IMUS IMUS IMUS.........................

The following editorial from The Washington Post:

Let the Idiocy Be Heard

By Michael Meyers
Wednesday, April 11, 2007; Page A15

Defending Don Imus's on-air racial idiocy is impossible -- but defending free speech, even in the form of sick humor, ought to be considered anew in the wake of a storm of protest from censorious activists who are demanding that Imus be fired.

There is an audience out there that is hungry for the ribald and the offensive. It is an audience that will not go away and cannot be boycotted. Does labeling those listeners and the shock jocks they adore and emulate as racial dunces or "un-American," and making the shock jocks unemployable (for daring to say what they think), advance the dialogue about racism or sexism? I don't think so.

Ours is supposed to be a nation that prides itself on free speech -- let a thousand tongues wag, we say, and the truth will be uncovered. But the censors and activists who are so readily offended by idiocy on radio have discovered still another truth: that the First Amendment does not apply to radio shock jocks. And so they want the advertisers and networks to ban the I-Man and toss him off the air. They don't want to hear from Imus, and they don't want anybody else to hear him, either. If the censors and pressure groups succeed, what will become of our culture of free speech, especially with such gabbers as Al Sharpton curiously demanding action from the FCC?

There ought to be no sympathy in any quarter for any shock jock's racial prejudice, but there has to be room for apologies that are offered in earnest. Moreover, there ought to be space on radio for dialogue and for racial impoliteness, too. When a radio shock jock makes a quip that offends, that's no surprise. There is no captive, fragile audience or hostile environment such as the workplace or schoolhouse to worry about -- just the robust radio world, full of gabbers, some of whom want to be taken seriously, some of whom try frantically to use words simply to entertain -- and who screw up -- and others who use satire and devil's-advocacy to push us to think. Besides, what's to distinguish Don Imus from the haters on black talk radio who regularly praise and play Louis Farrakhan tapes?

If we prize freedom, we should let the radio talkers talk. Let them be perfectly understood, and let the pressure groups answer when the talkers veer off reason with their inane hatreds. But we should not allow pressure groups to drive from radio people who say the darndest things and those whose views they don't like. I say that if you don't like what you're hearing, turn the dial. If you want to call in and talk back to the jockass, do so. But we can't talk back on the radio if the censorship crowd gets its way -- if the sound of morning drives is bland conformity with the peculiar and narrow tastes of those who don't want us to hear what they themselves don't like.

The writer is executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition and a former assistant national director of the NAACP.

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Originally Posted by freak

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

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I could be wrong here and i apologize if i twisted your words some how,but your basically saying those young girl do appear to look like young thugs and because of that look the school hasn't prepared for the buisness world,if you know those girls persoanlly you wouldn't put such an closed minded opinion like imus did on them.

If you watch their conference they seem far from the thug image but respectable young ladies.One shouldn't based an opinion on looks if imus did that he might still have a job.

An interesting article on the whole matter:

Imus isn’t the real bad guy
Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be

fighting a growing gangster culture.
By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

From another black columnist, Jason Whitlock:

Imus isn’t the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.
By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

LMAO...you beat me to it, Quinn...

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Originally Posted by Legend

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freak

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

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I could be wrong here and i apologize if i twisted your words some how,but your basically saying those young girl do appear to look like young thugs and because of that look the school hasn't prepared for the buisness world,if you know those girls persoanlly you wouldn't put such an closed minded opinion like imus did on them.

If you watch their conference they seem far from the thug image but respectable young ladies.One shouldn't based an opinion on looks if imus did that he might still have a job.

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For their own sakes, I certainly hope that they are getting a better education than you did, 'tardboy. :P

if not, they should demand a refund...

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Originally Posted by Legend

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freak

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

---

I could be wrong here and i apologize if i twisted your words some how,but your basically saying those young girl do appear to look like young thugs and because of that look the school hasn't prepared for the buisness world,if you know those girls persoanlly you wouldn't put such an closed minded opinion like imus did on them.

If you watch their conference they seem far from the thug image but respectable young ladies.One shouldn't based an opinion on looks if imus did that he might still have a job.

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Even Charles Manson can look good if he knows he has to. What has happened to school pride? If you even look at pro sports, look at the roll models they are not, there are few teams that have rules, the NY Yankees have a very strict dress code and grooming, if you compare them to other teams they are better roll models, clean cut and professional. Has nothing to do with anything but the image they are presenting. That is what Imus was making a point of, Tennessee had a good image and Rutgers did not, try to search for a team photo of the Rutgers team, you can not find on even on there home page.
If you want respect, earn it don't just feel people should give it to you because your a young student. Also I do not know any of the girls personally but from what they are presenting I do not want to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freak

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Legend

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freak

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

---

I could be wrong here and i apologize if i twisted your words some how,but your basically saying those young girl do appear to look like young thugs and because of that look the school hasn't prepared for the buisness world,if you know those girls persoanlly you wouldn't put such an closed minded opinion like imus did on them.

If you watch their conference they seem far from the thug image but respectable young ladies.One shouldn't based an opinion on looks if imus did that he might still have a job.

---

Even Charles Manson can look good if he knows he has to. What has happened to school pride? If you even look at pro sports, look at the roll models they are not, there are few teams that have rules, the NY Yankees have a very strict dress code and grooming, if you compare them to other teams they are better roll models, clean cut and professional. Has nothing to do with anything but the image they are presenting. That is what Imus was making a point of, Tennessee had a good image and Rutgers did not, try to search for a team photo of the Rutgers team, you can not find on even on there home page.
If you want respect, earn it don't just feel people should give it to you because your a young student. Also I do not know any of the girls personally but from what they are presenting I do not want to.

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So your basing your judgement on what imus said i don't think he literally meant they weren't clean and didn't dress correctly what so now you can judge someone on their basketball uniform LOL,did you by any chance watch the Rutgers news conference if you did you would know a little about what the players look like instead of basing your opinion on what some guy said!

Here is the conference and when you hear the players and coach talk i don't think the so called "thug image" will come to your mind,they meaning the players and coach spoke with such elegance i don't think your gonna get a thug image from them but rather young sophiscated ladies that seem well educated.

Just look at them speak and base your opinion on that rather then what so one else says,

Rutgers' Press Conference part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd6dsrxd_Qc

Rutgers' Press Conference part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCRtBi25Bxg

Even though I am a Uconn fan, I do watch other teams. Do you even know what you are talking about? I think not. It isn't there uniform it is there way of wearing it and presenting them selfs.
Are you seriously trying to have a conversation or just stirring the shit?