Letters to the Editor
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Parson Jim
The Bill of Rights doesn't say anything about being able to keep your radio show after you've pissed off your boss by offending his customers.
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It's not just his wallet
that will get Imus's attention. It's also that he has a large volume control for his voice.
Imus will care even more about his voice being diminished (or completely turned off) than he will about losing some of that Green.
And so will his constituents... I mean, his "guests." Certainly, if Imus goes, so will his format. Maybe those guys will re-think their support of his past infractions, as well as this one.
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I agree
So hit him where it hurts, but don't curtail free speech. He certainly has the right to say anything he wants, but I would prefer he do that in his basement rather than over the airwaves.
On the other hand, I love our Constitution. I certainly don't want to sacrifice the Bill of Rights just because a cranky bigot got in a lather while on the air.
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I am shocked and outraged!
I am shocked and outraged that radio talk show hosts are shocking and outrageous.
Just what kind of people listen to this talk radio anyway?
Can Sharpton do something about this "Smell my Face" thing?
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Too funny...but sorry is about right
"Finally he got called out on the only group in the US you're not allowed to talk about. Sorry but that's true."
Depends on what you mean by "talk about". Black people, particularly, poor innercity young black people are "talked about" all the time and blamed for everything from crime, violence, teenage pregnancy, welfare dependency, academic failure, moral decline and the general ruin of Western civilization.
Yeah, we've made so much progress that a rich old crank shock jock gets suspended for a whole couple of weeks for making an outrageously stupid public remark about a group of mostly Black women. Wow. Somebody grab me a coat. The chilling effect of such outrageous censorship is making me cold. LOL.
I guess that proves that you're not allowed to "talk about" Black people or maybe you can talk about them all you want but you might get in trouble for calling them nappy headed hos'. On second thought, I guess that's progress of a sort.
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So?
Don't feel bruised, use the climate to your advantage. Why the hell do you think I won't stand for what I, me personally, deem to be racist hate speech here, at Salon? It's not as if it's going to change the world but it can't be allowed to stand unchallenged. And if that means I don't get invited to the company picnic then fine. And it irritates me no end when people sort-of defend it by explaining Imus has always been that way.
Well other than the typhus and the mass graves Mrs. Goldstein, how were the camps?
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Where's the racism?
Where's the racism? I read the excerpt, and he appears to be comparing the grooming habits/appearance of two predominantly black groups of women. Neither of the expressions "nappy headed" and "hos" smack of essential racism to me. Those are both pretty common among African Americans. Seems to me more a case of a white guy co-opting black slang. If he were comparing black women to white women, that'd be another matter entirely. At worst, his comments were insensitive (referring to the women as "hos"). Surprise! The guy's a shock jock. He gets paid to say inflammatory, outrageous things.
Can we please dispense with the kneejerk cries of racism? They distract from the real thing.
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A kind of agreement with Kansasgirl.
I, too, am a broadcasting long-time prisoner. And I've seen some offensive stuff. But there's a couple of issues here that haven't been mentioned.
Broadcasters - that is, the individual stations - used to be held to certain standards to keep their licenses. That included doing public service to its community and listening to community leaders - including racial and religious minorities - to address community needs.
Ever since Reagan dumped those requirements (to get the press on his side during his awful Presidency) community involvement has dropped to near zero, or has been limited to self-promotion at picnics and community events (often with paid sponsorships by big business). There are nearly no news or community affairs shows or specials.
As a result, it requires PR-hungry national figures like Sharpton or Jackson to mount a war whenever things like this happen. Decades ago, if a similar incident occurred, one or three black community rep's would simply call the local station, and the local station would decide to drop the program or send the protest to the network. (Another thing Reagan did, and blessed by every President since, was to allow conglomerates to swallow up local stations, which also distanced them from the community and local control. Your local station manager has less control over things than the manager of your local McDonald's.)
And let's not forget that "equal time" was also repealed, meaning that your local station didn't have to display opposing viewpoints if it didn't want to. Thus Faux News and the like.
Before this twisting of the publicly-owned airwaves, someone like Imus would probably be off the air within a week. The last time this was possible was when Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts and the other evangelists overstepped their bounds and offended people. (My station also axed the Bob Jones University program when it started pushing its racist and right-wing agenda as the word of Jesus. My GM told them to stick to religion, they didn't, they were cancelled due to viewer complaints.)
As long as you, the people, let profit and megacorporation control run your airwaves, you can expect awful crap like this Imus affair to continue. (A good thing Heather Havrilesky didn't talk about this issue; the only race she cares about is how fast her frappucino is delivered to her table.)
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Imus
I think Bernard McGuirk and the sportscaster should be fired.
While Imus is an old fool who doesn't think before he talks McGuirk has been doing this nonsense for years and Rosenberg had been dropped from the show and then let back on.
If there is a place for sickos like Savage there certainly is a place for mean spirited old farts like Imus