Letters to the Editor
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These college athletes deserved much better than having their reputations tarninshed by a political hack...
Oh, wait. I thought this was a thread about the Duke lacrosse team. Where does Salon host the "Duke Lacrosse Team Support Webpage"?
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She used the "A" word!
I note that Ms. Stringer used the "A" word in describing her team.
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A difference
Hey Elephantman, there's a difference here...
WIth the Duke case, there were and are lot of unknowns. There was a crime allegation at issue, one in which, historically, women have been tarred when they report it. There was an issue of fact as to whether that team did something wrong (and in the case of hiring strippers, some moralists would say they did). They were not clearly innocent, and, except for in a court of law, no one had to treat them as such.
Here, we know exactly what the Rutgers women did (succeed athletically) and what Imus did (trash them on the air, there's a recording and everything). There is no question as to whether or not they behaved legally or honorably or whether they might have actually done something very wrong. They didn't. All the facts are before us. Conclusions based on them are justified. The two cases are not analagous. Come back when the Rutgers basketball team is accused of appearing on Girls Gone Wild or something and then we'll talk.
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Oh yeah, there's a difference alright...
The Rutgers women were the subject of a stupid slur. And they are now the subject of what appears to be a national apology network. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The Duke men have been accused of a felony. Oh, and they were also the subject of a lot of hate-speech, too. More than the Rutgers women. And some of it from the Duke faculty.
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Or, as Ann Coulter would say
we don't know yet if the Duke players are guilty.
But, seriously, this whole subject MUST be about Duke Lacrosse players or some other disadvantaged group neglected by Salon.
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The point that needed to be made
I was glad to see the Rutgers women's team's press conference today, which highlighted the real injury done to these young women. At a time when they should be enjoying the tail end of a spring semester, congratulating themselves on a great basketball season and a near-perfect tournament run, they're having to talk about how they feel about being called "nappy-headed hos."
As Coach Stringer asked, where were the national media three weeks ago, when they should have been asking these young women how it felt to be winners, how it felt to be world-class athletes on a roll? Nobody cared. No one was interested.
Now, everyone wants to ask them how it feels to be a victim.
This is the wrong message. This is the wrong lesson. And this is brought to us by Don Imus, and THAT is the damage he's done.
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Imus's Words of Mass Destruction
We're in the middle of a media-driven morality melodrama over Imus' thoughtless line. I don't get it.
The Imus debacle boils down to the use of words - words that are otherwise broadcast all day over entertainment networks. For profit. The airwaves abound with, and earn millions from, songs that unapologetically use "nigger" and "bitch" and a range of other words as if they were unmarked and unremarkable. Now the networks -- Fox most lugubriously -- are leaping to profit from a celebrity personality who uses them apologetically. Speech that uses sensitive language about identity groups is the smallest part of U.S. racism; why is it at the centre of the media's attention?
Real issues like institutional and structural racism in America -- issues that deserve a significant investment of media time and popular emotion every day -- are left largely uncovered, though they are real, ever-present, damaging things, not just symbols. The U.S. media display the same pandering, critically naive style in this matter as they have done in their coverage of Iraqi WMD and W's GWOT, to mention just two parallels.
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It's just a game
Possibly the best solution is to drop sports completely. It seems a waste of money.
Imus and Stringer are both airheads...
Are genetic freaks, pumped up on steroids, anything but ridiculous?
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Why This Matters
Chances are many of you were as angered and disgusted as I was by Don Imus's comments. I believe strongly that even protected speech has consequences. We can help send a message that racist/sexist cant like this is not acceptable by pressuring advertisers to not support Imus.
Two of Imus's advertisers, Staples and Bigelow Teas, have already suspened their advertising. To encourage them to make these suspensions permanent, I have written to thank these companies and ask them not to resume advertising with Imus in the future. If you would like to do similarly, you can click on the links below:
http://www.bigelowtea.com/contact/
http://www.staples.com/sbd/content/help/contact/other_quest.html
I understand that Imus is a jerk who can say what he likes. People have suggested that we should just ignore him. I disagree. I don't feel Imus's comments should go unanswered. I look at my young daughter and shudder at the thought that no matter what she becomes, she could be reduced to the most base racist and sexual stereotypes and the country will accept it as business as usual. I won't accept it and I hope others won't either.
To Tim in Auckland, institutional racismis a vital problem, but it is only moments like this when it becomes visible to most white people. Hate speech should be met with more speech (and economic boycotts/pressure).
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Sabotage
It would have been a better statement without the god-talk, of course.
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re: I look at my young daughter and shudder at the thought that no matter what she becomes, she could be reduced to the most base racist and sexual stereotypes and the country will accept it as business as usual.
see the broodsheet piece above about the naked lawyer - it IS business as usual!
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re: They are young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate. They are gifted. They are God's representatives in every sense of the word,"
No, they're basketball player - atheletes, the same kind that probably kicked the weaker kids and made fun of them - probably beat up the nerds as well. The coach is speaking in overblown rhetoric that - if it were used about a male ball team, would elicit titters and guffaws around the room (because everyone would know it's not true). Look, Imus is a schmuck - his idiocy surely does not makes these ball players anything else expcet jocks trowing a rock at a hole...