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Nov. 23, 2005 In the November 2005 issue of Business Week magazine, an article written by Ronald Grover, titled “Get Set for Wider Exposure”, briefly discussed Howard Stern, the New York shock jock and his new deal with upstart Sirius satellite radio. In this article it detailed how Howard Stern received a $500 Million dollar for five years to move his radio program from its current station to the Sirius network. In addition, this article discussed how they were in the process of packaging Stern’s old television shows under the titles ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and ‘Girls Get Naked’ and other Stern items so they could sell them on the market. Isn’t it amazing, a man with no demonstratable skills other than the ability to use off color humor to exploit willing females, minorities, and handicapped folks would be receiving a contract worth half a billion dollars. This article on Stern puts into vivid perspective the central theme of capitalism, and that is that it has no morality. Capitalism is just a system that seeks to create demand, and supply that demand for a profit, and it works equally as well for Mother Theresa biographies as it does for smut magazines. Let me give you another example closer to home. About a month ago as I was driving to work I tuned into one of our local ‘black’ radio stations. It was about seven thirty in the morning, the primary drive or walk time for kids on the way to school, and on comes this song called ‘Bad B*&^’. This song used the B* word in reference to females 79 times. Even though it was bleeped out there was absolutely no doubt what this song was saying. Amazed at the vulgarity, and the time of the day that this song was played, as soon as I got to the office I wrote a letter to the station asking them to be more conscientious about what songs they played and when. Later that afternoon I received a call from an individual at that station. He felt I was over reacting and attempted to argue that the station was just supplying the market what it demanded, and that if the public didn’t want it the station wouldn’t be playing it. He further went on to discuss all the ‘black folks’ the station was employing. All of this was his defense for playing a song that disrespected women, particularly women from our community to the tune of using the B* word 79 times during the primary time when kids might be listening. So here we have a man in Howard Stern who gets a $500 Million dollar contract to peddle off color smut, and we have a local radio station that justifies playing extreme adult music during a time when kids might and probably are listening because it makes dollars. That is capitalism, no morality. However, as we go about the business of developing our urban communities through the process of economic development and business creation, we can’t be tricked by this fool gold. All money isn’t good money, and all business isn’t good business. We need to be concerned not just with making money but also what types of businesses that we start and tolerate to make that money. We need to be mindful of what businesses communicate to our kids. How can a father tell his son to respect women if his business is running a strip club? How can a mother tell her daughter to be dignified and have high self-regard, if she has a clothing store that sells nothing but hoochified gear? All business is not good business. We are not in a position where we can afford to exploit markets by creating businesses that reinforce the negativity in our communities. It may make individuals money, and it may even employ a few folks from the community, but at the end of the day the social impacts of these forms of business hurt us more than help us. In this way we have to be self-sacrificing, in that we may see a legitimate business opportunity to make money but reject it because we know on the back end it damages the positive development of our community. Yes it is true capitalism doesn’t having any morality, but those who practice capitalism through creating businesses can. As a community, we need to demand that businesses who do sell to our communities do so in accordance with the standards we have for ourselves as a community, and that the businesses we create benefit our community economically as well as socially. Fools gold is for fools, let’s get the real thing. ------------ About the author: Dell Gines serves as the President of CEED, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to business creation in urban minority environments: www.urbanceed.org and Blogs at www.dellgines.com. Email: dellgines@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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