I Come Not to Defend Imus...but to spread the blame
Imus was doing what he is paid to do. He was doing his job. He was doing what made him successful. He was fulfilling the role society offered him.
I don't defend what he does or even say he shouldn't get his comuppance. But I do feel that it is wrong that Imus is being dropped like a hot potato for insensitive, rude comments while Bill O'Reilly can tell American Jews to move to Israel if they don't like a Christian America and Ann Coulter can advocate terrorism and violence and largely get away with it.
Imus is a royal asshole. But that was what he was getting paid to be. Ann Coulter is getting paid to advocate violence. Bill O'Reilly is getting paid to advocate pogroms. They are each getting paid far more than I get paid to be a scientist.
This is what society values, if salaries are any indication. Assholes, terrorist advocates and anti-Semites. In the grand scheme of what is wrong in today's media, Don Imus ranks pretty minor in the long list of disgusting statements. He, at least, wasn't advocating violence.
A grad school friend of mine commented on the sexual assault charges against Mike Tyson: "We pay people to beat eachother up, then we are surprised when they are violent."
We pay people to be assholes, terrorist advocates and anti-Semites on the air...then we are surprised when they say things offensive.
Don Imus and his wife run a cattle ranch for children with cancer. They sell a line of foods where all the profits go to this ranch. They have designed cleaning products that are environmentally safer and safer for children than store brands, they sell them at cut rate prices to schools and hospitals and any profit they make goes to a center for pediatric oncology.
None of which excuses being an asshole. But if you are going to be paid to be an asshole, why not do good things with the money?
Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and the whole slew of terrorist advocates say far, far worse things and they do nothing of any social value with the money they are paid to be terrorist advocates.
Don Imus deserves to get lots of shit for what he says on the air. But many deserve it far more than him. And let's not forget that society was VALUING his being an asshole with cold hard cash. So why are we surprised when he is an asshole?
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intolerance | Media | society | Don Imus
IMUS should be fired
Submitted by Soylent Green (not verified) on 12 April 2007 - 8:04am.
if you agree with him than go live @ his ranch.
i think its fine that free speech exists.
but if people want to be a mob about it its because they understand the history of racism in america.
i don't think the female and black activists have gone too far. all i have to say is Emmet Till. All he did was whistle at a white woman and he was beaten to death.
Now that is going to far.
Violence with Racism is going to far.
Peacefully protesting racism and sexism, that is what good citizens of the US do.
That's how we make a better world.
Imus isn't helping. So if society says we don't want racism anymore, let them. It's not a bad idea.
Imus, Bias, Devils, & Heaven
Submitted by Daniel DiRito on 12 April 2007 - 11:18am.
Frankly, we are fast becoming the epitome of a Jerry Springer society. It seems to have become more important to have an audience and notoriety when confronting conflict than it is to attain resolve and mutual respect. That model seems to serve the needs of the exploited and those who seek to exploit; reinforcing all that relegates objectivity to the outhouse while making the frailty and imperfection of the human condition a spectacle that harkens back to the Coliseum.
This situation isn’t and shouldn’t be about whether liberals or conservatives, this race or that race, hip hop or honky-tonk, one group or another, are more offensive and therefore more responsible for all that is wrong with America. I am not capable of judging the whole of Don Imus nor am I capable of crafting a recipe to fix all of America…and neither are the countless pundits and partisans who have sought to frame it so.
I’m not a religious person…but I often find kinship with the imagery surrounding the portrayal of one called Jesus and his teachings of understanding and forgiveness. For all the banter I hear about the Bible and Christian values, it certainly seems to me that we are fast abandoning what many view as the sacred “tablets†in favor of the sacrosanct tabloids. If I’m right, all I can say is heaven help us.
Read more about the dynamics that lead a situation to become larger than the sum of its parts…here:
These days broadcast
Submitted by minjofromcocomo on 16 April 2007 - 8:23am.
These days broadcast networks seem to care more about ratings and a "newsworthy" story then giving Americans an accurate portrayal of the country we live in. I am not condoning what Imus did, but Howard Stern says all kinds of things and you don't see him being fired.
Imus Fired by MSNBC
Simulcast kaput. The radio show is under sponsor pressure:
MSNBC Pulls the Plug. . ."