Here's why. First, all the pinheads calling this a "freedom of speech" issue are clueless. Despite what the First Amendment says, you can't say any fucking thing you want to. If you don't believe me, go yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, or go verbally threaten violence to the President or the Vice President, and see how long it takes you to need a really good lawyer to get your dumb ass out of jail. You can be sued for slander if you maliciously lie about somebody else verbally, or sued for libel if you put it in writing. So much for "freedom of speech". Second, nobody hires you to exercise your rights. They hire you to represent their company in a specific capacity and manner. If you start using language that is defamatory or vulgar in your workplace that makes your co-workers or your company's clients uncomfortable, you can be fired. I've never held a job that didn't require me to sign a statement that I would not engage in racist, sexist, or other bigoted language or activity. I don't know where all you ET bigots find jobs that let YOU do so, since you think such restrictions are so "unfair" and "political correctness out of control." Third, Imus is not a klansman, but that doesn't mean that he is not a racist. I find it fascinating that the bigots here and elsewhere think that the standard for racism should be whether a person is a member of the KKK, or Louis Farrakhan's group, or some other racial supremacist group. What nonsense. There is a huge gulf between the tiny fraction of humanity that is totally race neutral and the racial supremacists, and the majority of humanity falls within that gulf. In other words, most of us are racist to some degree, and there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. It depends on what you're racist about. If you've decided that you would only marry another person who shares your race, there's nothing wrong with that because it's your life and only you can judge what type of partner you can be intimate with. The problem with racism is when it is used to attack or limit other people. Imus has done some great things for kids of all races, but that doesn't "immunize" him from being held responsible when he calls a group of college co-eds who weren't bothering anybody "nappy headed hos" aka "Black whores." The fact that he was trying to be funny doesn't excuse it, because it was deliberate insult humor. The whole point was to belittle those young women by deriding their looks. It was producer McGurk who first called them "hard-core hos", an insult that included the two White members of the 10-woman basketball team, then Imus immediately followed it up with "nappy headed hos", adding a racial component to an already egregious sexist insult. Some things are firing offenses, no matter how much cred you've built up through adding value to your company and through charitable works. Of course the real reason why Imus was let go was because the sponsors (the REAL clients of MSNBC and CBS, no matter what you viewers and listeners might think) were saying "Enough!" And the sponsors were leaving because they were facing boycotts from THEIR clients. Fourth, this isn't the first time Imus has stepped over the line. He's been warned before about some things he was saying. So the only real surprise was that he was finally being held to account for his latest offense. Happens everyday to ordinary workers. Fifth, Imus and his fans can't excuse his behaviour by saying "rappers are doing it too!" What are you assholes, nine years old?! Since when is your behavior in YOUR workplace conditional on what's happening in some other workplace? I think most of the ET bigots don't even have jobs, and have never held a real job, since they have such delusional views on what should happen in a workplace. Should the Black rappers and the rich, mostly White-owned companies that finance them, be called to account? ABSOLUTELY. I got no problem with causing rappers grief, having always believed that "rap music" was a contradiction in terms, even before it went inexcusably gangsta. Go for it, and if you succeed in destroying the rap industry, I'll raise a glass in celebration. But that's got nothing to do with Don Imus.
Good post. Question, if it was your daughter on the basketball team how would you have advised her to handle the situation?
"Sticks and Stones will break my bones, BUT, words will never hurt me" Thats how we used to handle smart remarks from other kids etc. Gee, how come adults can not act like children and realize some remarks are not very nice and even if directed at you as an individual are worthless words because YOU as an individual are BIGGER that the person shooting their mouth off. Lot worse stuff on TV radio etc then calling someone, some group etc some slang expression that was not meant as anything but a wise crack from someone that draws a certain audience. 99% of the people ranting about Don Imus probably never watched, listened to the show because they would rather have been watching the "Simpsons" or some like show. Get a grip fools, lot worse things you watch daily a hell lot worse that some program that is above most peoples heads anyway. .. :eek:
You sound just like the asshole I ran into years ago in a barbershop who said I shouldn't mind him smoking because the air was already polluted by passing traffic. Hell, I didn't even complain about his smoking, I just moved out of the way of his smoke stream, but that didn't keep him from going off like you and saying something completely idiotic in response. There are worse things than shoplifting; does that mean shoplifters shouldn't be prosecuted? Man, I miss the days when critical thinking was still taught in schools.
Imus said something naughty? I thought he was fired for his offensive appearance. Yeah, he's a real lady-killer.
I thought that if they left him alone, he could have run his charities, and he was repentant, he could have actually helped the Minority cause by cleaning up his act. Sharpton and Jackson are way beyond that. They are greedy and selfish, and care only about how much they can take from people who desparately need leadership. All of us at one time or another stepped on our collective dicks. Hopefully, we apologized, if we meant to. But this just wasn't good enough. It's pretty sad, and I hope the people who wouldn't grant forgiveness don't need any in the immediate future. The guy makes 10mm a year. Do you really think they hurt him? They only made him bigger. Watch how he comes back. Maybe Satellite, maybe some podunk station. But, w/the Internet, the sky is the limit. Now he is really the bad boy, his following will grow. He really did nothing "wrong" legally or morally, and he signed a five year deal. Even if he had a "morals clause" he's been doing this forever. I wonder if they had to pay up? I would think so.
