Don Imus: First and (hopefully) Final word
Update - 4/20/07
I found an interesting article about John Kerry a few days ago. First off, he is a liberal, which is synonymous with a general, unwavering support from blacks. Yet, he agrees with me regarding the Don Imus situation. He doesn't think that Imus, who is also a known liberal, should have been fired. If I were a liberal, I would probably be offended. Thankfully I'm not. :-)
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I've read so many opinions about the Don Imus "controversy". The assortment of views regarding this situation has been somewhat comical to me. A few such ramblings:
"Don Imus only used that phrase because black rappers use it, or variations of it all of the time."
"Only certain people are allowed to use the certain phrases."
"Don Imus was only fired because of the way that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson overreacted."
And the list could go on based on everything I've read/heard over the past week. Here's my feeling about the matter in a nutshell, albeit a rather sizable nutshell. Don Imus is not the leader of the free world. He is not my father. In other words, his existence doesn't have a huge bearing or direct effect on the outcome of my life. The words he said were very ugly and uncalled for. I felt a horrible disgust at the thought of what these young women must have felt when they first heard that this statement was made about them. But I stand by my feeling that Don Imus should NOT have been fired from CBS.
He's a shock-jock for crying out loud. That's what shock-jocks do! They keep pushing the envelope to get a reaction out of people. Don Imus was essentially fired for doing what he gets paid to do: offend and insult. Here's my caveat though. If Imus ended up losing his job due to the fact that the sponsors that pay for advertising on his show all decided to disassociate themselves with him, oh well. That would have sent a better message. The sponsors have as much of a right to associate with whomever they wish, as Imus has to say whatever he wishes. But to have notorious race baiters incite a lot of the misplaced anger onto Imus was ridiculous and unfair, in my opinion.
Basically, a huge can of worms has been opened. La Shawn Barber makes a very good point: When did blacks become so fragile and easily wounded by words? Michelle Malkin lists lyrics from current music that spews phrasing similar to what Imus used. But I think that my husband, Chris, put it best of all. He reminds us that no person should ever place an expectation on another to treat him/her better than he/she treats him or herself. Excellent advice for all situations!
3 Comments:
I think the Rutgers team had a right to expect that they would be treated with dignity and class as that is how they carried themselves. The comments that Imus made were directed at them, the outrage that people felt was because that group of women did not deserve what they got. Free speech goes both ways. Imus has a right to say whatever he wants, but people have a right to respond. People (and not just black people) responded with a loud, thunderous voice of disapproval and the people who employ him heard the message. They have a right to not employ someone who they feel doesn't represent their company or product. To all the people rolling out long list of rap video and lyrics, I am still confused as to what that has to do with the Rutger's basketball team. I'm not clear on why those women should be OK with being called out their name, because some other man is callling some other woman out her name, is it because they all have the same skin color? Is it assumed that all young black people listen to only rap music. Or that all black rappers speak for all black people? I don't know. It just seems like a gross generalization on behalf of all the people out there arguing that black people disrespect themselves so they deserve disrspect. -Vanessa
I see where you're coming from, but I think that if CBS fired Imus based on the fact that his comments don't represent their company, they would have fired him within 24-hours after the comments were first broadcast. Instead, they waited to see if the "right people" were going to make enough of a deal about it before they reacted several days later. CBS caved in under the pressure incited by the usual suspects: Sharpton and Jackson.
Also, I definitely don't think that the women should have necessarily had a "grin and bear it" reaction to the comment. But going on and on about it, having a press conference, and then meeting up with Imus (who isn't worth it, in my opinion) at the Governor's mansion to talk about how hurt they were was over the top. I wish that they would have made one statement about how disgusting Imus is, and moved on with their lives. My biggest problem with the outcome of this whole incident was Al Sharpton jumping on board and making the situation about himself and spinning it into a typical white oppressor-black victim situation as he always does (See Michael Richards).
A week before Imus made his remarks Al Sharpton held a meeting and press conference in which he said to the black rappers he was addressing: I'm not here to take sides, I'm here to say that all sides are letting us down and need to come down to the table again and create a level of decency and respect for the communities that has been the basis of your wealth,"
http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=6892
He has been one of the most outspoke critics of rap music for a long time, I think no one reports this, because it doesn't fit into the agenda of Al Sharpon is a race baiter. I'm not one way or the other for Al Sharpton, but I don't think he was trying to paint the Rutgers team as victims. And I think that in this case it's the anti - Al Sharpton people who are taking the focus off of the message and placing it on to the messenger. -Vanessa - who really should be working and not reading Tami's blog. :-)
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