Chicago Tribune Editorial: Falwell, Imus and words
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Falwell, Imus and words
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 19, 2007
How strange it is to describe someone in the context of the controversial things they have said, as though all of their lives were spent babbling nonsense or offensive gibberish or inflammatory flapdoodle. It may well be the one characteristic that links the disgraced radio icon Don Imus to the late media preacher who was behind the Moral Majority, Rev. Jerry Falwell.
For each man, the use of words accepted in one place caused trouble in another.
It is not our place to cast judgment on Falwell or his life beyond the role he played in politics, which made him fair game along with anyone else who leaps into the arena of public debate. No one can really know a man's relationship with God, because one part of that equation is unknowable and the other is very difficult to pin down with any certainty.
Falwell's followers found in him a great preacher and leader, sure enough, just as Imus' audience believed him witty, provocative and acceptable, up to a point. ("Nappy headed ho's" would be the point at which Imus became unacceptable).
But outside of the world of the converted, the choir to which Falwell preached, he became notorious for comments that would be applauded by the flock but widely questioned, criticized, even condemned, by those outside of it. The same phenomenon happens when people scrutinize the words of rap music or analyze the kinds of songs that were played in New Orleans brothels at the turn of the last century.
It might have been great to dance to at the club (or brothel) on Friday night, but it sure sounds like brutal misogyny in the cold glare of a Monday morning. Those who are not part of the closed audience may be grievously offended when the words reach them, no matter the messenger.
Thus, we had a Falwell beloved in his own circle but defiled outside of it for suggesting the terror attacks of Sept. 11 were God's punishment for America's tolerance of pagans, abortionists, homosexuality and feminism. AIDS, he suggested, is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. Everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Billy Graham found themselves splattered at one point or another with the righteous pie of Falwell's rhetoric.
Frequently, he found himself apologizing.
A lesson presents itself in the wake of his death: In the world of words, good and bad can be as much in the ear of the listener as in the heart of the speaker.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 19, 2007
How strange it is to describe someone in the context of the controversial things they have said, as though all of their lives were spent babbling nonsense or offensive gibberish or inflammatory flapdoodle. It may well be the one characteristic that links the disgraced radio icon Don Imus to the late media preacher who was behind the Moral Majority, Rev. Jerry Falwell.
For each man, the use of words accepted in one place caused trouble in another.
It is not our place to cast judgment on Falwell or his life beyond the role he played in politics, which made him fair game along with anyone else who leaps into the arena of public debate. No one can really know a man's relationship with God, because one part of that equation is unknowable and the other is very difficult to pin down with any certainty.
Falwell's followers found in him a great preacher and leader, sure enough, just as Imus' audience believed him witty, provocative and acceptable, up to a point. ("Nappy headed ho's" would be the point at which Imus became unacceptable).
But outside of the world of the converted, the choir to which Falwell preached, he became notorious for comments that would be applauded by the flock but widely questioned, criticized, even condemned, by those outside of it. The same phenomenon happens when people scrutinize the words of rap music or analyze the kinds of songs that were played in New Orleans brothels at the turn of the last century.
It might have been great to dance to at the club (or brothel) on Friday night, but it sure sounds like brutal misogyny in the cold glare of a Monday morning. Those who are not part of the closed audience may be grievously offended when the words reach them, no matter the messenger.
Thus, we had a Falwell beloved in his own circle but defiled outside of it for suggesting the terror attacks of Sept. 11 were God's punishment for America's tolerance of pagans, abortionists, homosexuality and feminism. AIDS, he suggested, is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. Everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Billy Graham found themselves splattered at one point or another with the righteous pie of Falwell's rhetoric.
Frequently, he found himself apologizing.
A lesson presents itself in the wake of his death: In the world of words, good and bad can be as much in the ear of the listener as in the heart of the speaker.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 7:40 AM
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