Letters to the Editor
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At some point there has to be a line drawn in the sand
The situation with Imus is, in many ways, similar to the argument about making people accountable in the Bush Administration. At some point you have to be accountable for the things that you say and do. That is just the way the world is supposed to, and has to, work. Is he the worst of the worst in the talk-show cesspool? No, he certainly is not. Are there a lot of good things that he does and continues to do? There certainly are. But this point cannot be overstated. When you say things over and over and over in a public venue, you cannot just pull a McCain and say, "Hey, sometimes I misspeak". In the real world you have to bear the responsibility and ramifications for what you say.
Sorry Mr. Imus. You don't get any sympathy or leeway from me. Take your lumps like an adult.
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'A few years?'
Jonathan Miller wants to know if Don Imus will be calling black women nappy-headed hos, or making similarly vile utterances, again in a few years following his two-week suspension. Is he kidding?
Imus and his crew of miscreants will be back to their ways just as soon as they think nobody cares anymore which, in today's media environment, will be just in time for the next radio and/or TV ratings period, if not sooner. Imus' whole act is to generate publicity by saying outrageous things. It is the only reason people listen to him. Without the thrill of anticipating what he's going to say next, his career is over. Within weeks of going back on the air, he will refer to black men as "sambos" or to Latinos as "beaners" or to women as some variation of a slur for the female genitalia. He can't help himself. More to the point, he can't afford to help himself. He knows this, as do his employers. There is too much advertising revenue at stake to actually force Imus to behave himself. A well-behaved Imus will simply be a boring old man with a tired voice and a stupid cowboy hat on the air. Nobody will watch or listen.
The only thing that will keep Imus from saying offensive things on the air is for him to be taken off the air. The only thing that will make that happen is for the corporate media entities which employ him to realize that it will cost them more money to keep him than to get rid of him. Pressure on the companies who advertise with those entities is the only thing that will get Don Imus off the air.
Barring that, Imus will continue to be as offensive as he always has.
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Shouldn't he enter Rehab like everyone else?
I mean isn't that what fuckheads do nowadays?
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Pathetic
It is clear that no matter how many faux apologies he issues, Don Imus simply does not get it. Even as he repeats the non-apology of if-people-are-offended variety, he demonstrates that he clearly does not understand that he did anything wrong.
The Time today reports:
Today he said that the phrases he used “originated in the black community. ... I may be a white man, but I know that these young women and young black women all through that society are demeaned and degraded by their own black men and that they are called that name.”
Really? That's the excuse? Because some black people call other black people bad names within the community, he can reduce a group of outstanding young women to the lowest stereotype of their community? Would a husband accept that explanation from someone who insulted your wife? Hey! Wives are insulted all the time by men who are their own husbands. You're a man. Therefore you have no right to be upset that I've just insulted your wife.
He should be boycotted. His sponsors should be boycotted. His guests should be boycotted and his employers as well. Let us speak with a strong voice that while this is clearly protected speech, we the American public have higher standards than this and we will not support those who tolerate those who do.
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He's talking to an Image Consultant
[So why the delayed epiphany from Imus?]
Why? Because until in bubbled up he felt no need to consult a PR handler to do damage control and manage his "crisis". Anybody who buys this as sincere is a fool. The history is there and the history repeats itself. Only sadder part about it is that a market exists in America that responds to these childish ass wipes that play to the lowest common denominator of our society who find it entertaining. Course that's only when someone else is the target -- when it's them thier "relax it's funny, everybody needs to calm down" mentality goes out for lunch.
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It's all about the money
The only way Imus will ever stop the verbal abuse is to boycott his sponsors. And people in the US are far too lazy to do that. Especially if it were somewhere they could get something cheap.
So, it's all about the money, and the money won't be threatened.
There you go.
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looking at the video clip
The clips of the Rutgers players shown on the video clip of the Imus program--that clip in news stories was the first time I'd seen the team, as I haven't been following college ball--showed a group of attractive, well-groomed, athletic (obviously!) young women. Looking at them while these two yahoos spun these bizarrely insulting descriptions just made me wonder: what were those guys on?
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Imus in the Morning
I remember Imus from the 70s - great music and decent chatter cause DJs weren't expected to talk non-stop like they are now. He has fallen a long way since the days when he ruled the New York airwaves. I imagine that all this attention must feel kind of good for him. It's been a long time since anyone cared what he had to say.
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Sad state of affairs.
I think it's a sad state of affairs that we're spending so much time wringing our hands over a schmuck with a bigoted point of view. Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot more important issues on the table than what some moron said on the radio. Imus doesn't direct public policy, he doesn't control any public funds, and his impact is pretty much limited to the people who think he's worth listening to.
In other words, if you think his speech is bigoted and intolerant (and make no mistake - it is) then JUST. STOP. LISTENING. Change stations if his show is on. Nothing will get him off the air faster than if his audience dries up.
And in the mean time, can we talk about something more important? You know like the environment, our Pinhead-in-chief, taxes, the quagmire in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, civil liberties, etc? (And if you really want to have a race relations/civil rights discussion, there are so many better places to start that conversation.)
Don Imus is a waste of our collective breath. Stop wasting any more of it. (renewable resource or no.)