Saturday, April 21, 2007

Short Post: NHH's, or, Nausea Ad Nauseam

I will be catching up on things this weekend. The VTI tragedy is also very much on my mind. This post is really a brief interrogatory: re the Don Imus fiasco, how is it that this incident and its result, which was catalyzed by and continues to feed upon language deemed unacceptable in civilized society, seems to have given every journalist in the US and elsewhere permission to repeat the exact words of this slur ad nauseam ? Everyone in the media, it seems, can now use the phrase with impunity, except, of course, Imus. For the record, I am a very strong proponent of First Amendment rights. Rather than debating whether they apply in Imus's case per se, I am more interested in the disparity in the claims for legitimate use (or maybe, in the lack of them, since I have yet to see one news anchor or commentator defend, or be called upon to defend, the repetition of the offending phrase). The whole thing really feels like kids saying to an adult, "Tommy said it first. I'm just telling you what Tommy said..."

3 comments:

John B. said...

Hello. I found your blog via The New York Minute. You're an elegant and thoughtful writer, ma'am. I? Not so much. But I hope you don't mind if I borrow the 5 W's idea for my own blog and ask if I can link to you there as well.

Cordelia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cordelia said...

I don't mind at all about the five w's (notice that I got that from the blog Two Dishes...: link at right), and I'd be happy to have you link up.