Howard 100 News reported tonight that a priest and a state legislator fought to get two Howard Stern billboards taken down in Chicago because they dared to make a joke: “Let Freedom Ring. And let it be run by a stripper.” The state legislator is quoted on Howard 100 saying that as a woman and as an African American — etcetera, etcetera — she is offended and so she and the priest pressured the owners of the billboards — none other than First Amendment woosies Clear Channel and Viacom — to take them down.
Well, Ms. State Legislator, as an American, I am offended by your disrespect for freedom of speech and your utter lack of a damned sense of humor.
Prigs, prudes, and pols will be our downfall.
As a tax payer I am offended by tax exempt Churches. Cancel that loophole.
And by the way, as great a man as Martin Luther King was, he was according to the standards of the religious, morally corrupt, since he was a notorious adulterer. Who better to appreciate a stripper ringing a freedom bell?
Oh, and by the way, Howard Stern, never cheated on his wife.
what about limits? you may not be offended by something (e.g. those billboards) but someone else is. you may be offended by something but someone else isn’t. would you then like to be called a prig?
(so please accept that the billboard violates someone else’s values, way of life etc. pp.)
……. “a priest and a state legislator” That’s all you need to know! The former has been an enemy of the truth since religion began, and the later will do/say anything to get elected and feed at the public trough. Neither is a friend of the Bill of Rights.
A couple of related Chicago Defender stories:
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=3461
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=3354
I have as much of a sense of humor as anyone. The joke is fine AS LONG AS IT IS SEEN BY ADULTS. But I grow tired of having to explain to a 6 yr old what something like a stripper is when he reads billboards.
It is those who never consider children that will be the ruin of us.
They are going to replace the Stern billboards with malt liquor billboards.
“It is those who never consider children that will be the ruin of us.”
Have you ever considered that children exist because two people rub their ‘naughty parts’ together? You shouldn’t let some puritanical beliefs cover up this scientific fact.
“But I grow tired of having to explain to a 6 yr old what something like a stripper is when he reads billboards.”
You’ll probably have the same awkwardness should the child see adds for a gyno or ‘mr. stiffie’ pills. You can’t shield a child 100%, because in public, views other than yours have a right to be heard. Advertising is part of that.
Real tired of people evoke the Sacred Cult of the Child when it comes to imposing their own rigid viewpoint as to what should be seen in public. There are numerous people like myself, who don’t have kids, don’t want kids and quite frankly, resent the fact that certain folks want to the entire world dumbed down to protect their little bundle of joy. Blargh.
I’m with Rich. I have no kids.
In addition, my life hasn’t been ruined because I saw a billboard when I was 6 or a even a Playboy when I was 9.
I’m 39 now and tired of blowhard and corrupt politicians and the priests who love them (and little boys).
How hard is it to explain what a stripper is to a kid?
“A lady or man who takes her/his clothes off for money.”
Real simple, no need to go deeper. Kid asks why the simple answer is that some people enjoy that sort of thing.
I learned about sex from NOVA on PBS when I was a kid (I think I was six), and I was
totally truamatizedcompletely unfazed by this. If a couple of billboards can ruin your kid’s innocence I think he’s got other problems: like uptight, neurotic parents who will turn him into a fragile, non-functioning, fearful adult.Well, I am hardly a prude, but thanks guys for proving my point.
All you have to do is check out Right wing sparkles blog and understand that sex, nudity, really anything that doesn’t glorify God/Jesus/W and of course children should be hidden from public view. I wonder what she would do if she were in Florence and saw the massive outdoor statue of David and his unsnipped penis. Get the drapery and hide the kids I guess.
The thing is, there ARE genuinely offensive radio billboards in Chicago right now, but they’re not the ones for Stern. La Ley (a Spanish station, if you didn’t figure that out) had one with a woman’s face splattered with chocolate and some suggestive phrase (I believe it translated to “hey, look, the chocolate looks like cum”– well, close enough) and another station has one now quoting the Wildean witticism made on-air that “popsicles are a good training device” or something like that. I’d take both of those down as being beyond public decency (a concept I recognize if Jeff doesn’t) long before I’d worry about Stern– but then, Stern’s more likely to get me headlines.
