Can we talk about Imus like adults?

To say Rutgers is milking this for publicity is totally off base.

Imus has been going around everywhere acting all humble and apologetic and trying to pass himself off as a good guy who said a bad thing (as he says every day about somebody).

Meanwhile, the people at Rutgers have said nothing until the press conference yesterday... a presser at which C. Vivian Stringer conducted herself with great class and dignity and her players showed the same class and dignity.

Was it well orchestrated? Absolutely. The first player to speak was one of the two white players on the team, a player from an upper-middle class North Jersey suburb, as far from "nappy-headed ho" as you can get.
And it helped immensely that the captain, Essence Carson, from inner-city Paterson, happens to be a remarkably accomplished and intelligent young woman who, if she weren't such a great athletic talent, would be at Julliard instead of Rutgers.

And, yes, it has long been established that making racist, sexist remarks is part of Imus' schtick. It's a good thing that somebody finally has held him accountable for it.

 

The Imus being Imus argument holds water... .er.... cash.

Millions and millions of dollars over a lifetime.

 

Because rap uses denigrating lyrics doesn't make it ok for Imus to make such a statement. But, if it's wrong for Imus to make such a statement on the radio and it creates such a hellstorm, then it's wrong for in the same sense for rap music to use the same language and be broadcast over the airwaves. Let's just be consistent in our behaviors, reactions and ramifications.

I'm just wondering if this is a slippery slope issue. Using a couple other current news examples, is it a suspensionable offense for a talking head to call Anna Nicole a two bit whore or Pacman Jones a thug or criminal? Or perhaps referring to Rosie Odonnell as a loud mouth bitch? Certainly these types of statements roll out over the airwaves every single day.

Where does the line get drawn? And does the overreaction going on here draw that line a little closer than we really want?

 

Getting very warm.

This is a slick incline to be sure.

 

Yes, I agree he has made millions and millions of dollars over a lifetime. Yes, Imus does a good job of being Imus. I don't see how this is relevant to anything else in this thread, but congratulations.

 

Doesn't this issue now give Sharpton and Jackson the momentum to take on hip hop as well? It seems like they are on every talk show, every news show, every op ed page. If they decided to take this bigger NOW it might make a difference. And I agree that white kids buying degrading hip hop is the biggest source of the problem. So why not attack the stores that choose to sell the music? Attack the shows that promote the artists?

Isn't NOW the right time to protest NBC the next time a rapper who uses "ho/niggah/bitch" is on Saturday night live? Isn't this NOW the right time to attack companies that hirer rappers who use "ho/niggah/bitch" for their advertisements? (Bill O'Reilly tried this with Ludacris and Pepsi, but Bill O'Reilly is an idiot blowhard with no credibility in that demographic so it failed) Isn't NOW the right time to picket radio stations that play the music? Isn't NOW the right time to demand that sporting events refuse to play any music by an artist that uses ho/niggah/bitch? There is a lot of momentum right now, if Sharpton and Jackson really want to make a point that those words are completely unacceptable, they have the platform and attention that they've never had before.

 

Before this one gets locked, let me chime in that spnited's comments about the details of the press conference were very well done and intriguing, and for once, I agree that Whitlock's column was fantastic.

 

High time for this type of serious discussion in this country. Perhaps one day people will say "The good that came out of Imus' remarks was that ..." much the same way some attribute various positives to the fallout after the comments made by Campanis and Jimmy the Greek.

 

The good will be that old white men will stop making racial stereotypes and that young white men will stop defending them for their remarks. Maybe that will begin a long overdue change.

 

Sounds like a very good start, but I am hoping for more than that.

 

So am I.

 

Good work by whitlock, and not to diminish the excellent point of the column, but:

Doubtful Imus went home after making the remark, smacked himself in the head, and said, 'Good lord, I've been so deeply affected by prison culture! All those rap songs! They've made me crazy!'

Racism and sexism long preceded Snoop and Chappelle and 50 Cent....Imus said 'hos' but he might just as well have said 'pickaninnies' or 'coloreds.' You can change the lingo, but the insult (and the sting) is the same.

And as for the self-aggrandizing media pigs who inserted themselves into this, and the 'overblown' aspect of the coverage: there are millions of people today who would not have otherwise been thinking about 'nappy-headed hos' and racism on the airwaves and the broader impact of rap and prison culture.....and now they are. That is not altogether a bad thing. When whitlock wrote about the NBA ordeal, it was a sports story that barely grazed the national 'news' awareness. Imus has boosted that to a much broader level, and that's not a bad thing either.