George Takei's Take On Howard Stern

I was just reading a few things online and happened upon George Takei's website, and read his blog about why he decided to be the announcer on the Howard Stern Show.

I just wanted to say that I think that Howard Stern takes a lot of crap that he really does not deserve, that people say a lot of nasty things about him that are frankly bullshit. He is a smart, funny man, and he has a knack for cutting the crap. He talks like there is nothing sacred, and I really think that is the healthiest attitude one can have in life. Does he talk about "disgusting" bodily functions regularly? Yes. My question is this: How often do you perform those self-same functions? If they are so normal that everyone does them, why detest the people who chose to make comedy out of it?

After all, comedy really is just life. We just chose to laugh at it.

Of course, George puts it much more eloquently than I, and I will quote him from his blog:

"Some people have questioned why I appear on a radio show so filled with disgusting talk and obscenity. I respond to them that, yes, the show has language and talk of body functions that really aren't my cup of tea. I try not to use those words myself, but don't we hear them around us daily? The body functions that Howard and gang talk about are what we all do daily as normal, healthy human beings. Howard simply talks about the realities of our life candidly. Some people seem to find life as it is - obscene. I don't.

However, Howard Stern is passionately against what is truly obscene in our society. He has railed at the obscenity of allocating billions of dollars of pork barrel money for a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska, while our soldiers in Iraq are dying because of deficient and ineffective body armor. He has attacked the indecency of tax cuts for the wealthiest at a time of war. He has howled at the outrage of plunging our nation into war with bad intelligence, tough talk, and inadequate planning. He strongly believes that people who love each other, care for each other, and take responsibility for each other that happen to be of the same gender are entitled to equal rights. Howard Stern is a shock jock because truth naked can be shocking. Some of his humor can be adolescent. So what? We all could use a bit of adolescent giggle from time to time. It's good for us. And sometimes, for me it has been humbling, which is also good for all of us from time to time. Humility keeps us grounded. Laughter is the tonic of life."

Thank you, George. Would that more people were able to see things like you, we might have more intelligent, tolerant people in the world.

And that was my random thought.