No Sense of Humor at Freakonomics

On the first day of Don Imus' return, Stephen Dubner at Freakonomics wonders why a seemingly racist show like Family Guy doesn't get the same treatment Imus received for his infamous outburst.

(As an aside, why exactly did WABC radio hire Imus? The program he's replacing actually had higher ratings than Imus.)

This from Dubner, who says he's not a frequent viewer of the show:

What I don't understand is why Imus got fired for his sins, albeit temporarily, while Family Guy rolls merrily along. I am not saying that Family Guy should be canned, or that Imus shouldn't have been, but it's a pretty curious situation.

Apparently, this dialogue illustrates how similar Family Guy and Imus are:

Stewie (the evil toddler): What kind of a man would I be if I ran off now?

Brian (the dog): Well, you'd be a black man.

I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but I've watched it enough to agree that this dialogue is pretty typical. (Here is the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, on how the Family Guy is an equal opportunity offender.

Dubner then offers five possible reasons for why Imus was sanctioned but Family Guy wasn't:

1. Imus is human and Family Guy is a cartoon.

2. Imus is non-fiction and Family Guy is fiction (although it often has non-fiction elements).

3. Imus aspires to some level of intellectual sophistication while Family Guy is brazenly juvenile.

4. Imus is live talk while Family Guy is taped entertainment.

5. There is no real difference between the two, but the kind of big public storm that resulted in Imus being fired is essentially a random event, unpredictable and nearly inexplicable, and it typically arises when political, social, and media pressures all align just right. It can't be concocted, or controlled. It happened to Imus because it happened; and it hasn't happened to Family Guy just because it hasn't.

Unfortunately these are all way off the mark. The two actual reasons for the difference in treatment are:

- One, Don Imus has had a long history of racism. (Wikipedia's chronology of "defamatory speech" from Imus, a FAIR alert on Imus, and Howard Stern talking about Imus' liberal use of the N-word.)

- Two, is best said by Adrian, a commenter on the Freakonomics blog:

Am I the only one that sees a huge difference between the genuine racism of a bigot like Imus and the parody of racism (and sexism and homophobia and everything else) in Family Guy?

How could you possibly list five alternatives and not once seem to understand that Family Guy is a parody?

I can't figure that one out either.