OK, so Don Imus said something racially insensitive and misogynistic. He was called on it and sincerely apologized for it to the general public over and over and to the
people he insulted (which are the only people who deserved an apology in my opinion). He's now lost his job after decades of being paid well (and garnering his bosses lots of money) for doing pretty much the same thing he was fired for.
No less than NPR's reporter
Juan Williams, their "go-to guy" for all
racially motivated news stories, has pointed out that Imus used language that the youth of all races today are hearing (and mimicking) in the pounding beats of modern music, in movies, and in comedy routines, but with one difference -- in those cases it's less unacceptable and not worthy of an Imus-style outrage because it's being said by Blacks.
If you're an old White guy, that kind of language is off-limits to you because Black "leaders" will come after you, then claim it's not about race, it's about decency.
Right.
When people like Al
(Tawana Brawley) Sharpton, Jesse
(Hymietown) Jackson, and Oprah
(can't think of anything particularly snarky to put here) Winfrey start this kind of uprising and protesting against Black recording artists and comics, let me know because I'll be right there with them.
Oh, and Imus' meeting with the Rutgers women's basketball team yesterday took place at the New Jersey governor's mansion. Governor Jon Corzine was
critically injured in an accident on the way to that meeting. I wonder how long it will be until Imus is sued for that.
What's been really bugging me about all this is the focus on Don Imus, but no mention of his producer,
Bernard McGuirk, who egged him in this and hundreds of other instances. Wasn't Imus' broadcast on a delay so he could be bleeped? Wouldn't McGuirk have had the power to stop that comment from going out over the air? Imus might run off at the mouth without a thought toward censoring himself, but wouldn't part of McGuirk's job to be censoring his on-air talent if he went too far? Was his judgment impaired while he was getting wrapped up in the moment of the show that day?
And if such a purposely controversial figure wasn't broadcasting on a delay with someone poised on the kill switch at all times, why in the world not?
All this being said, please understand I'm not a current fan of Don Imus. I liked him 25 years ago when he was still funny and edgy, not just crotchety and edgy as he's become in the past few years. Ultimately, I strongly believe that Don Imus is responsible for what Don Imus said. He crossed a line he shouldn't have crossed, he was called on it, he apologized for it and has been willing to take the heat for it. But this has been blown so far out of proportion, I find it sickening.
Seriously, if this hadn't been on "
Imus in the Morning" -- if the exact same comment were made in the exact same context during "(Bernie)
Mac in the Morning" or "(Chris)
Rock in the Morning" or "(Carlos)
Mencia in the Morning", would we even have heard about it?
If anything positive comes out of this, I hope it's the exposure of and a move toward the elimination of the double standards of "political correctness" we live with.