Of course, then you have the case of this sanctimonious prude yanking his daughter out of a controversal play because of how he was afraid it would affect him. Another case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”
To hell with the children seeing it; I don’t want to see it. Howard Stern has the right to purchase the billboard space and the priest (and a state legislator) has the right to persuade the billboard owners to rescind the deal.
You may think the First Amendment protects almost every other facet of public speech beyond protecting against government prohibition of some, but that doesn’t make it so. And if one thinks there is some “right” to be heard, including, particularly, some right to have it advertised by a third party on first judgment or to continue after a revised judgment of that third party, they are not grounding their thinking in reality.
And finally, to Jeff: If you think the FA ideal of free speech, unfettered by the social norms of others, ought to reign supreme then you shouldn’t try so hard to persuade the MSM to adhere to some confining standard of free speech in their reporting lest you be seen as the prig or prude you accuse others of being.
Dusty just made the most sensible comment on this post!
I tend to get riled up over how far the boundaries of society are pushed sometimes, but this is ludicrous.
The real thing here isn’t about this priest or the loudmouth politician being offended over the word “stripper,” it’s that he saw some kind of racist message in the ad. Seems to me that he was already predisposed to being disaffected by life in general if the phrase “let freedom ring” could only refer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (maybe his estate has a trademark on the phrase now?). So he imagined that because the word “stripper” was in the headline for a Howard Stern ad, that must mean Stern was trying to disrespect the memory of MLK. I suppose I can see what he’s saying, but that’s not what I got from it at all.
The billboard company has every right to take down something when they feel too much pressure from the public (as long as they make good to the client who paid for the ad space), but it’s a shame that they caved over something so convoluted.
Nice mis-characterization of the article John…
There is a typo in the blog-post.
It should be “rung by a stripper” not “run by a stripper.”
[...] From MediaBuyerPlanner, via Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine: Two billboards touting Howard Stern’s switch from terrestrial to satellite radio have come down in the Chicago area, after a Catholic priest complained that the ads were insensitive to African Americans, according to The Chicago Defender. The ads featured a stylized, cartoonish fist raised in the air along with the caption, “Let freedom ring. And let it be rung by a stripper.” The fist is in black on a white background. [...]
[...] From MediaBuyerPlanner via Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine: Two billboards touting Howard Stern’s switch from terrestrial to satellite radio have come down in the Chicago area, after a Catholic priest complained that the ads were insensitive to African Americans, according to The Chicago Defender. The ads featured a stylized, cartoonish fist raised in the air along with the caption, “Let freedom ring. And let it be rung by a stripper.” The fist is in black on a white background. [...]
How hard is it to explain what a stripper is to a kid?
“Daddy, what’s a ’stripper’?”
“Um, I don’t know.”
By the time they’re old enough to figure out that you’re only feigning ignorance, they’ll be old enough to understand what a stripper is too.
Easy explaination: “A stripper is someone who removes paint from an old house before it’s repainted, son. A stripper can help you get it off.”
The problem with freedom of speech is that it always involves a crank with a dirty mouth. What a pity. Too bad someone doesn’t go to jail for yelling “The mayor/governor/ president/ king etc is a jerk.” Then we could discuss a respectable FOS item.
The christian cult has done more to harm the psyche of many people I know than any billboard.
Think of how many people waste their lives because they’ve been shackled by the christian guilt which they can’t come to terms with because it doesn’t make sense.
I dream of a world where religious nuts and prudes are laughed at and ridiculed as the mainstream instead of people shutting their mouths in fear. These people only hold us back. The world isn’t flat.
I discuss this at SpeakSpeak News and give you a link:
http://www.speakspeak.org/speak-blog/2006/01/05/freedom-to-be-inoffensive-3/
Howard Stern: Free speech crusader!
