Imus

You may be as tired as I am of discussing the Imus-Duke-Nicole's baby dramas, but the one thing I continue to ponder is the "free speech" aspects of what happened to Old Man Don.

Peter J. Riga, for instance, wrote the following to the Houston Chronicle:

The firing of Don Imus over some stupid racial remark is not only a blow against the First Amendment for free speech, it is the American version of the Danish cartoon affair. What about Imus' constitutionally protected free speech?

To be sure, there is a lot to question on what happened to Imus. Is there a double-standard, after comparing his statements to those of people like Al Sharpton? Where do the Rutgers' basketball players go from here? Should we give Imus leeway because he is a shock-jock? Did anyone actually consider Imus to be funny and worth listening to?

But when it comes to Imus' constitutionally protected free speech rights, he cannot seek recourse to them because there was, thankfully, no action taken by the government. Among other things, the right to free speech allows Americans to voice their opinions on anything and everything without fear of government interference.

That doesn't mean that your speech does not have consequences, as the Imus situation illustrates. In fact, for those who believe what happened Old Man Imus was a sham, the silver lining in all of this is that there were several instances of free speech. Imus said what he wanted, the media responded how they wanted, as did the players, corporations, and media conglomerates who eventually asked Imus to hit the showers -- all without the FCC telling us what we should listen to or watch!

Yes, there is a chance that the treatment accorded to Old Man Imus was a little too much and that there will be a chilling effect on satire in general. But the equilibrium of the marketplace of ideas is not a constant one. Societal standards will eventually move back towards the comedic end, and maybe we'll realize that Imus wasn't even funny in the first place.

For more on this, go here.