Music same, lyrics changed

In 1985, the headbangers, the blues singers, the big-haired divas and the smalltown boys gathered together to fight global poverty with a little ditty called "We are the World." \nBut that was 20 years ago -- back when people cared about dying, starving children.\nThings have changed. \nNew York deejay Tarsha Nicole Jones -- a.k.a. "Miss Jones" -- and the Miss Jones morning show co-anchors recently sampled "We Are the World's" music to create this tsunami parody:\nSo now you're screwed/ it's the tsunami/ You better run or kiss your ass away/ go find your mommy/ I just saw her float by/ a tree went through her head/ and now your children will be sold to child slavery. \nNow that you've read it -- pick up your jaw and try not to puke. \nListen to the entire 3 minute clip provided by www.asianmediawatch.com, and somewhere between the lyrics' "screaming chinks" and "swim, you bitches, swim," you're bound to wonder how in the hot hell such foolishness made its way to the airwaves.\nObviously, it made it the same way one (now former) Hot 97 deejay Troi Torain referred to Jennifer Lopez as a "rice-and-bean-eater." Torain also got away with a satire of late R & B singer Aaliyah's fatal plane crash, according to Reuters News Service. \nShock sells -- and using racial slurs to ridicule the victims of one of earth's most devastating disasters apparently sells even more.\nSo while Miss Jones is being "suspended indefinitely," her parody's still getting the attention its creators sought. \nAfter several airings of the radio segment, watchdog groups and regular listeners pressured the station owners to pull Miss Jones' morning show crew from the air "indefinitely," according to The Associated Press.\nMiss Jones went on air Monday issuing an apology and a promise to donate a week's salary to tsunami victims -- compliments of her crew's six members. \nBut where was Miss Jones' compassion last Friday when Miss Info, a member of the crew, expressed strong opposition to the audio's content? Apparently, compassion had no place in Miss Jones' three-minute response to her fellow deejay's dissent saying, "If you feel that way, why are you even on the show?"\nMiss Info said she respected the crew's right to free speech but as an Asian woman, couldn't support mocking the disaster.\nShe was overruled; the segment aired.\nGranted, it's unlikely any number affected by the tsunami have heard and will ever hear about Miss Jones' tsunami song. But just because they'll never hear the commentary doesn't make the sketch any bit more acceptable.\nOne, using racial slurs to describe an ethnic group halfway around the world offends people on home turf -- the United States is not homogenous; besides, hate is never acceptable. \nTwo, just as thousands died at the hands of natural disaster, thousands offered their sympathy, thoughts and donations to the victims. How dare Miss Jones undermine their concern by attempting to make light of a dark situation.\nThird, trivializing the suffering of another human being cuts the very thread that links human to human: compassion.\nAnd lastly, edgy entertainment has its place in pop culture. But Miss Jones' parody missed the entertainment standard of funny, as far as my tastes are concerned. Creatively, there's no way of comically capturing the sale of five-year-old orphaned girls into prostitution. And today, that is the reality for some tsunami victims.\nIn the end, ratings at Hot 97 will skyrocket, thanks to the media and listener attention. After a few weeks, advertisers excited about the increased marketing possibilities will spend twice as much dough to pimp their products on-air. \nThe station gains, the advertisers gain and listeners get to walk away stifling their laughter. \nThe people most affected by the tsunami gain nothing. And as if dying weren't enough, folks halfway around the world are cracking jokes at the funeral.