The Attack on Imus

[modestyblase]

You are warned that this will be vulgar and unrefined. I'll be drafting it tonight to submit to various news stations, the coach of the basketball team, etc...Certainly, I'll be dialing back the anger.

SO I *knew* turning on the news would render not intelligent media attention to the burgeoning african issues, most notably mugambe, or even the trade issues that are happening with and to china. Of course not! Certainly there is a reason I maintain my expensive subscriptions the Economist and the Spectator.

Instead of the waste of time known as the anna nicole coverage, we are now treated with "IMUS IS A RACST SEXIST PIG" coverage.
And to top this character assasination is MSNBC's and CBS's termination of his employment What the living hell is going on anymore? When has Imus every been anything but demeaning, harsh, and derogatory? He's made rude quips about every race, religion, etc. over the years. So he calls a basketball team "nappy" and "hos"?
SHAME ON YOU for being offended by that, you phonies.
HOW DARE YOU make a big deal out of something that DOESN'T WARRANT ATTENTION OR CREDIBILITY. In a world with as many problems as this one has, SHAME ON YOU for being such TRASH that you focus on this. GEE WERE THIS ENERGY GOING TO UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTAL(not feel-good, but fundamental) ISSUES FACING THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, OR THE
HARM OF GLOBALISATION, OR THE ISSUE OF UNITED STATES MERCENARY-BASED TERRORISM, WE COULD HAVE THIS WORLD ON THE RIGHT TRACK IN A YEAR! No joke, we really could.

But I digress.

The most alarming thing about this nonsense is that the girls on the Rutgers Basketball team should be celebrating their apparently ground breaking victory. INSTEAD they are being used as pawns to attack ONE MAN. It is despicable that they are being used in such a manner, and atrocious that no one is calling the coach, the black community, the politically correct idiots, and the media on this. Shame on all of you.

FURTHERMORE, WHAT DON IMUS SAID IS NOTHING THAT ISN'T OR HASN'T BEEN SAID "BEHIND CLOSED DOORS", as the saying goes. I live in Dallas, with all of its racial tension, and do enjoy the charms of successful older gentlemen; some of whom say far more unkind things than Imus said when they see really ungroomed individuals. If you knew what sucessful black men and women think of their ghetto brethren you would be shocked.

ALSO-you know, the entire basketball team isn't black. SHOCK, AWE! Certainly I cannot be the only one who has noticed.

Now on Imus specifically: IF YOU DON'T WATCH HIS SHOW WHY DO YOU CARE? WHY? GIVE ME A RESPECTABLE ANSWER THAT IS NOT VIOLATORY OF FREE SPEECH OR HIS LIBERTY TO BE AN ASS, AND I MAY LISTEN. Truthfully, I cannot STAND Imus. I think he is a rude republican asshole. I respect all that he does for charities(which btw all these p.c. people have interrupted, as he had a charity drive coming up-how irrespectable), and thats about all I know about him. But NO ONE should have to suffer because a collective of people display "fake outrage" over a NON ISSUE. "Freedom of speech is wonderful - right up there with the freedom not to listen" has apparently gone the way of the tenth amendment. EVERYONE who is displaying "outrage" over something as meaningless as WORDS(words lacking intent, at that) is not better than Dubya, his administration, and all others who play into putting limits on liberty.

This is a glaring and despicable example of liberal censorship. At least the republicans are up front when they censor. The liberals trick you into feeling guilty and prompt you to censor yourself.

Now to further play Devil's Advocate: Show me one member of the Rutger's basketball team who was well-groomed. Just one. If you can find one that can form complete sentences, articulate well, and properly enunciate the word "ask" you get extra points.

On a recent(or maybe not so recent) episode of Boston Legal, the character Alan Shore brought up a quote by Judge Learned Hand(an intriguing fellow-he somehow escaped me all these years, and his background and opinions are thos of an impressive man):
"Liberty lies in our hearts, and once it dies there, no constitution can save it." Everyone viciously attacking Imus has no liberty in their hearts; and perhaps that is why I am most angry. This is a damning example of just how little liberty lies in the heart of collective America.

Shame on everyone in this country.

Because when all is said and done, his right to be an ass remains, and *you* have all supported infringing on it.

[domer]

I take it you're a stupid person.

