Thursday, February 07, 2008

Censorship seems to be in the news today. On his Fox News show on Wednesday, host John Gibson profiled the story of a Florida teenager who was arrested for disorderly conduct and breach of peace for rapping -- specifically, rapping the word "motherfucker" -- near a mother and her young children, who heard him. He then proposed censoring hip-hop more generally:

"If the rap song is bad enough to cause [teenaged rapper Christopher] Holder's arrest, why is it not bad enough to cause the arrest of the guy who made the recording? ... I say ... Book 'em, Dano. Book 'em all."

It sounds like Gibson supports the underlying law that got Holder in trouble (and would be used against other rappers in his professed ideal universe), though he doesn't explain why. Maybe it's simple syllogistic logic: Gibson thinks the speech was offensive, and offensive speech should be banned. But some people evidently find John Gibson offensive, as when he mocked actor Heath Ledger's death with homophobic jokes on the air. Under Gibson's framework, shouldn't Dano book him, too?

2/7/2008 12:15:38 PM by James Tierney | Comments [0] |  
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