If you don’t like it, don’t listen

For years, people have been up in arms about radio shock jock Howard Stern’s controversial show, calling him racist, sexist, immoral, and just about everything else under the sun.

With the recent nationwide syndication of the Opie and Anthony Show, a self-proclaimed “cringe radio” show with the same type of off-beat humor and political incorrectness as Stern. These two hosts have also begun to take heat, largely from women’s groups who call the duo’s “Whip ’em Out Wednesday,” or WOW promotion sexist and degrading.

WOW encourages female fans of the show to flash men with a WOW bumper sticker during the commute home from work on Wednesdays, or any other day for that matter.

Not to sound insensitive, but if you don’t like the show, just change the channel.

If hearing Jim Norton, a frequent Opie and Anthony guest say kids in the Special Olympics should get medals for “heaviest skull, and most snot and saliva on the fingers” find something else to listen to.

Don’t want to hear Stern joke about the death of Hank the Angry Dwarf, one of his regular guests, then don’t listen. But don’t spoil it for anyone else who may be listening for the sheer entertainment value.

But don’t presume that just because you find something offensive or in poor taste, that everyone listening to the show does also. In this politically correct world we now live in, everyone is concerned with saying the right things not to offend anyone else. It’s a type of release of sorts, to listen to a radio show for four hours and not be restricted to this new societal rule. These people say what they want to entertain the audience, not because it’s consistent with some social construct.

Far too many people in this country believe that radio and TV influence people’s beliefs. That may be true, to some extent, among people who don’t realize that these shows are forms of entertainment. Parenting, peer pressure and interaction, and religious background are far more influential than any form of entertainment the media has to offer.

Entertainment is just that, entertainment. It is designed to make someone laugh, cry, or at the very least keep them amused while the program is on. If someone says something on the radio or does something on TV that offends you to the point where you feel the need to act on it, just change the channel. Losing the ratings points will hurt these shows far more than any protest.

Of course that’s just my opinion, put out there to entertain you. Whether or not you agree with it, if you find what I’ve said amusing, than I’ve done my job. If I’ve offended anyone, I guess you’ll be finding someone else’s column to read next week. And that is exactly my point.