....May 18, 12:51 PM
 
 
   
John Liu & The Slippery Slope Of Censorship

DJ Star
By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

I’ve known John Liu for quite some time. It was a number of years before he was first elected to the City Council that we became friends – in the way that politicians and newspaper people do. But I liked John from the time we met.
I remember sitting next to him at a brunch quite a number of years ago. He was focused, driven and fun. He was apparently hard-working and it was clear to me he was going places.

Since getting there, John has played to the press. Some newsrooms make fun of the quantity and frequency of press releases generated by his office. It occasionally seems that if anything happens anywhere, Councilman John Liu e-mails his opinion. But while there may be jokes about John and the press, he has demonstrated a remarkable ability to use his bravado and his willingness to engage in what some might call “grandstanding,” to achieve change. John has built the tiny megaphone of a single City Council District to a regional, if not national bully pulpit – usually as spokesperson for Asian Americans.

John picks his fights – and there are many. His latest involves Troi Torain, known as radio host DJ Star on Power 95’s “The Star and Buc Wild Morning Show,” who made on-air comments concerning the 4-year-old daughter of a rival radio jock. His statements were racially offensive and could be perceived as sexually threatening to the 4-year-old girl. Star used ethnic slurs against his rival’s part- Asian wife and daughter and offered to pay for information on the girl’s whereabouts, described sex acts he wanted to perform on her and announced he carried a gun.

Now John and I talk occasionally, but not frequently. My staff reached out to him this past Friday to invite him to write a column on this latest brouhaha demanding DJ Star and Clear Channel Communications pay for the inappropriate and outrageous on-air remarks. We wanted his comments on monitoring the airwaves without coming into conflict with our fundamental rights – freedom of speech. John’s staff indicated he would gladly write the column but I assume the short lead-time we gave him made it impossible for us to have it by deadline. We will share it with you shortly.

This is not John’ first fight with a radio personality. DJ Tarsha Nicole Jones and her “Miss Jones in the Morning” cohorts were suspended from Hot 97 after John led a crusade against the station for their broadcast of the “Tsunami Song” ridiculing victims of the Indian Ocean disaster.
The “We Are The World” parody contained racist slurs against Asians and jokes about those killed and orphaned.

The fact that I am commenting on the subject, or invited John to opine on it, is in no way meant to be a debate. While I admire and respect John, I occasionally disagree. More importantly, I try to use my column to provoke thought. Many of the socially and politically charged issues we face today are not black and white. The minefields we in the opinion business must navigate are oft times a charged and slippery slope. While an elected official like John may be truly benevolent and committed to the betterment of society with his actions, he may sometimes be so focused that he misses part of the picture. Enter the political commentator. We paint the other side of the picture.

DJ Star has been fired – as a matter of fact arrested with Manhattan DA Bob Morgenthau pursuing the charges of harassment and endangering the welfare of a minor. John now is directing his energies to punish Clear Channel, the radio station’s owner, for allowing the broadcast.
Published reports have him reaching out to the Federal Communications Commission to question if the station’s broadcast license should be lifted.

Such suggestions send chills up and down the spine of civil libertarians. The station has apologized, fired the guy and distanced itself from the statements. Law enforcement is involved.

When governmental officials suggest putting radio stations out of business for on-air comment, on-air comment is stifled. The beauty of this nation is we allow diverse views. We permit the Ku Klux Klan to speak and publish. We allow Howard Stern and his imitators to speak. Gone are the days when Lenny Bruce or George Carlin wind up in jail because they crossed lines of community values.

Should the FCC pursue John’s request, will stations have to monitor or preview everything said prior to broadcast? Will freedom and spontaneity be a thing of the past?

I’m not a fan of shock jocks. I am a big advocate that they should be allowed to shock.

Turn off the damn station if you don’t like it!
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.
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Political Correctness And Let My People Learn

Henry Stern
By HENRY J. STERN

For some time, we have been concerned with what appears to be a lack of interest in the education of our city’s academically advanced students. When special needs are provided for, the gifted often appear to be the last to be helped.

The so-called “progressive education” philosophy of, say, Carmen Farina, retiring Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, is that all children are gifted in one way or another and that it is inequitable to single out one particular group for special treatment. Under this view of education, which is shared by many, protracted bilingual and special education are desirable, but to do anything much for the intellectually gifted smacks of elitism and favoritism, with a whiff of racism.

We take a particular interest in this subject in the way that people tend to fight a certain disease because a member of the family suffered from it, or support a cause because someone close to them was killed, with a gun or by a drunken driver. When I was very young (5), the authorities at PS 152M, believed I was gifted. What they did had a significant impact on little me and later on big me.

It is embarrassing to write about that. If I said that I had a serious illness or was physically handicapped (now challenged), people would say how splendid it was that I overcame the disability. But to say I was precocious sounds vain and inappropriate. Mensa, a high-IQ group which I never joined, is viewed with some condescension (geeks, nerds, dweebs, etc.).

The ambivalent attitude toward the gifted may be the final frontier of acceptable discrimination. It is certainly reflected in the educational establishment, many of whose members give lip service to gifted education because of the demands of parents, but in their hearts they view it as unsettling, an unpleasant obstacle to the democratization of education.

SENIOR COUNSELOR TO THE CHANCELLOR
I have been quoted rather skeptically with regard to the selection of Brian Ellner as Senior Counselor to the Chancellor, at a salary of $165,000. Although he will have to prove himself on the job, his selection can be justified, at least on paper. He went to Bronx Science, Dartmouth College and was Harvard Law School ’92. He was president of a local school board in Manhattan, which indicates prior interest in the field.

Inquiring about Ellner, one hears mixed comments; ranging from “shallow” and “a hack” to “honest and straightforward.” It is clear that people differ on the man, which is often the case with regard to political figures.

His involvement, after his primary defeat for Manhattan Borough President, in the mayor’s campaign in 2005 should neither qualify nor disqualify him. He did say unkind things about the mayor whilst he was seeking the Beep Democratic nomination (he came in fourth out of nine, a respectable showing for an unknown). Negative words are part of the fog of politics. People often change their hearts and minds when they are playing for a new team.

What bothers us about Ellner is the expensive television campaign he waged, which put emphasis on his sexual orientation. We contrast that with Christine Quinn’s successful campaign for City Council Speaker, in which she did not make her lifestyle an issue. We should go beyond the stage where people boast either that they are gay or that they are straight, depending on the neighborhood.

Chancellor Klein has the right to choose his staff, and Ellner should ultimately be judged by the results he achieves, rather than by his political efforts or his sexual orientation. One must wonder, however, whether, out of all New Yorkers, this new Senior Counselor is the person who will have the broadest community outreach. Indeed, how broad was the outreach undertaken which found Mr. Ellner?

My view is somewhat more nuanced than the quote suggests. We know that in politics you can speak to a reporter for a half-hour, and he/she will extract the single most provocative remark you make. That is entirely legitimate.
It is also one reason players are reluctant to speak to the press or resort to double-talk. Another cause for silence is that people may be forbidden to speak by their owners (employers).

The relative lack of free and open comment on matters of substance by public officials probably contributes to popular disillusionment with politics. However, intellectual dishonesty, financial chicanery and subservience to lobbyists remain the principal reasons that our federal and state executives are held in low regard.

We note that, at the same time, the current city administration receives wide approval in polls. This disparity in popularity indicates that one should neither underestimate the common sense of the people, nor their ability to distinguish between politicians.

Starquest@NYCivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.