Imus. Two Views

Personally, I don't care that this schlub has been canned. He was a schlub when he was on WISN/1130, he remains a schlub today--but he HAS donated time, money, and effort to a couple of good causes. So he's a decent sort of guy--but a schlub.

Why do I say that? Because he did not elevate the 'culture' with his gig. He may not have seriously degraded the culture--but he certainly didn't elevate it.

It's not a "freedom of speech" issue, as Jib noted. He said what came to his mind, and the networks' owners did what came to their minds.

Should he have been canned? I don't think so. CBS and MS/NBC would have done just fine with or without him. A two-week suspension (and salary adjustment) would have been sufficient, in my mind. But then, I never listened--after a few weeks I turned him off at WISN, too.

But here's an interesting take from a columnist in the KC Star:

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

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

...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.

...[Jesse, Al]... 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.

...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.

The tragedy continues.

HT: Betsy's Page