Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Being a Douchebag

Tom Merriman and the “I-Team�, apparently Cleveland’s lame version of the A-Team, did a report on a local poet for Fox 8 News. Unsurprisingly the segment did not go well. They interviewed, well ambushed then later interviewed, Brian Yax, a local poet who goes by the name “Uncle Bad Touch�. Yax wrote poetry on raping and murdering women as well as children which were posted on his Myspace profile, which have been removed since the airing of the interview. Apparently the point of the interview was to make Yax look bad for writing this poetry and apologize for doing so. Quiet frankly the whole thing was ridiculous. So what if he writes offensive poetry? He’s 22 years old; of course he’s going to do offensive things. In case you didn’t notice the hair and the clothes, he wants attention, which is exactly what this dumb story gave him. I’m sure all of his friends told him how cool he was for getting on the news. At the end of the segment they talked about free speech and the stupid anchors asked what can be done about offensive speech like this. Obviously they are too stupid to realize that free speech was designed to protect offensive speech. Too many people say, “Well I’m all for free speech, but…�  There is no "but," people, either you are for free speech or you aren’t. The minute you start censoring things because you don’t like or agree with them then free speech goes out the window. I didn’t see anybody complain that the news is offensive. Quite frankly I was offended when Tom Merriman brought out the woman whose daughter was raped and murdered to “surprise� Yax and make him feel guilty. Way to use some one else’s pain and suffering to boost your ratings Tom. Tom criticized Yax for saying that he didn’t care that her daughter was murdered. Tom Merriman doesn’t really care either, but he sure pretended to be concerned during the interview. I’m sure a few hours later he totally forgot about her and her daughter and went onto the next person to exploit for ratings. Yax is a douche and his poetry is offensive and poorly written, but because of the First Amendment he has the right to express himself in anyway he wants as long as he doesn’t harm anyone else. The news puts images of murder, rape and violence on every night for entertainment and no one calls them out on it, so it is hypocritical for them to pick on one individual. Freedom of speech is an integral part of our country and if you don’t like it then you can exercise your freedom of speech and shut up.

  1. Doesn’t it suck when people often forget that other people are obligated to the same rights as them? I mean, it’s okay for one person to come bother me about finding god at my front door, but another guy can’t write about whatever he wants to? I am offended by these god warriors, not this guy. Whatever.

    S H Skuld
    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
  2. I swear I’ve seen this guy at the Community College I go to. I loved that interview. Heh, I would laugh too. =D

    Scythy
    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:15 pm
  3. I have a very hard time watching local news at all anymore. It’s just so crappy… “Next up we’re going to oversimplify something until it loses all meaning. But first, let’s report the news about our network’s current reality show. Then at 11, something in your house could be killing your child… stay tuned!!!”

    Jason
    May 4th, 2007 at 12:08 am
  4. Local News is an entertainment program now, and what others me is they still pretend they are the news to avoid dealing with FCC regulations about obsenity. They should be subject to the same regulations as any other TV show and not be put in a separate category because they are “The News”.

    D WallZ
    May 4th, 2007 at 10:13 am
  5. for the record, i don’t care about attention. i actually wish people would leave me alone. that’s why it took fox 8 about a year to find me. i just stopped doing things because i hate people and wanted to be left alone.

    Brian Yax
    June 27th, 2007 at 4:29 am
  6. HELLO!!!! People were SUPPOSED to feel HATE and ANGER……………towards the actual rapist and murderer, not the poet!!! Don’t kill the messenger.

    Brian's Mom
    April 12th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
  7. Oh man, you got Brian Yax’s mom to write a comment on your blog! That’s awesome.

    Alouette
    April 13th, 2008 at 10:05 am

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