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Last week, I did my best to ignore all the media hype around the Imus stuff. Media usually hypes the wrong issues and Don Imus had become irrelevant to me (and many others I believe). However, after
watching this YouTube clip and reading this, Imus became relevant again, and I could see why so many were
so upset. I went back and read, watched and listened to everything I could get my hands on.
Here’s what the Reverend Al Sharpton had to say when Imus was fired: “We
cannot afford a precedent established that the airways can be used to
commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism. But they'll be no champagne bottle popping by those of us involved in this. This is not about gloating." Hearing that, I couldn't continue to listen to Reverend Al without a little judgment
of my own.
I don’t view Imus as part of “America’s soul."
And I certainly don’t think he knew 9/11 secrets.
He got fired because he made back-assward, ignorant, cruel statements, and
advertisers didn’t want to be associated with that. Case closed. It’s just that
the holier than thou attitude of Reverend Al and his posse bugs the hell out
of me, as it’s about as hypocritical as can be fathomed.
***Before I go any further, I want to say that I love rap
music. So, using it as an example below does not mean I want good old Reverend
Al to go after it. I hope and pray he doesn’t. Watered down rap is crap. (I
never said I was good at rapping. Just that I like it.) I just want to expose
his, in my opinion, HILARIOUS hypocrisy in his newfound quest to "make all it clear that no one should denegrate women or a specific race." He loves a good spotlight doesn’t he?
And second, I want to come clean that there was a time when I liked Imus. So,
take that at what it’s worth.***
Reverend Al went after Don Imus like Mark Foley heads to a
chat board full of 15 year old boys. And that would be fine with me, if Reverend
Al had any credibility to do so. I haven’t heard this vitriol from him
regarding rap music, which he has had years upon years to do. I never saw any press conferences with him going after
N.W.A. or Tupac or Eminem or R. Kelly (who, by the way, has done a whole lot more to
young black women other than insult them.)
Check these lyrics from
one of the top songs currently playing on the radio:
“Now Hit Da Dance Floor
Now Bend Your Back Low
She Do It Wit No Hands
Now Stop Pop And Roll
Im Smokin Bubba Hoe
Now Ya'll In Trouble Hoe
I Like Da Way She Move
An Undercover Hoe
Now Everybody Leanin…
…Grey Goose
Double Shots
It Will Let Your Body Go
My Niggas On My Side
Hatas Hatin Think It's Funny
Im Walkin On These Niggas
Now Im Gettin 2 Da Money
Froze On Dem Hoes
I'm Not Talkin Bout Dancin
Fool Count On Da Charm
Diamond Steady Steady Hancin”
I would argue that if Don Imus had merely read these words
on the air, and they had been original to him, then Reverend Al would’ve been
looking for a microphone faster than a pre-stomach stapled Al Roker went after a doughnut. (I do have to pause for a moment and laugh at the notion
of those lyrics being original to Don Imus.)
And I’m not the first person to make this comparison between
rap music and Imus. Obama did.
But perhaps Obama isn’t black enough in Reverend Al's mind to not see the hypocrisy.
Seriously, many are saying that rap is now next.
I could go on with other examples throughout rap, but here’s
the thing. As much as I love Obama and as much as I know that rap can be
intense, I think he’s wrong. I don’t want the dialogue stymied. I don’t want
censored rap. I don’t want R. Kelly to have to stay trapped in the closet.
I want true freedom of speech.
I just don’t get it. Why can’t we just change the channel?
Why can’t we just ignore the ignorance? I view Sean Hannity as basically having
the same intellect as a retarded giraffe, but I still think that he should be
allowed to say his piece. (My apologies to all retarded giraffes for the
comparison. Best I could do.) He’s definitely equally as closed minded and rude
as Imus, and yet advertisers keep on pushing products through him.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that every advertiser has
the right to advertise on whatever program they want. They aren’t required to
advertise on Imus. It’s their choice. Just like it’s CBS or MSNBC’s choice to
fire him. To me, though, it’s just that the whole situation is so completely
soaked in hypocrisy. For these advertisers or networks to act like they did not
know what they were getting into when the advertised/hired Imus just reeks of…um…well…bullshit.
Either they had never heard Imus before hiring/advertising
with him, meaning they are bad at their jobs, or they are lying in their shock
now. There really is no other option. The “well I knew he was a bad boy, but I
never knew he’d be that bad of a boy” defense smells like…well…reference above.
Look, what Imus did was despicable. As Jeff Greenfield said
to Hannah Storm, Imus’ crack was aimed at people who hadn’t brought it on and
couldn’t fight back. And picking on helpless people isn’t funny. (I guess
unless it’s South
Park doing it. Those guys
can make ANYTHING funny.) I would never try and defend Imus’ comments. They
were disgusting and wrong and cruel. I’m just trying to put them into context.
Imus loves pushing the envelope. His humor is, in a large part,
funny due to its despicability, and it really has never bothered me. But I’m not one who is
easily offended. For me, killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians in a needless
war is FAR more offensive than anything Don Imus could ever say.
It’s something else Greenfield
said in that interview that resonated. It’s that Imus’ comments especially
sounded bad to people who had never listened to Imus, and I’m just guessing
that most, if not all, of the Rutgers team had never heard Imus and knew
absolutely nothing about him. Thus, they had no context. Thanks to our media,
who loves a good shock story rather than a story of substance and importance,
everyone heard this clip 60,000 times. And while that DEFINITELY does not excuse what Imus said, anyone hear that the green zone was bombed this past week?
I guess it comes down
to this. I hate Ann Coulter. I wish she’d just go away. When I hear her speak,
she offends me. But I would fight like hell to keep it so she has a right to
speak freely. Just like I’d fight like hell for Bachem Macuno to be able to
respond.
That’s the essence of free speech in a free society. If you don’t want to participate,
change the channel, walk away, ignore it. As for me, I’ll be watching Dave
Chappelle,
South Park,
Sarah Silverman,
and Chris Rock and praying Reverend Al doesn’t get a hold of them too.
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