[_JS]

A few things.

the Rutgers Basketball team should be celebrating their apparently ground breaking victory

My alma-mater the University of Tennessee won the game and the national championship, not Rutgers (they actually lost). If anything the whole ordeal took a lot of sportswriter attention away from Coach Pat Summit and the Lady Vols. Also, I think that the Rutgers coach has handled herself very well with this issue.

most notably mugambe

It is 'Mugabe', I'm not a spelling nutter, but you said you were going to send it out as a letter.

This is a glaring and despicable example of liberal censorship.

Actually, the decisions were made at a corporate level and also by corporate sponsors of the show. I'm not sure how that is equated to "liberal" in the American sense of the term.

over something as meaningless as WORDS

Right! Go to Memphis and shout some of those "WORDS" as you walk down the streets and see just how "meaningless" they are. I'd be careful to push the philosophy of the mere abstractness of words here.

Show me one member of the Rutger's basketball team who was well-groomed. Just one. If you can find one that can form complete sentences, articulate well, and properly enunciate the word "ask" you get extra points.

Interesting that words went from being meaningless to having proper pronunciations. Regardless, find me a Southerner (including myself) who can say the words 'pen' and 'pin' with proper distinction (or 'gym' and 'gem'). Who cares? Beauty is subjective and why should women be expected to wear makeup and get their hair done before playing a basketball game? We are talking about an athletic competition where the player's goal is to win the game. Perhaps one of the women on the boards can explain why sports bras, tying hair back, and other practicalities of performing in athletics don't lend themselves to western standards of beauty. I think you and Imus might be confusing basketball with a beauty pageant.

Shame on everyone in this country.

Self-righteous claptrap. It sounds like the last few years of M*A*S*H when you just wanted to punch Alan Alda in the nose and hear a decent joke.


 

[modestyblase]

I take it that you're a backslapping politically correct censorist. I haven't been in the forum for awhile, domer, I forget your stance(s), inclinations, etc.
Arm tired yet?

I stand firm on my stance on Imus. He was saying what many, many, many successful men say "behind closed doors", regardless of race. I don't approve of insults, necessarily, but I also do not approve of the ridiculous amount of credibility given to a man notorious for playing the crotchety old white guy. The collective relieving of personal guilt through the attack of a man who does a great amount of good, decent, charitable work is appalling.

[Michael Tee]

<<Liberty lies in our hearts, and once it dies there, no constitution can save it." Everyone viciously attacking Imus has no liberty in their hearts; and perhaps that is why I am most angry. This is a damning example of just how little liberty lies in the heart of collective America.>>

Bullshit.  Where is this so-called liberty in your hearts that died the day Imus was fired?  Did it exist for hard-core pornographers?  Did it exist for neo-Nazi skinheads?  Were they given the same platform that Imus was given?  The same access to American homes?

<<GEE WERE THIS ENERGY GOING TO UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTAL(not feel-good, but fundamental) ISSUES FACING THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, OR THE
HARM OF GLOBALISATION, OR THE ISSUE OF UNITED STATES MERCENARY-BASED TERRORISM, WE COULD HAVE THIS WORLD ON THE RIGHT TRACK IN A YEAR! No joke, we really could.>>

Well  then don't worry, in a month everyone will have forgotten about Imus and then all their Imus-energy can be focused on those fundamental issues and the world will be on the right track in just another year.  Whew!

<<INSTEAD they [the team] are being used as pawns to attack ONE MAN. It is despicable that they are being used in such a manner, and atrocious that no one is calling the coach, the black community, the politically correct idiots, and the media on this. Shame on all of you.>>

Huh.  Maybe I got this wrong.  Did THEY attack Imus or did Imus attack THEM?    This is hilarious.  The black community are the victims of the attack, so what 's this?  Attack the victim day?  And the coach, the "politically correct idiots" and the media are defending the victims - - is this also attack the defenders of the victims day?  What's next?  Attack the Holocaust victims and the anti-Nazis who use them as pawns?  Brilliant.  Not.

<<FURTHERMORE, WHAT DON IMUS SAID IS NOTHING THAT ISN'T OR HASN'T BEEN SAID "BEHIND CLOSED DOORS", as the saying goes. >>

Great.  Now he'll be re-hired for sure.  I bet there are closet Nazis who could recite Mein Kampf verbatim "behind closed doors."  Guess that makes Nazis OK too.

<<I live in Dallas . . . >>

Ahhhh.  Now I understand.  Thank you for writing.

[domer]

Yes, stupid.

[modestyblase]

_JS: Actually, yes, there are several men and women in the south who can properly say "pen" and "pin". In regards to the resounding number who cannot, it is still a far cry from the mangling of "ask" into "akst".

