The outrage over Imus

I don't listen to, nor watch Don Imus. Oh, sometimes I might watch his show for a couple of minutes depending on who I see late nights when I work Master Control. We have a monitor that is always on 'MSLSD' or as Rush calls it, "PMSNBC" and sometimes depending on the topic, I will turn up the audio and listen to what was being said. I don't listen to Howard Stern either. I find Stern juvenile and his subject matter is something I usually find in bad taste. But that being said, they have their right to say what they want. I mean, it's their shows and someone is letting them on the air. It's kind of like Rap or Country to me, I don't listen to it, it has no appeal.


But what strikes me about the whole thing is that this is nothing new for Imus. When I have listened to Imus he has said things at various times that have offended me, but I figure, I don't have to listen to him. He was one of the original shock jocks and for years he had a following for some of the pranks he pulled. But the media are just beside themselves as is the 'civil rights leaders', for lack of a better term. Al Sharpton and all the rest are up in arms about Imus' 'nappy headed ho's' comment. C'mon, Al. How is that any worse than Jesse Jackson's 'Hymie' comment from years ago. How is that really any more offensive than your whole involvement in the Tawana Brawley incident or the Freddie's Fashion Mart incident. Feigning outrage over something like that is hypocritical at best. As the proverbial saying goes, "that's like the pot calling the kettle black". There is a whole group of people (usually liberals) that have made a franchise out of being 'offended'. And now, for the liberals to start piling on Imus is funny to watch. Kind of like watching cannibals eating their own.

Imus has always said something in some respect that anyone could find offensive. It's a matter of not paying attention or not turning on the TV or radio. For the liberals to now just be besides themselves over his comments, is just laughable at best. These are the people that will let comments hurtful to otherwise decent people, just go by. Where was the outrage over the Huffington post about Cheney? or Tony Snow? or how about all the comments that slam the President, comparing him to Hitler? Funny how they just ignore that stuff.

What Imus said was not in good taste. But given the fact that many in the black community refer to themselves and each other in such terms, 'nappy headed', 'ho', 'bitch' and 'n****', just seems hypocritical. I mean I have always abhorred the 'N' word and my butt would have been beaten black and blue when I was a kid by my mother or father if I ever uttered such a word. But then again, I have never looked at black folks in that way, so I never thought of black folks in any way other than people. My boss is 'black' and there is no finer human being on the planet. I absolutely respect and admire him. But as my father and mother always taught us kids, 'we all bleed red'. The outrage over Imus is also interesting as he is not alone with what he said. What about all the TV producers, radio execs at urban radio stations, execs at record companies that allow 'actors' and 'artists' to let such language be injected into the mainstream? Aren't the rap & gang banger wannabes that refer to themselves in such terms, guilty as well for promoting this kind of language in the media?

Imus is a has been. His audience at any given time reaches about 300, 000, which in broadcasting terms, is not very significant. He has stayed on the air because he's 'Imus' and his buddies in the media have kept him on for that reason. He long ago stopped being the 'Imus' of old, his show turned more toward comments about current events and he has had many of the same people now criticizing him and wanting his head, on his show. They never said anything about his comments about people they disagreed with so now why the phony 'concern' about the latest comments. This is liberal hypocrisy at it's purest.