Much Ado About Imus ?

[QUOTE=Puckstop31]
.... Is this really that big a deal?
yes puckstop it is a big deal. for an "entertainer" to insult young women who are doing what society asks of them...to excel at academics and athletics and to call them hos, is a big deal. those young women did nothing to deserve his verbal abuse. he took what was a great week for them and tried to make it a dirty shameful joke by calling up old names. he would have been as wrong as if he had called a group of white, asian or indian women who excel at academics and athletics 'stringy haired whores.' it is just plain wrong. they are not public figures, just ivy league college students who play superior basketball.

[QUOTE=joycenalex]

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Originally Posted by Puckstop31

.... Is this really that big a deal?
yes puckstop it is a big deal. for an "entertainer" to insult young women who are doing what society asks of them...to excel at academics and athletics and to call them hos, is a big deal. those young women did nothing to deserve his verbal abuse. he took what was a great week for them and tried to make it a dirty shameful joke by calling up old names. he would have been as wrong as if he had called a group of white, asian or indian women who excel at academics and athletics 'stringy haired whores.' it is just plain wrong. they are not public figures, just ivy league college students who play superior basketball.

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and he is really no one special either. Why do people put so much stock into what "celebrities" say? They are paid to entertain... if they want to give out their thoughts on life... they can do so but it sure isn't going to effect my thinking one bit. They are paid to entertain me... they are nothing but circus monkeys they don't get to tell me what to think.

The only thing that made this a big deal and gave his words power was the reaction it got. If no one had paid attention he would have been on his own. Instead it was blown out of proportion and made into a huge deal. The media and the people listening were the ones that gave his words power. If they had just blown it off as "well he is just angry let him have his temper tantrum and dont' pay any attention" it would have been just that... a temper tantrum. He was out to get attention and he got it. No one's words can have power unless you ALLOW them to have power over you. I say he should have just been ignored.... he should have been left alone to stomp off to his room and pout.... but now he is getting tons of publicity because of it....and you know what they say in show business.... bad publicity is still good publicity. If he gets fired.... big deal... he will probably just get rehired somewhere else. after this... he is worth big ratings and companies will eat that up. It's like a trainwreck... you don't want to watch but you just can't help it. that is all this media circus has accomplished.

his words meant nothing until it was MADE into something.

Of course they didn't ask for it or deserve it... and in no way am I saying it is right or OK.... but it should have been ignored. If the school wanted to deal with it they can deal with it.... but giving him this publicity is likely not going to hurt him one bit in the long run. the only thing accomplished is telling the public what they already know about him. I doubt it makes the girls feel any better that this has been made into a huge story... they are now probably being hounded everyday by the press.... if it had just been ignored they could have just moved on and lived their lives without the press trying to contact them at all hours of everyday.

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Originally Posted by sparks19

Why do people put so much stock into what "celebrities" say? They are paid to entertain... They are paid to entertain me... that made this a big deal and gave his words power was the reaction it got. His words meant nothing until it was MADE into something.

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what his words were was a verbal slap at several high achieving young women, who are private citizens. he, as you rightly point out is an entertainer, and his words were 'entertainment' for a hopefully small subset; he chose and used not so subtle code words in describing highly gifted and achieving young women that he found scary. he's still in the wrong, and his last apology should be to those private citizens and their parents

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Originally Posted by joycenalex

what his words were was a verbal slap at several high achieving young women, who are private citizens. he, as you rightly point out is an entertainer, and his words were 'entertainment' for a hopefully small subset; he chose and used not so subtle code words in describing highly gifted and achieving young women that he found scary. he's still in the wrong, and his last apology should be to those private citizens and their parents

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No argument there. The only thing I am saying is that this whole media circus this has resulted in has probably only made life for those girls even MORE miserable. it's hard to move on and live your life when this is being rubbed in your face everyday and everyone wants a sound bite or an interview from you. I imagine school work gets hard with a contant stream of people who just saw your face on the news and want the scoop. if he is scared or threatened.... let him be threatened. If someone was that intimidated by my accomplishments I would feel good about that to be honest.... sure his words were hurtful but in a case such as this... you have to consider the source ;)

sparks! high five! we agree! and i'd really like to be there and invisible when he meets the parents, the b-ball players and vivian stringer (a very capable woman)

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Originally Posted by joycenalex

sparks! high five! we agree! and i'd really like to be there and invisible when he meets the parents, the b-ball players and vivian stringer (a very capable woman)

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LOL High five indeed. We may have gotten to the same conclusion different ways lol but we both made it to the same point :D

yes it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall. I just hope that it can be a private apology and not turned into a publicity stunt. it won't mean anything if that happens.