What "Minority cause" are you talking about? AFAIK the only thing racial minorities in America want is to be treated the same as White Americans: judged by conduct, not by race. And stop making this about Sharpton and Jackson; they are irrelevant. Do you honestly think that if A&J never opened their mouths on this matter that it would all have gone away? Dream on. Media Matters for America has prepared the following timeline documenting events from Imus' slur of the Rutgers team on April 4 to MSNBC's announcement on April 11: Wednesday, April 4 * On Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus referred to the Scarlet Knights, the Rutgers University women's basketball team -- which is made up of eight African-American and two white players -- as "nappy-headed hos" after executive producer Bernard McGuirk called the team "hard-core hos." Media Matters for America noted Imus' comments at the time. * The New York Times later noted that "Imus's remarks were picked up ... by the Media Matters for America site," and Salon.com's Jonathan Miller similarly credited Media Matters for posting video of Imus' comments. In an article about MSNBC's decision to drop the show, the Los Angeles Times identified Media Matters as "the liberal media watchdog group that first spotlighted Imus' remark last week." USA Today also reported that Media Matters "originally called attention to Imus' remarks." Thursday, April 5 * Addressing his "nappy-headed hos" comment, Imus asserted, "I don't understand what the problem is, really," and referred to the remark as "some idiot comment meant to be amusing," as noted in Miller's April 10 Salon article. * WNBC.com, the NBC affiliate in New York, reported Imus' April 5 comments in an article the same day, which quoted a Rutgers spokesperson saying, "We agree with Mr. Imus that this was, in his own words, an 'idiot comment.' We are very proud of the success of the Rutgers women's basketball team. Coach [C. Vivian] Stringer and the Rutgers players are outstanding ambassadors for this great institution." * MSNBC released a statement that asserted, "While simulcast by MSNBC, 'Imus in the Morning' is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio." It added, "As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments." The statement was noted in an article published at 3:26 p.m. ET on NBC10.com, the website for the NBC affiliate that serves the Philadelphia area. Friday, April 6 * Imus apologized on Imus in the Morning, asserting, "Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team," and adding, "It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, so, and we're sorry." Media Matters noted Imus' apology at the time. IOW it took Imus two days to apologize, which meant that he was feeling pressure to do so, not remorse over what he said. I would have backed him even if he had taken one day to sincerely apologize, but as you can see above, he still didn't see what the "fuss" was all about. As noted by myself and many others, this was not the first time for Imus. So tell us, Mr. Apologist, how many times does Imus or anyone else in a similar position get to transgress? Give us a fucking number so we don't have to keep arguing this nonsense over and over and fucking over. Here's something from the editorial page of the conservative San Diego Union-Tribune: * * * Wednesday, April 11, 2007 The Imus disgrace CBS, NBC, his big-shot pals also shameful Even before radio-TV host Don Imus' repellent reference last week ..., his history was so littered with disgusting racist remarks that it was already a mystery how the CBS radio network and MSNBC kept him on the payroll. Nothing about his two-week suspension changes that fact. Imus shouldn't just be contrite, he should be ashamed -- but that also holds for CBS and NBC for keeping him on the national stage. What's stunning is the readiness of so many of his enablers in the nation's media and journalistic elites to downplay Imus' racism as a mere failure to be "politically correct." In 1997 on "60 Minutes", Imus admitted one of the reasons he hired staffer Bernard McGuirk, who also slurred the Rutgers team last week while on the air with Imus, was his proficiency at telling n-word jokes. For years he has made a habit of singling out dark-skinned blacks for ridicule. Here's what he had to say about veteran journalist Gwen Ifill in 1995: "Isn't The New York Times wonderful? It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House." This isn't "politically incorrect." This isn't satire. It is flat-out, full-on racism. Yet Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Cokie Roberts, Sens. John McCain and Joseph Biden and dozens of other white media and political heavyweights have gone on Imus' show, admonished him for the remarks, but then appeared to act as apologists for him. ... At some point being willing to go on Imus and lend him legitimacy becomes a comment on these folks' character. Enough is enough. The corporate bosses at CBS and GE/MSNBC need to realize that the money Imus makes for them is dirty money. ... Spewing racism is unacceptable. Period. * * * The above is from a newspaper that is routinely as rightwing as The Washington Times. Thanks for the heads-up that you find nothing morally wrong with racism. It's good to know the type of persons we're dealing with here.
Nice try fly, Maybe Imus should have taken a page from the trial lawyers play book. Never admit fault, never admit reponsiblility, never say your sorry, never admit guilt. Imus may have had an abusive childhood, he was a victim of misguided parenental upbringing. Imus should have went right from the radio station and checked into rehab, untouchable by the media. "No comment" from his lawyers.