‘Imus’ show is how normal people talk.’
By on Apr 13th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
‘Imus’ show is how normal people talk.’
National Review’s John Derbyshire reprints an email which he describes as the “wisest thing I’ve heard yet on the Imus scandal“: “Imus is an institution. Imus’ show is how normal people talk. … Imus being fired feels like a part of America has died and we’re moving closer to the modern day sanitized England.”
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I love the smell of right-wing hurbis in the morning.
Smells like…victory.
Yup, sure is. Why, I think the Republican candidate in 2008 should lead off with a tribute to Imus, and then promise not to withdraw from Iraq.
Than all the normal people will lsupport him.
Also, I do not wish to be thrown into a briar patch.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pmThank god I’m not normal
April 13th, 2007 at 12:09 pm“Imus is an institution. Imus’ show is how normal people talk. … Imus being fired feels like a part of America has died and we’re moving closer to the modern day sanitized England.â€
But say something bad about Christians, and hear ‘em squeal. They want to be able to both attack those they deem deviant, and play the hapless victim when called on it.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:10 pmDerb admits he has never heard Imus but he opines that Imus says only things normal people say. OK fine. Is he married? If so, we should tell him his wife is a “ho”. After all – we do want to say only what normal people say.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:11 pmImus is the way “normal” Repuke redneck racist bigots talk.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:13 pmI consider myself to be pretty normal and I sure as hell don’t talk like that.
Maybe “the Derb” really meant a normal, racist, mysogynistic, right-wing hack like himself.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:14 pmInstitution?? Have these people seen Imus’s ratings? No one listens to or watches the guy. They wouldn’t have fired him if he was pulling in large audiences.
I think this is another example of the pundit universe. I think a lot of the puntidts and politicians listen to Imus and think that means the rest of the country does too.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:14 pmWake Up and Smell the Hegemony!
April 13th, 2007 at 12:15 pmImus will be back on the air, albeit in much reduced standing. I think a good background track for his next big gig would be the old Harry Chapin tune, “W. O. L. D.”
April 13th, 2007 at 12:16 pmMaybe we can clean up all the black rap music now too?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:17 pmJake, quit hatin’ ‘n’ shut yo cracka ass
Censorship is for Commies, and Imus got dropped because his own fans turned against him, not because Tipper Gore got pissed off
No one likes PC hippies, even if they’re Democrats
April 13th, 2007 at 12:20 pmI am a black woman and no that is not how normal people talk, it is the way low-classs black men, who have no respect for themselves nor anyone else talks. It is the way these so-called “rappers” talk and speak of black females and it has made its way into the mainstream. So much so that Imus felt he could say it also. It is a digusting double standard that the black community should address. Why go after Imus and not go after these filthy rappers and comedians that make millions degrading not only black women, but degrade our whole society.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:22 pmEngland…sanitized? That’s funny. Apparently this guy has not been to England. I have. I really enjoyed my visits, but sanitary is not a word that comes to mind in describing the country — neither physically nor verbally.
The decision to fire Imus was a business decision based on money. It wasn’t a government mandate. And these folks consider themselves capitalists?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:23 pmImus thought he was Robert Redford with a wry sense of humor.
Wrong!
He was recently bragging about his trophy wife.
Think about that.
He believes women are trophies.
That pretty much sums up a waste of time & manhood, eh?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pmUnfortunately the writer is right. That is how people talk and think and act. Just go into a restaurant and listen. Many people feel he did nothing wrong. Until you ask them what they would think if you called their daughter a nappy headed ho of course.
The writer is correct in so much as that’s the way people think and act but that hardly excuses racial bigotry and hatred anymore today than it did before the civil rights struggle.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:31 pmThis is how normal people talk… go down to the DMV sometime or just listen to people around you at the shopping mall.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pmThe question still remains whether firing was the best option for CBS. Join the discussion here.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pmas has been noted, ‘normal’ people don’t talk that way.
But, along with that, Imus said it on the air.
And that DOES make a difference.
But, for example, if I think a coworker of mine has a really annoying voice, I might bitch about it privately, but to say something to him is just causing pain.
A better example, of my own prejudices…I have a thing about fat people. Its not right, its irrational, and just stupid. So, when I meet a morbidly obese person, I don’t say “Hello, you big fat fatty!”
Why?
Because, regardless of what my ‘gut’ reaction might be, I get another reaction of being repulsed by this part of myself.
