wwwwwwwwwwwww

speakout

Society is responsible, but the defendant is guilty

by Mubarak S. Dahir

One of my favorite cartoons appeared recently in the pages of the New Yorker magazine. The cartoon pictured a jury just returning from deliberating its case. The forewoman was standing, delivering the verdict to the defendant. The caption under the cartoon read, roughly: "We are all responsible, but you are guilty."

I couldn't help but think of that cartoon when I heard the news that a jury in Michigan recently found the shock-talk Jenny Jones TV show partially responsible for the shooting death of a gay man in 1995. The jury ordered the Jenny Jones Show

Mubarak S. Dahir to pay the dead man's family $25 million for the show's role in the death. The family's lawyer told the court the TV show "did everything but pull the trigger" in the slaying. Eight of the nine jurors agreed.

Everyone's blathering about the ramifications of the case.. And everyone's being pretty pious about it, too.

Talk show host Jenny Jones said she was "shocked" at the verdict. If that's true, it's probably the first time she's been capable of such emotion. It's hard to believe something as understandable as public disgust at the rampant, lowest-common-denominator TV trash that Jones' show and others like it encourage could shock her, or any of us. Of course, understanding the sentiment behind

the verdict doesn't make it right.

More shocking than Jenny Jones' response was the one that came from shock jock Geraldo Rivera. In holier-than-thou hindsight, Rivera said that, given the direction TV talk shows have been headed (that is, directly south), a tragedy of the kind that

In all the talk about

this case, one concept is missing: Homophobia.

happened from the Jenny Jones Show was inevitable. Uh, excuse me, Mr. Rivera, wanna roll back some of the tapes from your own show?

Warner Brothers, which owns the Jenny Jones show, was acting pretty high and mighty, too. "Anyone involved in the business of interviewing ordinary people ought to be very concerned about the chilling effect this decision will have . . .”

Please, let's get one thing straight, first. Most of the people “interviewed" on shows like Jerry Springer and Rikki Lake and Jenny Jones are anything but ordinary.

And a chilling effect on sleazy TV talk shows? That sounds more like something to celebrate than lament.

There was no shortage of talking heads predicting the demise of the down-and-dirty

FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE THE UNITED STATESCEAMERICA

Our Most Precious Gem is you!”

Artistic Commitment Jewelry

White Gold and Platinum

In-House Fabrication

and Repair

$100 OFF Any Purchases of $599

or More

Custom Designed Pride

Jewelry Exclusively

Available

KEITH

JEWELERS

Award Winning

Custom

Designs

Member of

Ohio Jewelers Guild

genre that has become today's talk show freak show. "The effect on TV is going to be immediate," said one media attorney. “Everything is going to change."

But I wouldn't be mourning the loss of lurid television tales just yet. These kind of talk shows are like bad politicians. No one admits to voting for the guys, but they keep getting re-elected to office. In much the same way, no one ever admits to watching Jenny Jones' show, or her ugly sister talk twins. But the ratings of the sleaze-mongers keeps rising.

Of course, there is some high-minded wind being blown about over this most gutteral of issues. Some news organizations, and First Amendment lawyer types, have raised the sticky issue of freedom of speech. As a reporter, I understand their concerns, fears that have some serious substance.

But with all the talk about the social responsibility of TV, about the lack of civility in society and our collective frustration over holding onto it, about the influences that make people do everything from shoot guns to pierce tongues, from the Constitutional arguments about freedom of speech to the questions of personal responsibility, there's something missing.

With as much ink and air time that has been given to this issue, one core concept has been woefully absent: Homophobia.

During the taping of a Jenny Jones show, Scott Amedure revealed he had a private crush on Jonathan Schmitz. An unexpecting Schmitz covered his face during Amedure's revelation and steadfastly announced he was "definitely' heterosexual. Three days later, Schmitz bought a shotgun, drove to Amedure's mobile home, and shot him dead three times in the chest.

And in this gruesome tragedy, what consumes the American consciousness? How bad the stuff on the boob tube has gotten.

Little to nothing has been discussed about the absurd notion that the love of one man for another, even if unwanted, is justification for murder. That, Jenny, is what should shock you. And the rest of us.

In a 1996 trial, Jonathan Schmitz was found guilty of murdering Scott Amedure. But his conviction has been thrown out on appeal. Schmitz's retrial is set to start August 19.

Gay and lesbian activists have expressed a lot of worries that the $25 million verdict in the civil trial will affect the outcome of retrying the criminal case.

It shouldn't.

When the new trial begins, the jury, and the rest of America, would do well to remember that New Yorker cartoon.

Mubarak S. Dahir is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He can be e-mailed at MubarakDah@aol.com.

3 WAYS TO

PAY THE

RENT

440-734-6677

•

440-734-6245

Bad Hair Day?

Try a new style courtesy. THE LIVING ROOM

Follow mit scrvices FREE 16 HIV

1. CALL ADVANTIX

(216) 241-6000

2. GO TO THE PLAYHOUSE SQUARE CENTER BOX OFFICE LOCATED AT 1519 EUCLID AVENUE

3. ALL RIGHT, FOR 20 BUCKS YOU GOTTA WORK A LITTLE. THE 1ST 2 ROWS ARE $20 CASH AT THE BOX OFFICE (LIMIT OF 2 TICKETS PER PERSON) ON SALE BY LOTTERY 2 HOURS BEFORE SHOWTIME!

Haircuts

Reiki

people

Massage

MAY 18

STATE THEATRE