Saturday, February 28, 2004

What is indecency? In a previous post on Clear Channel's Howard Stern ban, I asked: "If Howard Stern were a right-wing radio host and consistently pro-Bush, do you think Clear Channel would have taken him off the air?" Clearly the answer is no, because Clear Channel was perfectly happy to add Michael Savage recently to their lineup. While Clear Channel finds Howard Stern's toilet humor and sexual double entendres indecent, it presumably finds comments like the following perfectly acceptable: "Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it.'' On a charity program at Marin's Branson School that sends students into San Francisco to feed the homeless: "You can get the kids from Marin to go in there with them at night. The girls from Branson can go in and maybe get raped ... because they seem to like the excitement of it. There's always the thrill and possibility they'll be raped in a Dumpster while giving out a turkey sandwich." He also referred to Branson's girls as "fresh white nookie." On California demographics: "With the population that has emerged, since they [Hispanics] breed like rabbits, in many cases the whites will become a minority in their own nation.... the white people don't breed as often for whatever reason. I guess many homosexuals are involved. That is also part of the grand plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the white race." On liberals: "You liberals are the descendents of Adolf Hitler, only you don't know it. You're the most dangerous people on planet Earth. I am your enemy. I am your worst nightmare. I will expose you. I know who you are and I know you're suicidal and I'm going to expose you until this government acts finally to stop you. I am not kidding you. I'm telling it as it is." Savage vocabulary: homosexuals = "perverts;" women = "whores;" Asians = "little soy-eaters," and "shoe polish heads;" progressives = "filthy slime;" and immigrants or people of color = natives of "sacred Turd World nations." I think the comment Stern made that Clear Channel found indecent was, "Bush has got to go." Postscript: Mark Hobak notes that the top requested song on Clear Channel's Z-100 station in New York was "Don't Want You Back," featuring the chorus: Fuck what I said it don't mean shit now Fucked presents might as well throw em out Fuck all those kisses, they didn't mean jack Fuck you, you hoe, I don't want you back Clear Channel may also have been deeply troubled by Stern's endorsement last Monday (two days before the ban) of Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: I loved the book, and he seems to be right on about everything. If you read this book you will never vote for George W Bush. 11:08:44 PM    comment [] White House Press Simulacrum British philosopher, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing conceived of a test to determine whether computers were intelligent -- the so-called "Turing Test": [A] human being and a computer would be interrogated under conditions where the interrogator would not know which was which, the communication being entirely by textual messages. Turing argued that if the interrogator could not distinguish them by questioning, then it would be unreasonable not to call the computer intelligent. The one possibility Turing didn't consider (so far as I know) is that computers might one day converse more convincingly than human beings. Take White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, for instance. Is there any doubt that he would consistently fail the test? Not for anyone who has read a transcript from a White House Press Conference, Briefing, or Gaggle. See the choice excerpts Josh Marshall picks out (here, here, and here). Better yet, is there any doubt that Bush would consistently fail the test? Isn't it about time we raised productivity and cut costs at the White House by replacing the Press Secretary and his staff with an automated system? "For the President's view on marriage, press one ..." [1] "The President has always firmly believed that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. He supports efforts to protect and defend the sanctity of marriage." "If you wish to repeat this message, press one. To return to the main menu, press pound ..." And how about doing the same with the President and his staff? How about a computer-simulated President? We could outsource the work to the best computer companies in India and China. Indian cinema is also booming -- an excellent source of cheap PR contractors. I'm sure they'd charge less than the ex-Fox people they use nowadays. Postscript: Several of Dick's works played on this idea. For example, in The Simulacra, the President, unbenounced to the American public, is an android, and the country is actually run by the beloved, glamorous First Lady, Nancy Thibideaux (playing on the popular appeal of Jacqueline Kennedy). 1:44:00 AM    comment [] The Many Indecencies of Howard Stern On January 14, 2003, Howard Stern held a call-in contest "Who Said What." The caller had to identify whether George W. Bush or Mike Tyson made the following statements. 3 out of 5 won the caller a prize. The first set of five statments: ''They misunderestimated me." "I guess I'm going to fade into bulivion.'' ''Let me put it to you this way, I am not a revengful person.'' ''I think we agree the past is over.'' ''In all our endeavorments, we have to be strong, brave and courageous.'' ''I must be the stupidest person in the world.'' And the second set: ''You gentleman have no idea what it's like to be myself.'' ''Reading is the basics for all learning.'' ''The important question is, how many hands have I shaked?'' ''My defenses are impregnable.'' ''It's just too hard for me to get emotional, I can't cry no more.'' Pretty easy contest, but it's still striking how similar the quotations are. [Answers for set #1: Bush, Tyson, Bush, Bush, Tyson. For set #2: Tyson, Bush, Bush, Tyson, Tyson.] 1:01:18 AM    comment []

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