And so I censor myself.
because, in short, I’m wrong and opening my mouth will hurt someone.
Just because we think of something, doesn’t mean we should say it.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:33 pmWhy go after Imus and not go after these filthy rappers and comedians that make millions degrading not only black women, but degrade our whole society.
Comment by not impressed with the U.S #12
…what about the CORPORATE pimps…
…who PROMOTE and (pay) them?
…or the AUDIENCES who patronize THEM?
if NOTHING ELSE…
…Imus and his lackeys should’ve been fired for…
…RUINING…
…a PIVOTAL moment- for which those admirable young ladies White and Black had worked hard all of their young lives for…
…a moment that for many of them may NEVER come again…
April 13th, 2007 at 12:33 pm#13 you are right on. Imus should get his job back until the double standard for some talk is eliminated within the black race itself.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:35 pmAmen. The guy who makes a Chocolate Jesus is the 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse, but a major media figure using ethnic or sexual slurs live on air is just a relaxed, fun guy with his thumb on the pulse of America.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:37 pmHey, Jake, House of Pain called. They said if your girl steps up, they’re slappin’ the ho’.
not a fan of America, how many politicians and household-name TV personalities have appeared on rap albums?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:38 pmI don’t know if it’s how “normal” people talk (define: normal), but it is how some people talk, to be sure.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:39 pm“Why go after Imus and not go after these filthy rappers and comedians that make millions degrading not only black women, but degrade our whole society.”
why just rap? what about “the man show”?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:41 pmFlawed at 15, you make a good point. Imus has apologized. Imus admits he was wrong and that what he said was hurtful. His firing is an attempt by his employers to end the discussion and to avoid facing the real issue here, which is what is appropriate and what is inappropriate when it comes to broadcasting discussions on race, gender and sexual preference, and what is to be done when someone like Imus crosses the line. If past is prologue than what is to be done is to wait until the dust clears and go on as before, or, as was the case with Imus, if the dust doesn’t clear and the fallout is too great, the offending individual is fired. I can’t help but think that Imus was a scapegoat, albeit a deserving one.
I guess my point is that firing Imus won’t really change morning radio or the way people think and talk in this country about these important issues. His firing is simply the most expedient way for CBS and MSNBC to move on without having to deal with the fact that they profited from Imus’ bigotry for the last fifteen years or so.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:41 pmSo it’s rap music’s fault Imus is an idiot? Imus should have dropped the “shock jock” schtick years ago–he had all the popularity and exposure he needed without injected jokes about gays and minorities. Imus had to know it was all over the instant he said to Sharpton ” . . . you people.” Oops.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:43 pm“how many politicians and household-name TV personalities have appeared on rap albums?
Comment by joe”
exactly. (and nice catch with house of pain.)
April 13th, 2007 at 12:46 pmWas Imus a proponent of schools teaching “Ebonics”?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:53 pmI really hope South Park does a show on this… watching them rip the hypocrisy of the left on this issue is going to be funny…
April 13th, 2007 at 12:54 pmsadly i agree. He made a bad joke off the cuff. He apologized. For Media Matters and this site to resite his “cleaning lady” remark without telling us that it was over 20 YEARS ago is faulty at best.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:55 pmBig Papa,
Do you really think that rap music has not been the catalyst in this whole sorry episode? I agree that their corporate handlers are as much, if not more to blame. I also agree with another statement on this board, that if 50 cent or Ludacris called them “nappy-headed hos”, they would be dancing to it!!!!!
April 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm#7
April 13th, 2007 at 1:01 pmNPR just has a story on this morning which stated that Imus brought in around $50 million a year, from sponsors. And sponsors follow ratings/viewers, so I’d say Imus did (sadly) have a following.
watching them rip the hypocrisy of the left on this issue is going to be funny…
Not as funny as watching the talking heads of the right once again showing their hypocrisy trying to rip the ‘hypocrisy of the left’. I wonder what those ignorant, arrogant, bookend jack@$$es Hannity and BillO might say about this.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pmWhat? Since when are all black people “ok” with the way gangsta rappers talk? There are rappers (esp. female rappers) who sing about how disgusting and ridiculous the sexism and homophobia among “mainstream” rappers is.
What, are you only going to be happy if Al Sharpton is out there waterboarding every black man with a microphone?
