I don't know if any of you have been keeping up with this Don Imus issue and the Rutgers womens basketball team.......I didn't listen or hear the actual comments....to be honest, I am not a Don Imus fan. Apparently some comments were made on his morning show that referred to the Rutgers players as "nappy headed ho's"........When I heard about it I didn't think too much of it nor was I terribly surprised about it....after all this is the same guy that Howard Stern idolized then over took as he was coming up in radio. Today on NBC focused on the situation this morning and I found myself shaking my head.......I don't condone for a second what was said...and again I am not a Don Imus fan so I don't want it to seem as if I am defending him.....but the parade of so called leaders of the black community....and I call them this because these are the situations they live for....the Al Sharpton's and Rev. Jackson's of the world.....they act as though they don't want a derogatory word ever uttered.....when in reality if that were to happen they would be out of a job.
So on Today, Rev. Al Sharpton and Don Imus were on at the same time.....and apparently Imus went on Sharpton's radio show yesterday and got abused but Big Al refused to go on Imus's show...classy.....anyway....during the debate this morning I found Imus making some good points....again, not defending him, or what was said......He has been suspended for two weeks and he said he thought that was fair.....but Al thinks it's not enough and that he should be fired because if he is not it means that it is acceptable to be racist.....
Here is the issue.....and Imus said this.....it seems that it's only "wrong" if it comes out of a white person's mouth....Imus told Sharpton that the phrase used originated in the black community and that he knew it.....his question was....what is the difference?......Al, of course had no answer and changed the subject.......and the other thing to me is that Don Imus has been doing this for 35 years....he hasn't re-invented himself......nobody has to listen to him......the problem with censorship is growing in my opinion......that doesn't mean I agree with everything that is printed, broadcast or blogged...but I do have the freedom to not listen or read and I think that freedom of free speech is NOT exclusive to PC topics or terms.
Now, as a Christian....I know that there is no one on the face of the earth that I am more important than in the eyes of God....and I desire to live my life in that way. Where this country has come from as far race is concerned is tragic and I know that....but sometimes it seems to me that what we see from out "news" outlets and the puppets they put in front of us is nothing more than perception that they try to pass off as truth........must be a slow news day.
Bottom line is this......I don't agree at all with the types of comments at the heart of this issue, however I do agree with the freedom to say them......I do not think what I watched this morning is the true story as it happens in life....outside of a television studio....as Christians I think it is our duty to bridge the true gap that we experience in our own lives everyday in a Calvary like love.......beyond that I'm not sure what else to do.
5 comments:
Weighing in. Imus is free to say what he wants to say, just as his employers are also free to can him, and his advertisers are free to abandon him (and would be wise to do so).
Imus is a blowhard like Howard Stern who adds nothing of substance to the world. When your business is to shock people you've got to know that you have be a little cruder/offensive today than yesterday or else it's not shocking any more. It's only a matter of time before the wrong person/group is offended by what you are doing.
The outcry is legitimate in many ways, but for me, it's a little overblown. The condemnation of what Imus said has been virtually universal. Sharpton and others are saying that this is proof of the continuing racism that is such a huge problem in our country. I think it's proof of just the opposite. I have yet to hear any mainstream person defend his comments. His comments are unwelcome and unacceptable by the vast majority of Americans. Perhaps, his comments came from a latent belief, deep down in his heart, but more likely than not, he was just being provocative and trying to evoke a strong reaction by being his nasty self.
"In the multitude of words there lacks not sin." How can these guys who talk for 3 or 4 hours a day not step in it from time to time. In no way am I excusing his comments. I believe he should be relegated to obscurity and someone with a little more substance should fill his spot.
In all of this, Who is harmed and Who benefits? Imus: Irrevocably harmed. Al Sharpton (and others who make a living expoiting racist incidences) Benefited. Rutgers Women: Unharmed. Yes, the comments wer offensive, but seeing that no one buys into them there really is no real harm done. Race Relations: Harmed. The same white guilt that makes folks want to apologize to nonslaves, because someone else once had slaves rears its head again. Sharpton does not have reconciliation as his goal; You cannot simultaneously exploit a situation and pursue reconciliation. Imus should be the only one who comes away battered and bruised, but sadly that's not how this will play out. More thoughts but it is meeting time.
