I purposely had not commented on the whole Don Imus thing up until this point because to me all of it is a bunch of crap. The same people that fight for freedom of expression are the same people that are executing someone that freely expressed himself. It’s so crazy that we live in such a hypocritical world that allows the over zealous efforts of a few opportunists to overpower one of the most important principles that this country has been founded on. A distinction must be made between free speech and the issues of morality that are attached to what has been said. By law, Don Imus was free to say what he wanted to, but there were so many people offended that he was fired because of executing his right. I don’t agree that he should have lost his job because I don’t think that this will truly affect the morals and principles that guide his everyday interactions. More of a solution would have been to work with him through his thoughts and actions to show him a better way of approaching life… showing him why women shouldn’t be called B’s and Ho’s and showing him the reason why people were offended by his comments. Don Imus can always get another job, but he’ll potentially make the same kind of comments. I just think that we really missed the point on this one.
I also find it funny that the Rutgers women’s basketball team lost the NCAA championship, yet they’ve gotten more media attention than the team that won. Is it possible that they are just taking advantage of all the attention? Some people have argued that some of the girls on the team were not initially offended and did not become so until the media blitz began. Do you think that if there was not a push by Sharpton and a few others, Rutgers would have pursued the firing of Don Imus?? The Sponsors for his show had begun to pull away from financial involvement before Sharpton had anything to say, thus yielding his efforts irrelevant. The Sponsors fired Don Imus because they didn’t want their products tied to someone with a lot of public disdain. Minorities in America spend billions of dollars a year and the companies that promote his show didn’t want to potentially loose their share of that money. The Sponsor’s bottom line was money motivated, Sharpton’s bottom line was attention. Our minister “Rev.” Al Sharpton sometimes forgets that he is a minister and that God requires mercy more than sacrifice – mercy upon those that offend us or wrong us, not a public lynching. Be careful big Al, if you ever sin against anyone, please believe you will be in the same crucifying seat that you have used to seat so many others.
So much of the blame for the actions of one radio DJ has been placed on the effects of rap lyrics on the social fabric of America. While this argument has much merit, it simply has no place as the root of Don Imus issues. History has proven that he has been one to utter socially insensitive comments throughout his career. The act of blaming rap lyrics was a means of deflecting attention from the real problem, something that the media has incredible experience in doing. Don’t get me wrong, we do need to positively attack the way we represent ourselves in music, but one cannot be used as an excuse for the other. We’ll see if that defense holds true when a black man commits a crime and blames the lyrics in a rock song for his actions.
Lastly, I find it absurd that the governor of New Jersey would be held in this light:
As we may or may not know, Gov. Corzine of NJ was in a near fatal crash on his way to mediate the meeting of the Rutgers basketball team and Don Imus. Reports have shown that he was not wearing a seat belt. The NY Post had this image as the cover of it’s Sunday edition. More Media Insensitivity? Who’s Al going after for this one??? Right, absolutely no one, because the Governor wasn’t black and this wouldn’t benefit his social agenda.
Al is in it for the mola as well. His and Jesse’s pockets have been lined for years. How do you think these dudes can run all over the country fighting the good fight in a moments notice with no job! Every issue comes down to the almighty dollar! As you stated above Imus has been making these comments for years and no one has ever checked him. Well before his comments boosted ratings so no one was going to check him at that point. As you also stated above; since the sponsors were worried about losing the minority dollar it all of a sudden became a huge problem for anyone. I am actually torn on the decision to fire Imus; on one hand I think he was the lesser of many evils and his comments were not meant to hurt but to be a joke on the other hand at what point do we check the folk who say whatever they feel like it regardless of who it offends? If Imus was given the say “I’m sorry pass and move on with your life” like all the others; at what point would the madness stop! Other folk who feel this way but won’t say it allowed for fear of retaliation would feel perfectly comfortable stating their opinions if all they had to do was apologize. At some point we all have to be held accountable for our actions. But I agree that most are hypocrites!