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A few days ago, shock jocks Opie and Anthony were suspended by XM satellite radio over a bit that insulted Condeleeza Rice. The bit was about 30 seconds long, and it consisted of a homeless guy saying that he would punch Rice in the face while having sex with her. Opie and Anthony did apologize, but on Monday, complained about how people were overreacting to the perverted rantings of a homeless guy. XM heard this and suspended the New York based duo, sighting their failure to take the matter seriously.

This suspension comes on the heels of Don Imus, who was canned because he referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy headed ho's". Pressure from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, along with advertisers pulling out, led to the ouster of the controversial radio icon.

We seem to be living in a society where political correctness reigns, while freedom of speech and choice take a back seat. The scary thing is that it looks as if people don't really care.

The Opie and Anthony bit was crass, tasteless, rude, not to mention stupid. However, they have been pulling stuff like this for years. It's what shock jock types like they, the Howard Sterns of the radio world do. It's their job to do whatever or say whatever they had to in order to get ratings and make their bosses lots of money. Imus made millions for CBS radio. The only reason he was canned was because advertisers caved in to the pressure of Al Sharpton. The baffling fact that Sharpton has such power will be a topic for another article, down the road.

The only thing Opie and Anthony were guilty of was laughing at the guy who made the statement about Rice. Hell, Howard Stern -whose show I prefer to O&A- has had racists come on the air and say 'nigger' when talking about black people, yet no one seems to be attempting his ouster. My point is the shock jock genre of radio is full of stuff like the O&A segment.

Why was this so terrible that they needed to be punished? Here's another question: Why in the hell is XM radio, where you are supposedly able to say any nasty thing you want, doing this? The answer is probably because they want the XM/sirius merger to occur, and figure letting this go unpunished would end up being an obstacle in that quest.

My main problem is that if a shock jock isn't allowed to be shocking, then that genre will quickly die out. I'm sure a lot of people would be happy if that happened. Maybe those folks don't understand that because of the precedent set here, then maybe their favorite show will come under attack because someone on it said something outrageous. Don't think it can't happen, folks. Going after shock jocks is easy, but what would you say if they went after your favorite political talk show, or sports talk show?

The complaints of a few should not be allowed to dictate what we watch or listen to for our entertainment. I want all of this crap out there, so I can make the choice whether or not to watch or listen. I don't want the government, or the complaints of a vocal few, to determine that for me. As the old adage goes, 'If you don't like it, turn the dial.'

Exactly.

Learn more about this author, Derrick Goard.
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