Sticks and Stones; The New Censorship

This from the New York Daily News...

"The boycott of Fox News host Glenn Beck gathered more steam Monday when retailing giant Wal-Mart and seven other companies pulled their ads from his show, organizers said."

And why would they do that?

"On July 28, Beck called President Obama a racist who has a 'deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.'"

Smooth. And of course...

"That prompted a call for a boycott by Color of Change an African-American online political organization that claims 600,000 members. About 145,000 members signed a petition asking Beck's advertisers to stop supporting him. 'It's rare for a campaign directed at a TV show's advertisers to be this successful,' said Color of Change founder James Rucker. 'But we won't stop here. We're going to continue reaching out to Beck's remaining advertisers.'"

Oh no you didn't! Way to stick it to the man, Jimmy. However...

"Judging from Monday night's broadcast, there were plenty of companies eager to fill the ad slots, including The Wall Street Journal, DirecTV, Honda and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Channel."

Oh snap. Go Oprah. The story goes on to say how Fox News has not lost these advertisers, they have simply moved the ads to different programs blah blahblah blahblah.

Okay, let me first say that I am no fan of Glenn Beck. He is the typical fear-mongering loudmouth indigenous to Fox News and their idea of "fair and balanced," and what he said was probably not all that accurate. Fine, but does that in turn mean that he doesn't have the right to say it? Over the past few years, certain groups have developed this notion that they have the right not to be offended. They actively protect this right by trolling the mass media in search of the unacceptable. When they come across it, they audibly gasp "No! I do not like this, I wish to see it removed from public view!" In what has become the usual and quite effective tactic, these groups take this righteous indignation straight to the advertisers cuz that's where the money is.

The end result of this morality blackmail is threefold. First, we now have the "new censorship." Any group at any given time can control some knucklehead pundit's 1st amendment rights. Second, because of these tactics, the media has become a watered-down, boring, god-forbid-anyone-gets-offended culture. Dull. Lastly the average, ordinary American who understands that what some knucklehead pundit says really has no bearing on my life is subjected to the lifeless media.

Color of Change. The majority of African-American children in this country grow up in a home without a father. 25% of all African-American males will spend some time in prison in their lifetime. But Color of Change wants to go after Glenn Beck. Good luck with that.