Second Opinion / COMMENTARY FROM OTHER MEDIA : CALIFORNIA EXAMINER (Filipino) : Howard Stern’s Harm

Worse things may have been said by other racists, but Howard Stern’s insulting remarks about the Filipino people are particularly inexcusable. Because Stern spits out his racist venom over the airways, where his comments are presumed to be invested with knowledge and authority, the harm he does is magnified many times over.

Here are some choice remarks the radio broadcaster has made about the Filipinos and their country: Filipino fathers sell their daughters for sex; one should not go to the Philippines unless one wants to “get laid”; they eat their young over there.

Stern’s mistake here was not only in spreading lies and malice, but in using a facility that requires truth and moderation. His comments aired on radio; they were for public consumption and therefore under government regulation.

All this says that freedom of speech in this country, while guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and held as an inviolable right by Americans, is a freedom whose exercise connotes responsibility.