Hate speech....

Before writing anything about hate speech, I wanted to mention that it has been such a pleasant morning here, reading March's Just Posts. Each month, it is like a gift in my browser window. The richness of thought, the passion and the neverending faith that everyday people can make a difference never fails to lift me up. Please do check them out.

~*

Now, onto Don Imus. By now, everyone is probably aware of the statements he made about the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team.

At one time, I used to listen to Don Imus in the mornings. It was probably 15 years ago now and at the time he seemed outrageously funny. I would laugh until my belly hurt when he played parody songs like They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore. He would pillory every prominent public figure with his acidic tongue. It didn't matter which end of the political
spectrum one landed, Imus would still shred them.

After a while, I began to grow up and didn't find that kind of humor amusing any longer. It sounded like every other punk bully kid on the playground at any elementary school ~ probably anywhere in the world.

Cheap shots have become a form of entertainment on radio and TV over the past 10 years. I've noticed this proliferation of disgusting, demeaning speech which the speaker justifies with the statement, "I was only being funny. Lighten up." Cloaking this kind of talk under the guise of humor would ostensibly lessen its impact or water it down. It became a subtle way of making it socially acceptable to get a few laughs at someone else's expense.

I don't believe in hate speech legislation. I'll be very clear about that. However, I do believe there should be social consequences for talking that way. It starts with the individual. How many times have any of us cringed internally when someone talks about going to a car lot and "jewing" the salesman "down" or when someone makes a derogatory remark about "damn Mexicans". We want to say something. We don't like it ~ but in order to avoid confrontation, we don't say anything.

A long time ago, I set up certain rules for my own socializing. Everyone who knows me, knows I won't sit silently by when someone begins hate speaking. There are some iron-clad rules that everyone knows. Don't smoke in my livingroom. Don't drink alcohol or use drugs in my house. And definitely don't say the "n-word". If you do, you will be politely asked to leave.

As Audre Lorde once said, "your silence won't protect you."

Confronting this kind of speech can be difficult. It's hard to correct another adult. I've found a simple, "that kind of talk makes me really uncomfortable" will stop most. If they try to shame me into tolerating it ("aww. c'mon. Lighten up. I was only joking"), I will excuse myself.

Yes. They get mad at me. They may not associate with me any further.

What have I lost?

Not much.

As for Don Imus, Ann Coulter, Louis Farrakhan and other public hate speakers, it's fairly simple. Turn off the radio. Don't give them hours and hours of air time on Fox News or CNN, repeating the slurs over and over again. Ignore them. Pretend they don't exist. Don't buy their books. (It's utterly astounding to me that Ann Coulter's books have been best sellers. They contain some of the most vile invective I've ever read, outside of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or The Turner Diaries!)

We need to take a stand on this. Quietly. By our actions.

At least that's my opinion.


Peace,


~Chani