Unprovoked, insensitive, racially-charged remarks are signs of ignorance and just plain fuckwittedness. I doubt Don Imus is sorry for having made the remarks. I'm certain he is merely sorry that his doing so is impacting his bottom line. He's been doing racism for years. This remark was the straw because he stupidly directed it toward an innocent and sympathetic group of people.
Of course, the women of the Rutger's University women's basketball team, whom Imus referred to as "nappy headed hos", did nothing wrong. They simply existed, and played basketball, and won games. They were living their lives, doing what they wanted to do, being successful in that way that all Americans should celebrate. Don Imus, in his eagerness to shock and awe, overreached. But then, I've always felt he was too ham-handed, too stupid in his overreaching and shocking, and I early on learned to change channels when the televised version of his radio program came on. He disgusts me because he is not genuine and plays to the mob. In my opinion Imus should be canned -- not because he said "nappy headed" or "ho", but because he is a no-talent piece of shit. Where's the skill in getting wild-eyed uneducated mouth-breathers to say "oh fuck yeah, man's gotta point"? I could do that by belching the alphabet.
But here's the deal: I loathe mob mentality. I despise it when trained apes like Imus employ it to delight the ignorant wankers who drool agreement with his over-the-top hate-filled views, and I despise it when his counterparts such as Al Sharpton do their poo-flinging routines. Sure enough, it didn't take long for ol' Al to leap up on his rock and pound the ground with his tree branch.
The head coach of the women's team is also wrong. Don Imus's ape routine was not a slap at all women athletes, and Ms. Stringer should be counseling her team to look at it appropriately, rather than stirring the froth and playing up the mob-rage. Imus's remark was a reflection on Imus and those who whole-heartedly agree with the ignorant views he spouts. Imus did not denigrate all women or all female athletes; he denigrated only successful, black-skinned female athletes. The white females, the males, and the unsuccessful athletes were not included. So it shines a harsh light on the view that a black woman is getting "uppity" and it serves as a point of education for others -- there's nothing wrong with wholesome success, no matter what your skin color, no matter what your sex, no matter what your societal pursuit.
ITA100%.
Here's the thing, though: Listen to kids, say middle school up through college, and tell me how they speak and what they call each other. Imus and his producer's comments are so tame compared to what you'd hear from the kids. Listen to the music (particularly rap, and no, I'm not a blanket rap hater, I like lots, but there are some horribly bigoted and misogynistic rhymes out there), watch the movies, and watch the TV kids are exposed to and duh! Bitch, ho, nigger, cock, fuck... they're all over the place. What Imus was guilty of, and is continually guilty of, is being an old white guy repeating pop culture back to society. The dude is frightenly in touch with young pop culture. His producer's comment at "jigaboos and wannabes" was a reference to a Spike Lee movie. The problems are A) He's not part of that culture, he's an old white guy, like I said, and B) His audience isn't part of that culture either. So he is "exposed" as a hate-filled bigot, which I really don't believe he is. The irony is, as in-touch as he is with young pop culture, he's apparently completely out of touch with the people who listen to him, and today's level of sensitivity, particularly given the recent Grey's Anatomy/Coulter/Richards/Gibson circuses.
I can hardly believe the fakey breaky outrage. Jackson and Sharpton. Where are they when rich black rappers are calling black women hos and there's a rap group named nappy-something. Fiddy even insults Oprah, the most successful woman in the U.S.
Imus was using the slang of the day and trying to be "with it" and it blew up in his nasty face. The man makes his living insulting people, and it's pretty ridiculous for the media talking heads to be acting so shocked.
Here's a question that might offer some perspective: Who is "Don Imus" and who is "Al Sharpton" and why should I give a damn about what either one of them says or doesn't say or how they say what they let out of their mouths when they should have had clampjaw?
Folks are getting steamed up about the mindless utterences of two people that I literally had never heard of until reading the post.
I have plenty to do without opening my brain to every 'tard that manages to get his lame ass into the public eye. Ignorance is bliss.
And, guess what. If they're politicians or entertainers, what mamma told you is God's truth: ignore them and they'll go away.
But can you belch it backwards, is what I wanna know...
The whole thing irritates me to the extreme. One, that people even tune in to fuckheads like Imus. Two, that anyone would expect anything other than the most vile, loathsome uglies to squirm out of the guy's mouth. Three, that this headlining all the news like it's Something Important. Four, that the hate-mongerer Sharpton is involved. Five, that we have to keep hearing "hos," which is such an unbearably stupid word.
This remark was the straw because he stupidly directed it toward an innocent and sympathetic group of people
I'm no Imus fan (mob mentality, BING!), and his remark was indeed the straw on the grounds Gekko states above, if not for being a lame and ill-conceived attempt at humor. Comedy via character assassination can be effective and appropriate when aimed at the right target, such as the powerful/rich/untalented/windy. I wouldn't have a problem in the world with Imus calling Sharpton a nappy-headed ho.
My only comment is that he's a racist asshole and I'm tickled pink that major advertisers spoke out and he was thrown off the air.
Yeah. Except now it's the angry mob, pitch-covered torches and farm implements in hand, storming up the path to the castle walls after having been whipped into a murderous frenzy by the scheming "leaders" who look only for political gain.
Sorry, but it's racism to say that black rap artists can call black women nappy headed hos but an old wrinkly white asshole gets fucked up the ass when he does it. Pure racism.
The reaction is overreaction. It truly is.
He's always been a disgusting piece of shit, but he was applauded for his disgusting shittedness, encouraged, and paid to be a disgusting shit. Now that he stepped -- a miniscule step -- over this manufactured boundary, he's tied to the train tracks.
I smell hypocrisy.
I'm glad he's off the air, but I'd rather he be taken off the air because there was no market overall for the stupidity he mouths. Sad to say, that market is still very much there, and the other haters, the Sharptons and the Jacksons, are also out there being applauded for whipping up the froth.
Pah.