As a recovering Catholic (13 years of school & a die-hard mother), well, nevermind. I’m going to get drunk like the bloody sinner I am.
Seriously, spend some time in Europe where billboards like these are common and don’t get a 2nd look. We’re puritans with a twist of a gun control problem.
hiccup…
Fred
So what if she was “offended” (gasp!). Who says that she has the right not to be offended? The more that people and organizations give in to this sort of pressure, the worse off we all are.
athospaco: What better way to offend women than with unnecessary references to strippers?
Anyone who runs around getting offended are weak-minded, weak-willed, insecure children. What are you 9 years old? Words? Words, offend you??
Please, if someone calls me a racist, disagreable, boring moron, do I get offended? No. Why? Cause I’m not a child. I know my worth, and am therefore a confident adult. Proved wrong? I admit it, o.k. I am a moron. Who cares? Move on.
Tell me my dead grandmother was a “spread-eagled-slut” should I clutch my pearls and shriek “how dare you?”…no…cause she wasn’t. Who cares?
I defy you to prove me wrong…I will state that 90% of people who run around constantly being offended are insecure assholes.
How many of your good friends, or people who you enjoy being around are knee jerked offended drama queens?
My theory is…Don’t agree with me? It’s my job to prove you wrong. Still don’t agree? No problem we agree to disagree.
Insecure assholes proceed to try to hysterically force or strong arm you into not having your own opinion.
That gives you : Bush, Bin Laden, Gloria Allred, Peta, Bill Oreilly, Barbra Streisand.
No one could ever prove you wrong, athospaco. Howard Stern should consider advertising on your billboards the next time.
First let me say that Phil and John are bigots. Christian bigots.
As one commetner pointed out:
The thing is, there ARE genuinely offensive radio billboards in Chicago right now, but they’re not the ones for Stern. La Ley (a Spanish station, if you didn’t figure that out) had one with a woman’s face splattered with chocolate and some suggestive phrase (I believe it translated to “hey, look, the chocolate looks like cumâ€â€“ well, close enough) and another station has one now quoting the Wildean witticism made on-air that “popsicles are a good training device†or something like that. I’d take both of those down as being beyond public decency
Who decides what is decent? Is this ok with all of you? I’ll tell you who decides, and guess what? we agree! People decide! and Christians (and I might point out here that I am not a fundi, I am Catholic) have just as much of a right to protest something as anyone else does. And the bIllboard company has right to either ignore us or take it down.
It’s called Demcracy guys.
And I might also point out that John’s sterotype of me is completely off base and wrong.
And that would be “Democracy” above. Sorry for the typo.
It’s definitely a 2-way street. Also living in Chicago, on my drive to work you can see the “Celebrity Sex Videos” billboard for a local adult shop. That’s swell. And hey, people should stop at the store and buy them coz they could never see them anywhere else. Duh.
And Phil the world is not flat. But it did evolve from a pile of muck, right?
Blogs and Oprah will be our downfall.
Howard Stern, the free speech crusader… Oh is this the same Howard Stern who had a company gag order slapped on Opie and Anthony?
What kills me about Stern acolytes is the fact they talk about how oppressed and hounded Howard is. He may have been in his early days, but now he’s the establishment. Howard is the Don Imus now, and he’s following the same path. You can claim to be an underdog and gain a measure of empathy when you actualy are. But it’s laughable when in the same breath you claim to be the “King” then whine about how everyone holding you down.
Make up my mind already.
Howard Stern, the free speech crusader… Oh is this the same Howard Stern who had a company gag order slapped on Opie and Anthony?
What kills me about Stern acolytes is the fact they talk about how oppressed and hounded Howard is. He may have been in his early days, but now he’s the establishment. Howard is the Don Imus now, and he’s following the same path. You can claim to be an underdog and gain a measure of empathy when you actualy are. But it’s laughable when in the same breath you claim to be the “King†then whine about how everyone holding you down.
Make up my mind already.