Progressive Radio and Polite Conversation
Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 08:16:43 AM PDT
Randi Rhodes was suspended from her Air America talk show yesterday in response to some clearly ignorant remarks she made towards Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro and Dina McGreevey. I'll get into what she said after the jump since it isn't even something I want to post on the front page.
For those who don't listen to Air America or the show, I'll give you my take. Randi Rhodes was the first "progressive" talk radio show host I listened to, and the reason I tune in to WCPT 850 in Chicago (go progressive radio!) She is crude and edgy and really really pissed off about the War in Iraq. While she was the reason I started listening to the station, she was also the reason I started getting podcasts of Thom Hartmann, so I could listen to someone else during her time slot. She is not unfamiliar with being suspendedfor content. Most recently, she let loose with her "true feelings" about Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign and the rhetoric became... monotonous at best, even for a hardcore Obamaniac like me.
I thought a discussion about Ms. Rhodes' suspension was timely due to some recent discussions on this blog about polite discourse and appropriate discussion in certain forums. The details of her suspension are pretty clear, but definitely discussion worthy.
So first, see the video the video if you can- the language is not safe for work.
Apparently, Randi was giving a stand-up like performance for a San Fransisco radio affiliate where she made comments that Clinton and Ferraro were"f*ing whores". Whether it was a public event or a private function is up for debate- it wasn't quite "open to the public" but it wasn't as if she was having a conversation at a dinner party with friends that just so happened to get taped. Regardless, a video of the routine ended up on YouTube and yesterday and Air America suspended her, releasing this statement.
Air America has suspended on-air host Randi Rhodes for making inappropriate statements about prominent figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, at a recent public appearance on behalf of Air America in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.
"Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts," said chair Charlie Kireker.
Seeing as though an on-air personality can be suspended for suggesting Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" by her parents, it's no shock to me that Rhodes's rant has ended in a suspension. What has many panties (boxers, thongs, high-cut briefs and pull-ups alike) in a twist is the forum where the comments were made- unlike Imus and Shuster, she wasn't on the air at the time. Her routine was more stand-up than political, and the language, while unwise and quite frankly, lazy, wasn't much different than any stand-up routine. This morning there are a lot of people who are angry that she was suspended from her job for doing something "off the air." I say, eh. That's kind of weak. She is a famous personality, her show is centered around her personality and political opinions, and her words on air and off are a reflection of the show.
Which brings me to my point. If there is a lesson of this week, I think it's this: you can say whatever you want to say, but you're gonna pay the consequences. Sometimes those consequences are that your boss is going to fire you; sometimes, it's that you're going to start a flame war in a relatively peaceful blog. We here are the queens of snark (with a king or two thrown in the mix) and sarcasm, but like I titled my post about Obama, words matter. I personally find the claims that Rhodes' suspension is somehow and affront to the First Amendment laughable at best. If my brief stint as a wanna-be journalist in college taught me anything, it's that the First Amendment protects you from being prosecuted by not from dealing with the ramifications of your tone, your words, your spoken thoughts. And I don't think that's such a bad thing- learning to censor my thoughts has taught me to listen better, to take in points I may have spoken over when I was younger, and that respect, above most everything else, keeps discourse at its highest level.