I was speaking of the Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugambe. I, perhaps, should have clarified this.

I disagree that she has handled herself well. Surely, though, she has enjoyed her fifteen minutes. Any accomplishments those girls had were not undermined by Imus' comments, they were undermined by the unrelenting media and the coach. They may be "too young" and "lack a public outlet"(both arguments fall on their face, they actually had very impressive outlets), but they are also to young to realize when they are being manipulated.

As for the "advertisers pulled out and so it was a business decision" argument-that is a joke. No savvy media analyst would pull the plug on a popular show without allowing bounce-back time, the most obvious example being Politically Incorrect. Certainly what Bill Maher said frightened advertisers, and ABC allowed for a substantial bounce back period-he never recovered, and they let him go. Imus would have been able to do what Maher could not-pull back his conservative base and gain advertising dollars again. Furthermore, the president of NBC even said it was a matter of moral/symbolic issues(in the most phony and self-aggrandizing manner I have seen in some time), alluding to staffers making sentiments along the lines of "Gee, I can think of how I'd feel if someone said that about my child".

Words are meaningless. Only you can personally contorl their power over you. I worked in corporate america longer than I cared to admit. I was never willing to dress down or think down and as such was ostracized by nearly all women, and a decent amount of men. I've been called more names and have been attacked verbally many times over. After awhile, I realized it was the shortcomings of others that prompted their words, and for the last seven years I've remained largely unaffected.
Also, I would say there is a difference between meanings and the assaignation of meaning in words, and their actual linguistic mechanics.

Yes, its self righteous. I'm getting sick of oversensitivity, and have been since the 90's. Maybe it's the effects of playing hard in a man's world, but man-alive: Grow up already(not necessarily directed towards you, but the general citizenry).

MichaelTee:  "Bullshit.  Where is this so-called liberty in your hearts that died the day Imus was fired?  Did it exist for hard-core pornographers?  Did it exist for neo-Nazi skinheads?  Were they given the same platform that Imus was given?  The same access to American homes?"
You will have to clarify. Too many presumptions can be pulled as to what you mean. To answer as I see it, yes: Hardcore pornographers can do as they wish. I can choose to validate them or not. Skinheads can exist. I can choose to ignore them or not. The issue of platform is a seperate argument, and one to tokenly liberal to bother addressing.

"Well  then don't worry, in a month everyone will have forgotten about Imus and then all their Imus-energy can be focused on those fundamental issues and the world will be on the right track in just another year.  Whew!"
You have taken my words out of context. The Imus issue is but one of many that people focus on and put incredible energy into-others being OTHER race issues, abortion, marriage-that prevent and hinder any real progress.

They attacked Imus. I could care less about what he says, I could care less about anything anyone says. It only gains credibility when it becomes something productive(do not confuse that with positive in the sense of happy joy no offense). If this is a "black issue" than it is only a "black issue" by their own instigation. Not to belabor the obvious any further, but it does speak of a low collective self-esteem to hear the words "nappy ho's" and immediately consider race as opposed to gender.

Now on vicitmization: I am SO SICK of the amounts of people who use their victim-as-the-victimizer status to destroy and control. I really can't narrow down which group owns the "victim" patent, but this society is being destroyed by this. We've already been the ONLY NATION in HISTORY to continually lower our standards academically and socially to allow groups of people to "rise above", and it has never been to any good end. Using the victim-victimizer arguments onyl prolongs and validates such a sad turn of events.

And so, Michael Tee, perhaps we can hold you as a bastion of all good and decent and proper; surely, you have never uttered any insult or degradation, or thought one, ever, at any point, in your life. Were we all so immune to being human!

[_JS]

Actually, yes, there are several men and women in the south who can properly say "pen" and "pin". In regards to the resounding number who cannot, it is still a far cry from the mangling of "ask" into "akst".

Why is it different?

I was speaking of the Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugambe. I, perhaps, should have clarified this.

I know. His name is Robert Gabriel Mugabe. He was a one time friend of Joshua Nkomo, but they had a falling out and he led ZANU after a leadership squabble with Ndabaningi Sithole. I'm rather sure we are talking about the same person, but I am equally sure that he spells his name without any 'm.'

Any accomplishments those girls had were not undermined by Imus' comments, they were undermined by the unrelenting media and the coach.

That does not change the fact that Rutgers did not win!

