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• Tuesday, April 10, 2007 08:25 AM

  Chickens Come Home to Roost

  First - I do not listen to Don Imus, so I have no particular positive or negative attachments to his show. I am aware of his charity work outside his job, and I use that to judge his character as much as what I read about him in print.

  My point is that it is Mr Imus' job to fire up and engage his audience - that what ratings and job are about. That certainly does not mean that he needs to be patently offensive - but it certainly also does not mean that he has to be politically correct in all his dialogs. Perhaps some people take offense at what he said - but others merely reflect that the terminology is straight out of "the culture" - rap, hip hop that seems to be the dominate theme of the rest of the entertainment industry. So, what is the fuss? I don't hear the same denunciation over much more blatant and outrageous sentiments on albums or "entertainment" events. Perhaps the tacit acceptance of the "gangsta" culture in other word and print media has spilled over into Mr Imus's rap. The chickens have come home to roost, so to say.

  The rest of the circus around Imus - Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and their ilk - seems to be to be just the old shakedown circus firing up the engines to extract tribute from whoever can be made to feel guilty enough to "buy" their way out of their problems. That, frankly, I find to be the more disgusting part of this whole affair.

  Free speech issue? - don't even try that one. This is just entertainment - turn it off if you don't like it. Ratings will take care of the rest. Don't try to put that lipstick on this pig - his comments are just reflecting what I can see everyday on the other music and video stations.

  —Ironclad Read Ironclad's other letters
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