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A couple hot topics...
Feb. 26th, 2004 08:04 pmSo Howard Stern gets booted from Clear Channel, and one of the questions is whether this is still Janet Jackson fallout (so to speak). I think it is, but with a twist. Clear Channel is the largest radio company in the US -- the next one down owns something like 1/3 to 1/4 the number of stations. Because of this, Clear Channel is scrutinized quite carefully by Congress and the FCC for pushing the envelope on laws concerning ownership of media. The last thing in the world Clear Channel needs is this administration coming after it with a decency complaint and looking at them even more closely.
Clear Channel, like Microsoft and WalMart, is expert primarily in its own survival. For example, a few months ago when that Dixie Chick made an anti-Bush statement and country music fans were in an uproar, Clear Channel banned the Chicks from its country stations in certain markets -- but in those same markets, Clear Channel still played the Chicks on the pop stations they owned, where the fans either agreed with, or were indifferent to, Natalie Maines' goof.
Listening to Howard Stern is one of the few things that can actually make me nauseated by mere sound, yet the 1st Amendment was written exactly for clowns like him -- not for Ashcroft or Bush or even Howard Dean. I agree with Stern; the self-proclaimed King of All Media might be reading radio correctly...traditional broadcast radio is in flux. Between satellite radio, internet radio, and music sharing, current broadcast radio is going to go through some upheaval that will have more to do with economics and content rather than anyone's notion of propriety.
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One of the only other media brands that can nauseate me by mere sound is anything with "Rosie" in the title. However, I am applauding her today, as well as her new spouse.
What they did, as well as what 3300 other couples in SF have done, was illegal. California had put gay marriage up to a public referendum and the public defeated it. The people have spoken, you can't get any more democratic than a California public referendum.
Yet, there have been issues throughout American history where civil disobedience has defied the majority for the correct reasons. Such issues tend to prove that true Democracies are stagnant...and sometimes even dangerous. Our Revolution itself was launched by a minority of the people of the Colonies, and supported by a minority of the population, not to mention such topics as the abolition of slavery, Women's Suffrage, and the Civil Rights movement. Sometimes, issues in this country must be tested specifically by breaking the law, and pushing for either a repeal of that law or a constitutionality ruling by a high court.
Of course, we have also tested a lot of stupid issues, such as the reluctance to enter WWII, and Prohibition. What is the litmus test to determine whether an issue is a passing fad or a real, historical change in society? There is only one -- you must win and stay won. And, sometimes, the only way to truly test such a thing is to look back on it from 30 or 40 years.
Clear Channel, like Microsoft and WalMart, is expert primarily in its own survival. For example, a few months ago when that Dixie Chick made an anti-Bush statement and country music fans were in an uproar, Clear Channel banned the Chicks from its country stations in certain markets -- but in those same markets, Clear Channel still played the Chicks on the pop stations they owned, where the fans either agreed with, or were indifferent to, Natalie Maines' goof.
Listening to Howard Stern is one of the few things that can actually make me nauseated by mere sound, yet the 1st Amendment was written exactly for clowns like him -- not for Ashcroft or Bush or even Howard Dean. I agree with Stern; the self-proclaimed King of All Media might be reading radio correctly...traditional broadcast radio is in flux. Between satellite radio, internet radio, and music sharing, current broadcast radio is going to go through some upheaval that will have more to do with economics and content rather than anyone's notion of propriety.
----
One of the only other media brands that can nauseate me by mere sound is anything with "Rosie" in the title. However, I am applauding her today, as well as her new spouse.
What they did, as well as what 3300 other couples in SF have done, was illegal. California had put gay marriage up to a public referendum and the public defeated it. The people have spoken, you can't get any more democratic than a California public referendum.
Yet, there have been issues throughout American history where civil disobedience has defied the majority for the correct reasons. Such issues tend to prove that true Democracies are stagnant...and sometimes even dangerous. Our Revolution itself was launched by a minority of the people of the Colonies, and supported by a minority of the population, not to mention such topics as the abolition of slavery, Women's Suffrage, and the Civil Rights movement. Sometimes, issues in this country must be tested specifically by breaking the law, and pushing for either a repeal of that law or a constitutionality ruling by a high court.
Of course, we have also tested a lot of stupid issues, such as the reluctance to enter WWII, and Prohibition. What is the litmus test to determine whether an issue is a passing fad or a real, historical change in society? There is only one -- you must win and stay won. And, sometimes, the only way to truly test such a thing is to look back on it from 30 or 40 years.
