Much Ado About Imus ?

[Pam]

I have never watched or heard Imus before. One night years ago I tuned in Larry King and he was filling in for him. I changed the channel. I find so many people on TV, and on the radio, insulting that to me it seemed like just another jerk shooting off his mouth. I personally just don't watch or listen to them. (Side note: I have no idea why people find Howard Stern appealing. )

I am more offended by the fact that he called them *Ho's* (sp?) That reflects on someone's character. Whether or not they were nappyheaded, though it was a statement meant to inflame, doesn't bother me at all. I think it is a women's issue more than a racial issue. JMHO How about Big Mouth Rosie O'Donnell making comments about The Donald's hair? That all quickly went by the wayside. I feel that if a big thing is made out of something it extends the life of the event. This event with Imus is getting way too much attention. People like him and others who just want to inflame and incite will always have their listeners. We all have a button we can use to turn them off. That's what I would do. Though my hubby thought it a nasty thing to say, his first comment was "what happened to free speech?"

[Puckstop31]

Isn't "Political Correctness" fun?

Yes, Imus is a doofus for saying what he said, he should certainly know better than that. Further, he was REALLY dumb for going on Sharpton's show. Talk about going into the Lion's den. I wonder what he hoped to accomplish there?

But, (there always is one, eh?) come on people.... Is this really that big a deal? I can only imagine the smile that went across Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson's face when they heard this. Another opportunity to get their face's in front of a camera and scream bloody murder. People of color, can't you see that people like them only keep you "down"? They KEEP the color of our skin a issue because it benefits them. Can anybody else see the insanity of that?

As for the term "Nappy" and/or "Nappy Headed"... In the Army, in the field, you hear those terms 50 times a day, across races. Why? Because after a week of fun in the sun with no showers you were, well, NAPPY. LOL (Short, but unshaven heads...sweat, dirt, wearing a helmet 20 hours a day....)

Does anybody else find it strange that a group of people can claim ownership of the use of certain words?

[Puckstop31]

Here come the thought police... You had to know this was coming.

Al Sharpton.. "'It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms the airwaves..."

R.I.P Freedom of Speech.

[joycenalex]

[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.

[sparks19]

[QUOTE=joycenalex]

.... 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.

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.

[joycenalex]

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.

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

[sparks19]

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

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

[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)

[cassiesmom]

[QUOTE=sparks19]

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.

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.

[lizbud]

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

[finn's mom]

By Jason Whitlock

Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You've given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You've given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we're fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I'm sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent's or Snoop Dogg's or Young Jeezy's latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain't saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don't have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It's embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I'm no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn't do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should've been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it's only the beginning. It's an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we're supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers' wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don't listen or watch Imus' show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it's cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they're suckers for pursuing education and that they're selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I'll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you're not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There's no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

[sparks19]

I have never watched or heard Imus before. One night years ago I tuned in Larry King and he was filling in for him. I changed the channel. I find so many people on TV, and on the radio, insulting that to me it seemed like just another jerk shooting off his mouth. I personally just don't watch or listen to them. (Side note: I have no idea why people find Howard Stern appealing. )

I am more offended by the fact that he called them *Ho's* (sp?) That reflects on someone's character. Whether or not they were nappyheaded, though it was a statement meant to inflame, doesn't bother me at all. I think it is a women's issue more than a racial issue. JMHO How about Big Mouth Rosie O'Donnell making comments about The Donald's hair? That all quickly went by the wayside. I feel that if a big thing is made out of something it extends the life of the event. This event with Imus is getting way too much attention. People like him and others who just want to inflame and incite will always have their listeners. We all have a button we can use to turn them off. That's what I would do. Though my hubby thought it a nasty thing to say, his first comment was "what happened to free speech?"

Are you reading my mind? gEt out of there.... you never know what you might find lol. Seriously though I was just going to say the same thing.... the only thing that gave his words any power was the publicity it got. If they ahd just ignored it and let it fall by the wayside it wouldn't have been a big deal. people just want to complain these days and that is what this story is really all about. Sure he said some things that maybe he shouldn't have..... but I think we have all said some things that we later thought "DOH I shouldn't have said that" but it didn't become the top news story for a week. The press gave his words power.... otherwise it would have amounted to nothing.

[Freedom]

I have never liked Imus. I think the standards for the air waves need to be higher, and that he is one of many who push the standard lower and lower.

As for this particular event? To me, it is just more Imus. Glad this one finally did get him off TV.

[lvpets2002]

Thank you Freedom.. Took the words out of my mouth.. I never liked him & didnt even know his name until now..

I have never liked Imus. I think the standards for the air waves need to be higher, and that he is one of many who push the standard lower and lower.

As for this particular event? To me, it is just more Imus. Glad this one finally did get him off TV.

[Puckstop31]

Thank you Freedom.. Took the words out of my mouth.. I never liked him & didnt even know his name until now..

Not to nitpick... But how can you dislike somebody you admittedly don't even know?