12 Apr '07 - 448 W - + 8 - 4 Imus Issues
Now that the Imus uproar is over, I think there are a few issues worth addressing, and I'm not seeing them addressed anywhere else.
Issue 1: Imus has been a jerk for years
While people disagree on the severity of Imus' comment, I think everyone agrees that it was an asinine comment to make (for those who have been asleep for the last week, Don Imus called the Rutgers women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed hos"). But this isn't the first time he's put his foot in his mouth, even given his shock jock profession. He called Tucker Carlson a "bowtie-wearing pussy," and he called Howie Kurtz a "boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jew boy."
I don't understand why we're asking if Imus should be fired now. What we
should be asking is, why hasn't he been fired yet?
Now I'm sure the conspiracy theorists and white supremacists are saying to themselves right now, hey, this is the first time he's insulted black people. But that's not the case. In 2001, he unleashed this doozy:
"I wish I had known he was African-American. I could have included that in my attacks on him, but I attacked him as if he were a real person..."
That's just a short sampling of the slurs he's used. Imus has been a bigot for much longer than a week, and he should have gotten attention for it long ago. I'm glad he got canned over this if only for that reason.
Issue 2: Hating Imus doesn't have to mean liking Sharpton
Al Sharpton has been the most vocal member of the black community to speak out against Imus. A lot of people don't like Sharpton. But they seem to have conflated disliking Imus with supporting Sharpton. News flash: it's okay to agree with an idiot if he happens to be right.
I don't like Sharpton either. There are lots of good reasons to dislike Sharpton. There's Tawana Brawley. There's Crown Heights. I personally can't stand the guy -- I think he's an attention-whoring opportunist. But that doesn't mean I have to like Imus.
The same can be said of other prominent critics of Imus' actions. Jesse Jackson led a protest in Chicago. Jackson also referred to New York City as "Hymietown." Jackson's hypocrisy doesn't automatically make him wrong about Imus.
Issue 3: Lots of other people have said terrible things
Imus has a long history of this crap. But he's not the only one. Let's start paying some more attention to the Louis Farrakhans among us, shall we? Let's pay more attention to the Tim Hardaways and the
Michael Ray Richardsons. If we stop taking this crap from anyone, maybe we can finally make some progress.
Hey thanks for writing. My two cents is I’d never heard of Imus before this, and yeah, what he said was obviously stupid, but I’m generally not a fan of censorship. That, and apparently the whole basketball team went on Oprah’s to talk about how much they were hurt by the comment or something, and to be entirely honest, that’s kind of nonsense – they’re adults, they oughta realize that this guy is obviously just a stupid old man, and jumping on a talk show just makes this whole situation more ridiculous.
Aaron () (URL) - 13 April '07 - 10:01
Yeah, I agree that the Rutgers team overreacted. The coach was on
CNN today with the quote “Let the healing begin.” Come on, that’s absurd. The guy made an obnoxious remark, he didn’t kill your families. That doesn’t make his comments any more appropriate, though.
I don’t think this case is fertile ground for a censorship argument. No one is telling Imus that he can’t say whatever he wants;
CBS and
MSNBC have simply declined to continue to provide him with a platform from which to do so, which is their decision to make. If you want to complain that they yielded to pressure, that would be a more logical point of attack.
skip () (URL) - 13 April '07 - 14:57