As for the "advertisers pulled out and so it was a business decision" argument-that is a joke.

It may be humorous, but it does not change the fact that advertisers did remove their support.

Words are meaningless.

Then it is truly remarkable that we are able to reply to one another's posts

I'm getting sick of oversensitivity, and have been since the 90's. Maybe it's the effects of playing hard in a man's world, but man-alive: Grow up already(not necessarily directed towards you, but the general citizenry).

But the other side of the coin is that, isn't it telling that American society is willing to listen to people like Imus, Stern, Limbaugh, etc? I mean, as opposed to listening to decent and sensible people?

[modestyblase]

  I realize Rutgers did not win(only after you informed me, however, so you are right in that it took the limelight off a group of girls far more deserving); thats why I said "any accomplishments".

&you are correct on the Mugabe misspelling. I'll chalk it up to a blonde moment.

I maintain that issues of dialect are different than issues of enunciation. Bostonians pahrtay as opposed to party. A drawl is not the same thing as being unable to properly enunciate. In fact, it is such an issue that the law firm my best friend works for fired someone for not going to a diction coach to fix their enunciation issues. Yet, the lawyers that drawl(or, shudder-inducing as it is, twang) can still say "ask", it may sound more like "ayesk"(i'm trying, work with me here) or "ahsk" but it still fits the rules of enunciation.

As for the advertising thing, again: anyone smart, paying attention to business and not the "moral"/"racial" aspect of this issue, would have granted someone as popular as Imus the bounce back period to see if in fact he could do it. After all, ABC did let Bill Maher go(longer than was sound, at that).

"Then it is truly remarkable that we are able to reply to one another's posts" Pish 

"But the other side of the coin is that, isn't it telling that American society is willing to listen to people like Imus, Stern, Limbaugh, etc? I mean, as opposed to listening to decent and sensible people?"
Yes, it is very telling indeed. I am opposed to it(which is why I watch MSNBC, Maher and such for entertainment and not for anything I consider "serious" news, and stick to the Economist, Spectator, Foreign Affairs, etc for "real" news), and have long maintained that the casualization that occured last century-the source of this casualization tends to be a debatable topic of its own-coupled with lowering standards that have progressively gone lower and lower is a big factor as to why what once remained respectably behind closed doors is now showing its ugly face out in the open.
It reminds me of something a good friend who happens to be jewish told me when I asked why he would rip apart Israel "behind closed doors" but get outraged when it was mentioned in public debate: "You know, our history is a sensitive issue. When you politicize something so deeply personal to us, to me, I have every right to be outraged."

[Lanya]

Hmm.   
  He's rich, he is not going to be hurting from lack of funds.
  It's what happens when someone goes too far.  And he did.  I felt horrible for those girls.  I've got neighbors who are black.  Their daughters are on baseball and basketball teams, and are lovely and talented girls.  I kept thinking, what if someone attacked my neighbor's girls like that? Or my sons?  It got personal, and personal attacks by someone in power are wrong.
  This was an attack on a certain team of girls, not public figures who get attacked all the time, but private citizens who are going to a very good college, are smart and good athletes.  They didn't do anything wrong.  Imus did. Case closed. 

[BT]

Looks like in the end the only ones to suffer will be the recipients of Imus's charities. Many of them minorities themselves

Ah yes, the law of unintended consequences rears its ugly head.

[Lanya]

That is a huge shame.
A shame he could have prevented had he thought about it, and balanced how important the charities were to him and more importantly, to the recipients.

[Amianthus]

That is a huge shame.
A shame he could have prevented had he thought about it, and balanced how important the charities were to him and more importantly, to the recipients.

And it's also a shame that people would crucify him for one stupid comment.

[BT]

That is a huge shame.
A shame he could have prevented had he thought about it, and balanced how important the charities were to him and more importantly, to the recipients.

I'm sure the children will understand. Perhaps as they age they will understand the importance of symbolism and maybe even one day feel the warm glow of blood on the fangs sanctimony.

[Lanya]

Very weird to see that Imus is now being portrayed as the poor, woebegone victim. 
Almost makes me understand how women in some countries are expected to kill themselves if they're raped, because of the shame they brought to their families.  Almost.
In this case:  Blame the victims.  Blame anyone but the person responsible, if he's a white male.   Blame the liberals, they're all the owners of those big companies: Geico, Head-On, Bigelow....oh wait, they aren't. 

No wonder the team is getting hate mail.  (His wife says to send it to her husband.)