Letters to the Editor
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Bitches and ho's...
Awe, gee - the black community is offended. Oh, no! The popularity of hard-core rap has so coarsened the public dialog, that "nappy-headed ho" sounds almost like a term of endearment. For Al Sharpton - of all people, to lead the charge - when he was a fan of Khalid Muhammad (God told Colin Ferguson to catch that train) - among many of the foul-mouthed liars he's entertained over the years, not only rings hollow but carries absolutely no moral weight. That some here might huff and puff - let them - they're certainly entitled - and if MSNBC should fire Imus - big whoop - he's an ancient dinosaur who brings little to the table, but this pretend air of indignation is a joke: as long as the black community makes the most foul-mouthed comedians and rap stars their heroes (or at least acceptable), they have little to say when a foul-mouthed radio jock acts foul. And to those who say that certain terms and phrases are okay depending on who says them: that garbage may play on the college campus, but in the real world, it just adds a layer of callus to an already hardened world...
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Consider the Source.
I would first like to point out that the two men leading the charge to fire Don Imus were responsible, not so long ago, for giving us Tawana Brawley, 'Diamond Merchants,' and 'Hymie-Town.'
Secondly, I would like to observe that Don Imus is a Shock Jock. His entire career is built on embodying the persona of the irreverent, indifferent snarkmonster who gets to say what everyone else is thinking. In many ways, his endurance on the airwaves derives from the very same forces that now assail him: the wave of relentless, knee-jerk political correctness that has left us all living in terror that some repressed bit of cultural insensitivity or, worse, an offhand remark misinterpreted by the PC police (such as the use of the word 'niggardly') will leave us ostracized and labeled as a racist/homophobe/antisemite/misogynist, etc. ad. inf.
Imus still has listeners because it's cathartic for a lot of frustrated people to hear a grumpy old white guy talk shit. Imus also enjoys pushing the envelope because it increases his popularity and notoriety (he first came to my attention after his widely reported roasting of President Clinton at the annual White House Press Corps dinner--the same event where Stephen Colbert recently aimed his withering satire at President Bush, and which was prominently posted here on Salon--which, by many accounts, crossed the line from satire to vicious ridicule and which clearly enraged the generally unflappable gentleman from Arkansas).
I guess the thing that is most mystifying about this uproar to me is that Imus is not a journalist--he's an entertainer. If 'nappy headed hos' constitutes actionable hate speech, then we better round up every rapper in America and most of the teenagers who have blogs or myspace pages and write them up. Was it a stupid, racist, offensive thing to say? YES. Is that anything new for Imus and his ilk? NO. Will firing Don Imus or publicly castigating him bring about any sort of reconciliation on the subject of offensive hate speech? ABSOLUTELY NOT--it will only reassure those who agree with Imus that he unwittingly and innocently set himself up to be the fall-guy in Sharpton and Jackson's latest grab for attention. I find it beyond ridiculous that Imus (and others who have made the all-too-human mistake of opening their mouths and letting dumb stuff come out) finds himself begging for understanding from two men who have mercilessly insulted Jews throughout their careers and have used their NPOs to practice blackmail and extortion. One of these men not so long ago was 'withdrawing from public life' after it was revealed that he subsidized his concubine and lovechild with revenue from his 'Non-Profit Organization,' and the other one came to national attention as a result of having encouraged a young black girl to falsely accuse a group of white men of raping and sodomizing her.
The saddest thing about the whole case is watching the poor schlub do the mea culpa dance with Jackson and Sharpton--shamelessly self-interested demagogues who have built their careers on inflaming PC sensitivity and mobilizing mass groups over perceived slights while doing next to nothing about the real conditions that have kept the majority of African-Americans in positions of entrenched educational and economic disadvantage. At the very least, if people are forced to lick the pavement every time they make an off-hand remark, let the PC court be presided over by judges with cleaner hands.
OOOOOHH!!! Call up the PC police!! I think I just made a boo-boo!!
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Imus, and his less couth brethern, live for such scandals
Here in Philadelphia, the airwaves are full of minor league shock jocks who would love to be at the center of this Imus scandal. The more they offend so-called special interest groups (women, African-Americans, Latinos, Gays and anyone else that isn't precisely them), they more their listeners hail them as heroes. And frankly, I’ve heard things locally that far out-offensive what Imus said.
And what Imus said is offensive, but his show is so popular because it reflects a kind of "man on the street" reality that endears him to his listeners. I believe his comments do reflect the sentiments of certain people who sit around shooting the breeze in sports bars. His comments also, as some people have pointed out, feel tame and quaint when compared to some of the gangster rap lyrics that Al Sharpton has said reflects the reality of his community. Of course, the context of those lyrics is different but I do believe there is a relationship between that music and perpetuation of racist attitudes among non-African-Americans.
Do I like what Imus said? No. Do I approve? No. But I do believe the massive popularity of his show and the sheer number of his local imitators reflects uncomfortable things about our society. Not just racism, but anger, misogyny and stupidity. And I find that useful in that it keeps me from feeling safe in my little liberal bubble.
Calling for his head makes many people feel good, but it doesn't solve anything. The same conversations will go on in private. Imus makes the private public, and again, that is the great thing about free speech. It lets us know what we are dealing with and what work still needs to be done.