I know its cliche, but assume a Princeton team were playing and a black radio personality called them a bunch of slow footed, crew-cutted, dorks. He could even say WHITE dorks and it would get little response. What would get even less of a response would be for him to say they are a bunch of dumb guys who can jump really high because there would be no truth to that. TRUTH - that's it really. A measure of truth today...that's the most offensive thing you can say in America. Something is not a positive trait and bring attention to it - well, you've just done the most offensive thing you can do in our society.
Aaaahhhh! I can't take the political correct crap!!! We should be free to say what we want and yes, free to fire employees for whatever the reason. But what is wrong here is that we've created an artificial ethic, that is by definition, unethical.
To have a system of values where the most serious breach gets the harshest punishment is inherently human and right. Does anyone remember the scenario that I posted where a guy bribed a customer? The fact that people don't see this with EASE clearly illustrates a dangerous trend, created by pluralistic, "tolerant" society.
It is not tolerance, nor cultural sensitivity that I abhor. It is giving it a place of importance that it doesn't have that angers me. PEDOPHILES ARE MORE ACCEPTED IN OUR SOCIETY THAN PEOPLE WHO OFFEND MINORITIES WITH WORDS THAT AREN'T EVEN OFFENSIVE!!! WHAT THE HELL HAVE WE BECOME???
Very plainly, we've replaced God's right and wrong with a new one, and I'm not talking scripture, I'm talking the "Mere Christianity", we all have it in us, right and wrong.
We've so institutionalized feather-weight sensitivity, the very mention of race is to be avoided. The picketing outside NBC and the posturing by Jackson is immoral. Crafty and effective, but immoral. What choice does the corporate world have in the face of this power? None, in part because they've helped create it by not standing up to irresponsible litigation. It has been established - misplaced though it may be, that free speech, if offensive to any number of people groups, deserves radical retaliation. I'm a little tired of people saying, "No one told him he couldn't say it, he'll just get fired for it" and tell me that is not de facto, a violation of one's free speech. Screw the legal stuff. It's wrong. Period. For a group to just be sitting there, ready for someone else's mistaken words to bring them publicity and money. The civil rights movement? Please. A bunch of con men and shake down artists. They're gangsters, sanctioned by America's new society of bowing to the slightest pressure, and we all just sit by and helplessly watch as America becomes a police state. Only it isn't the SS - its the speech police.
Name calling, as my mother taught me, means nothing. It is neither something to dwell on nor is it something to punish unnecesarily. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."
I guess she was wrong.
I think one of the things that is so glaring to me is the fact that people only get offended when it's there people group that has been "attacked". In other words.....I have yet to hear a Hispanic, Gay, Native American or any other group talk about this issue....I dare to assume that we would not be hearing from the Sharpton/Jackson's if Imus had been talking about the women's basketball team from the University of The Cherokee Nation and had called them "nappy headed injuns"...they wouldn't care.....the fact that the comments were also degrading to women has seemed like an after thought in all the coverage I have seen...."This was racial......oh and it degraded women too"
So are all these people really concerned with ALL forms of discrimination....or only the one that concerns their own people group...or the one they can get mileage out of.....to me this is the bigger problem.....the polarization.....Michael Irvin says Tony Romo is only athletic because somewhere in his heritage someone slept with a slave...I don't remember ESPN getting the kind of heat that NBC/CBS are getting.....Why?? Nobody rushed to Tony Romo or White America's defense......GLAAD, NAACP, Native American's.....nobody.....so that makes me think that all these people who say they are so concerned with these types of issues are really only situationally concerned....and that means that this kind of thing is not going away and never will....because it's not about what they say it's about....it's about leverage.
And this is what makes it even more important for Christians to carry out God's direction to love others as themselves......It's what will set us apart.
Jason Whitlock from the Kansas City star gives a great article. i agree with him. also, i think CBS and MSNBC should be taken to the carpet for firing him after sponsored pull out and not imediatley...this shows it is all about the $$$
http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html
As a follow up, I have heard enough about Imus on 790 and other places to form an opinion that he is pretty much a scumbag. They read direct quotes from him that were slanderous and down right nasty. He's a turd, of that I have no doubt.
But that really isn't the issue, is it? And therin continues my point. We've raised the bar so crazily on race that you CAN get away with ranting on the air about someone, telling lies that may indeed be tortious, and that is analyzed legally and objectively. "Well, did it breach the free speech exceptions..."
But say nappy headed whatever and now you've done the unpardonable ... you've caused hurt feelings.
Great googly moogly.
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