. During that same period, as ironic as it may be, Vietnam ant-war demonstrators were attacked for their “bad” ideas by Union workers at the World Trade Center and the police (“to maintain disorder”) at the Chicago Democratic Presidential Convention.

As the country wheeled under the weight of the violence people sustained themselves with the belief they, we’re better than that. That America, apart from the actions of a few, was different. The reasoning was the First Amendment protected both “good” and “bad” speech, and that the way to defeat “bad” speech was with “good speech.” Or to quote Duke Lacrosse player Seligman’s 04-11-07 quote of Lincoln, “Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.”

And that has happened in the case of Rutgers v. Imus. There is virtual unanimity Imus’s invective remarks are indescribably awful. Furthermore, with that unanimity comes a rising social consciousness and increasing individual commitments to how we should relate to one another. Thus, a major battle is won even though the struggle continues.

But what victory means and whether it is achievable, is, as every aspect of Iraq shows, contingent on how the war is fought. More particularly, to say this is not an issue of free speech is as ridiculous as saying CBS is not responsible to the FCC and corporations have no rights to free speech (good or bad).

It is within this framework that firing Imus is another step on a slippery slope. If we are not prepared to defend bad speech, all speech will be attacked by those with a power to supress its content. If the liberal is prepared to fire, and thus censor, Imus insults, it is a short step up to the Taliban and a short step down to “undermining the troops.”

The issue at hand goes way beyond whether Imus is being treated differently from some rappers. What will the Liberal demand of Brooklyn Law School where a student appeared in Playboy videos with a guy spanking her, but also interned in the Brooklyn D.A.'s domestic-violence unit? Will they fight to overturn Hustler Magazine v. Falwell and ban all “chuckleheads”? Will we continue to be the shining example to the world of “do as I say, not as I do?” Or, will we, just be afraid to speak and censor ourselves.