Diamondjimi
04-15-2007, 03:20 PM
Imus hits the limit for offensive speech
A New Haven Register Editorial
04/15/2007
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We were fans of Don Imus — not the mean, petty, sophomoric and racially insensitive radio personality. The other one, the Don Imus who was politically irreverent, who provided a serious forum for historians and authors; the one who demanded answers to the blunt questions he asked politicians who regularly were his guests, including Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman. When he turned tasteless or juvenile, we turned him off.
We no longer have that choice. CBS fired him Thursday.
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His offense was calling the women of the Rutgers basketball team "nappy-headed ho's." Imagine the outrage here if Imus had directed his comment at the members of the women’s basketball team at the University of Connecticut.
Imus’ comment reflected a type of casual bigotry that causes lasting damage to people’s respect for each other and to individuals’ sense of self-worth.
Imus had been given license for years for this type of derisive, racially offensive comment. This time, however, cable television and the Internet picked it up and shared it with most Americans, who don’t listen to his program and are not his fans. They were rightly horrified.
Advertisers dropped away. MSNBC stopped its television broadcast of the program. CBS, which owns the program, had first planned to place him on a two-week, unpaid suspension. But, the controversy only seemed to intensify.
There is a huge quotient of hypocrisy here. No record company has canceled a gangsta rapper for using the same language that Imus was parroting. Many of those that have condemned Imus are the ones, like CBS, who have profited from his program or appeared on it without ever objecting to his straying beyond the bounds of civility.
Among the most outspoken advocates of Imus’ firing were the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. If both men applied the same standard to themselves, they would have long ago left public life — Sharpton for his race baiting in the Tawana Brawley case and Jackson for his "hymie town" remark about New York City. In the past, Imus had taken delight in puncturing Sharpton’s racial posturing.
But, Imus’ gaffe was inexcusable. It is possible to be politically incorrect without trading in bigotry. It is a lesson Imus failed to learn before he lost his job.
©New Haven Register 2007
The Asshat
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Video/061101/n_imus_kerry_061101.300w.jpg
I personally can't stand this cantankerous old fuck.
Good riddance ,Douchebag !
A New Haven Register Editorial
04/15/2007
Email to a friendPrinter-friendly
We were fans of Don Imus — not the mean, petty, sophomoric and racially insensitive radio personality. The other one, the Don Imus who was politically irreverent, who provided a serious forum for historians and authors; the one who demanded answers to the blunt questions he asked politicians who regularly were his guests, including Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman. When he turned tasteless or juvenile, we turned him off.
We no longer have that choice. CBS fired him Thursday.
Advertisement
His offense was calling the women of the Rutgers basketball team "nappy-headed ho's." Imagine the outrage here if Imus had directed his comment at the members of the women’s basketball team at the University of Connecticut.
Imus’ comment reflected a type of casual bigotry that causes lasting damage to people’s respect for each other and to individuals’ sense of self-worth.
Imus had been given license for years for this type of derisive, racially offensive comment. This time, however, cable television and the Internet picked it up and shared it with most Americans, who don’t listen to his program and are not his fans. They were rightly horrified.
Advertisers dropped away. MSNBC stopped its television broadcast of the program. CBS, which owns the program, had first planned to place him on a two-week, unpaid suspension. But, the controversy only seemed to intensify.
There is a huge quotient of hypocrisy here. No record company has canceled a gangsta rapper for using the same language that Imus was parroting. Many of those that have condemned Imus are the ones, like CBS, who have profited from his program or appeared on it without ever objecting to his straying beyond the bounds of civility.
Among the most outspoken advocates of Imus’ firing were the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. If both men applied the same standard to themselves, they would have long ago left public life — Sharpton for his race baiting in the Tawana Brawley case and Jackson for his "hymie town" remark about New York City. In the past, Imus had taken delight in puncturing Sharpton’s racial posturing.
But, Imus’ gaffe was inexcusable. It is possible to be politically incorrect without trading in bigotry. It is a lesson Imus failed to learn before he lost his job.
©New Haven Register 2007
The Asshat
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Video/061101/n_imus_kerry_061101.300w.jpg
I personally can't stand this cantankerous old fuck.
Good riddance ,Douchebag !