Well, this will probably get me kicked out of here but here is my opinion on the whole thing.

Imus has a show on one radio station and had a show on a t.v. station. If you don't like him or what he has to say - change the channel. It worked for me.

And how many radio stations are there that play rap music 24 hours a day with lyrics much more denegrating to women in general and African American women in particular. Then there are the comedians like Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Steve Harvey, Martin Lawrence and others who's names I can't remember. I sure don't see the "Rev" Sharpton standing on his soap box and denouncing them.

So, why is it then when a white man sticks his foot in his mouth, the African American community is "outraged" and calls for him to be fired. I sure haven't heard that kind of "outrage" when some "gangster" rap song sells a million copies.

Sorry - but until the AA community steps up and takes responsiblity for what comes out of their mouth and stops using the whole - "we were brought here against our will as slaves" excuse for everything - then I find it hard to be angry at a white man for speaking before he thinks.

As for the companies that pulled their advertising dollars from Imus's show - I will be taking their double standard approach to things into consideration next time I go looking to buy big ticket items.

Breaking news on CNN - Imus' radio show is cancelled!

After over 40 years on the radio, saying bad and good things, he's through.

I don't agree with what he said, but I'm not sure he should have been fired for it...... :confused:

Anyway, he'll probably just go to satellite radio like Howard Stern. Those who like him will continue to listen, those who don't like him won't. Amazing how much Howard Stern has dropped off the radars of the politically correct sign going satellite......

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Originally Posted by Tubby & Peanut's Mom

Breaking news on CNN - Imus' radio show is cancelled!

After over 40 years on the radio, saying bad and good things, he's through.

I don't agree with what he said, but I'm not sure he should have been fired for it...... :confused:

Anyway, he'll probably just go to satellite radio like Howard Stern. Those who like him will continue to listen, those who don't like him won't. Amazing how much Howard Stern has dropped off the radars of the politically correct sign going satellite......

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I kind of agree.... I mean... people have said and done far worse and haven't been fired over it. Like Rosie O' Donnell :D lol she always has something stupid to say and that fued with the Donald was nothing but childish and stupid (on both parts). but her big mouth brings in the ratings so they aren't gonna can her.

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Originally Posted by sparks19

Like Rosie O' Donnell :D lol she always has something stupid to say

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Not to get change the subject from Imus to Rosie, but since we have time on our hands lately, I've been watching her show in the mornings when we're around and most of what she says is not stupid, but well thought out and right on the mark.....in my opinion of course. ;)

There have been African-American pastors and other leaders protesting the content, violence and misogyny of rap music for a long time. It just doesn't get mainstream press play, sadly.

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Originally Posted by Karen

There have been African-American pastors and other leaders protesting the content, violence and misogyny of rap music for a long time. It just doesn't get mainstream press play, sadly.

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Exactly. The media presents what is expedient for their agenda at the time. I am not crying for Imus or anyone else who is intolerant and loses their job. That being the case, though, I could, however, add a few names to those I'd like to see booted off the mainstream airwaves.

Kooks will always have their followers unfortunately, and his followers will follow him.

:) On the Internet just noted CBS has officialy fired him all together with the Radio show too.. You know MSNBC fired him on TV show last night..

[QUOTE=sparks19]

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Originally Posted by joycenalex

The only thing that made this a big deal and gave his words power was the reaction it got. If no one had paid attention he would have been on his own. Instead it was blown out of proportion and made into a huge deal. The media and the people listening were the ones that gave his words power.

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But, how did that originally get started, how did it come out that people were offended by what he said? He said something inappropriate and it very quickly became huge.

I happened to read another very interesting opinion on Imus's firing. It's
a little long but makes a good point.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/BothS...3030080&page=1