Who would have thought that it would be NJ Gov. Jon Corzine that would pay the price for Imus' hubris? Well at least seatbelt lobbyists will have an new spokesman.
And Imus? Well my friend Henry Mena--talented musician, and songwriter--pretty much sums up how I feel:
"Um, I dunno…
Throughout all those years I argued with and complained to fans of Howard Stern—friends, acquaintances and even my last girlfriend—about his racist and misogynist shtick it never occurred to me that he should be taken off the air. I elected to turn the dial.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson once called New York “Hymietown”. No real fallout from that. The Rev. Al Sharpton has never been called to task for his ultra-divisiveness during the Tawana Brawley affair nor after it was learned she had concocted most, if not all, of her story. So why is Don Imus getting canned? Is it the timing? The close proximity to the Michael Richards incident? Right after her death, didn’t Stern say worse things about Selena and her fans before the body even got cold?
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been a fan of Imus’ nor am I defending or excusing him now. The remarks that eventually did him in were racist, misogynist, tasteless and deplorable. But it was a joke. One that I personally did not find amusing but a joke, nonetheless. A suspension was probably in order. Too late. My question is, do we really want to regulate “asshole-ism”? (Yes, I know: it wasn't the government or the FCC that booted Imus, but still…)
O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh etc. spout some nasty stuff on a daily basis that makes my
blood boil. Would I want them off the air? Yes. But as a result of people turning off their radios or turning the dial, realizing by their own conviction that this is nasty, ignorant stuff that should not be supported. Let the public decide. Needless to say I’m not crazy about any group regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality etc exert undue pressure when offended. This isn’t some City College professor going on to his/her students about the inherent intellectual shortcomings of people of color or how those of the Caucasian persuasion are the root of all evil, is it? (And those guys would probably STILL have their jobs! That’s f’d up.) Now, those are situations worth looking into and taking serious action because of their being within the context of higher learning. But bringing out the heavy guns every time one is offended sets a much worse precedent than letting some jackass make ignorant remarks on the air.
Does anyone really think that the people who enjoy Imus’ show and found these recent remarks humorous have changed their minds over his subsequent firing? Doubt it. All it creates is a climate of resentment and divide. You don’t truly change things with heavy-handed intimidation in my humble opinion. Actually, you do. But only on the surface. And haven’t we had enough of that already?
(I wonder what would’ve happened if Imus had simply said “Hey, it was a joke. Sorry if you got offended but it was a joke. Next.” He showed signs of this sort of attitude when he stated he’d apologized enough and wasn’t gonna do the requisite talk show apology tour that normally accompanies the fallout from these situations.)
By the way, Dick Cheney was finally right about one thing: Watch what you say."
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