"Obscene"

As I was watching the Law & Order episode, I found it hard to pick a side in the "battle" between an over-bearing mother and a laissez faire radio host. Initially, I sided with Lewis Black's character, a radio host who, although overall slimy, followed regulations and laws to a T, and was a self-proclaimed champion of the first amendment. As the show progressed, despite the mother's high brow demeanor, I found myself more able to connect to her side of her son's tragic case. Although the radio host was in compliance with every single rule regarding what he could and could not say on his show, his violent phrases and misogynistic diction influenced thousands of adolescent boys just like Danny.

This supports Plato's statement that "bad people will find a way around the laws." The DJ, an adult, knew exactly how to follow the laws regarding the content of his shows-- as well as how to manipulate loop holes to his advantage. By never actually commanding his listeners to commit violent crimes of rape or murder, Black's character avoided charges of murder or other severe charges. He did, however, encourage violent behavior among his young fan base of teenage boys, inspiring the rape of the young teenage actress while claiming no responsibility whatsoever.

While the DJ's actions are obviously despicable, the mother's self-serving shooting of him are equally disgusting. Even if the shooting had been out of grief for her recently convicted son, her actions would still be inexcusable. She, too, has found a way around the laws by predicting the reaction of mothers just like her to her heinous crime. There is no doubt that she broke the law with her attempted murder and assault. Yet she knows that other over-protective and concerned mothers, as well as those who followed her son's trial who felt as if the DJ had horribly influenced the young man, will applaud her for taking matters into her own hands. The difference between her and the DJ, though, is that, technically, the DJ hadn't broken any laws, and she had.

To return to Plato's other statement, that "strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest values of a good citizen," this, also, has its short comings. Once again, Lewis Black, as a Howard Stern-like radio personality with  crude words and misogyny to boot, has followed every single law and regulation that the FCC and other organizations have placed upon his radio show. But Black's character is not the righteous and good citizen that Plato was describing; he is instead, as described by the vigilante mother, as something like an opposing parent who has the power of veto over everything she mandates. The DJ was an indomitable force in the minds of young boys. To the sexually frustrated, he was the liberator of derogatory diction towards the girls who wouldn't put out; to the social outcasts, he offered acceptance and popularity with the discovery of the undergarments of an underage child star; and to nice boys like Danny, he represented the very filth his mother banned him from-- after all, isn't every teenager going to hear what his mother says and do the opposite? Although a law abiding citizen, Black's character was a predator, feeding abnormal norms to impressionable children under the guise of free speech. While he did not deserve to be shot, he certainly was anything but a good citizen.