How do you go from “that’s racist,” to “well, it’s okay that it’s racist because your own race uses the term” without realizing that you’re being racist too?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:04 pmImus should not have said what he said, it was dumb, but did he really “steal those girls’ joy?” I mean seriously, girls, you’ve got a hard life ahead of you if you let this classless idiot steal your joy. He got paid to piss people off!
There is a double standard in this nation when it comes to race. For some reason, people seem to only think that racism works one way, from whites aimed at blacks. But, that is NOT the definition of racism. I was listening to Oprah yesterday and she made a remark about what white guys look like when they dance. She was making a JOKE! I didn’t see any white guys on the news this morning calling for boycotts of her show, or protesting in front of her studios…probably because everybody watching and listening KNEW it was just a joke…about a stereotype. Granted, Imus’ joke was much more tasteless and vicious, but I bet some people just laughed and took it at face value…as a JOKE.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:04 pmHey, sign me up for that “modern sanitized England” stuff. If Imus is the alternative, I’d just as soon have polite conversation. Why does America cling so tightly to the notion that we all have to treat each other like dirt to be “real”?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:05 pmInteresting take on Imus’ ouster:
Democratic politicians lose a soapbox with Imus
By Peter Wallsten,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 13, 2007
WASHINGTON — They came by the hundreds that hot August day in tiny Johnson City, Tenn., gathering on an asphalt parking lot to meet Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. It was not just that he might become the state’s first black senator. More than that, even in Republican eastern Tennessee, the Democratic congressman was a celebrity — a regular guest on Don Imus’ radio show.
And today, with Imus’ career in tatters, the fate of the controversial shock jock is stirring quiet but heartfelt concern in an unlikely quarter: among Democratic politicians.
That’s because, over the years, Democrats such as Ford came to count on Imus for the kind of sympathetic treatment that Republicans got from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.
Equally important, Imus gave Democrats a pipeline to a crucial voting bloc that was perennially hard for them to reach: politically independent white men.
With Imus’ show canceled indefinitely because of his remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, some Democratic strategists are worried about how to fill the void. For a national radio audience of white men, Democrats see few if any alternatives.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-imuspol13apr13,0,2734444.story?coll=la-home-headlines
April 13th, 2007 at 1:08 pmSorry, never called anyone a “nappy-headed ho” in my life. It’s a fault of mine that I’ve been trying to rehabilitate, but I was born with a strange defect that I have worked hard to overcome. The doctors say that I have an abnormal amount of brain tissue between my audio cortex and the other areas of my brain that participate in speech. The terrible side effect of this is that I don’t mimic everything I hear and – as the doctors put it – I think before I speak.
God help me overcome this disability in time, and join the other normal people who aspire to bleat like sheep and have no unique sense of self.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:09 pmI think it’s ridiculous for the progressive community to take a stand
April 13th, 2007 at 1:09 pmon this. Imus has been around for years. I’m not sure he believes what he says. He’s more of a character actor. He’ always looking for the next odd phrase or discription. I think he’s lost himself over the years. Maybe it was all the drugs. There was a time when the progressives of the day loved his show. If progressives want to go down this road then they are losing their hold on reality. We need common sense and grounded approach to issues. If you want discuss this crap go get a job with Star magazine.
Not the people I know – my family, colleagues and friends don’t talk like that at all. And if ‘normal’ people talk that way, they need to knock it off.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:11 pmFor Media Matters and this site to resite his “cleaning lady†remark without telling us that it was over 20 YEARS ago is faulty at best.
Comment by old hack
No, not faulty. MM and this site actually expected people to do their own research to find the back story, if they didn’t know it already.
For Pete’s sake, people. Stop being lemmings! Do your own research! Follow your own drum beat.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:14 pmLet’s hope that part of America is dying…..it’s a good start at any rate. If that kind of swill has become “normal” ( and it has ) for the past few years, it does not make it right or normal. A lot of people died of the plague……..does that mean it’s a good thing? I’d say it was an unfortunate chapter in history. AND………while I’m at it:
Re:
“Maybe we can clean up all the black rap music now too?”
Comment by Jake — April 13, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
SEE # 6 BELOW
7 ways trolls hope to disrupt constructive liberal blog discussion:
1.Flames_2. Post a comment that is catchy but completely off topic_3. Lie, presenting “facts†that take time to debunk, therefore creating doubt for the moment._4. Create super long posts so scrolling that down to the next post is a chore and disruptive._5. Ask questions ( ala Fox News) in order to draw in other posters – get them engaged with said troll – with no intention of listening to the responses. 6. Creates diversion from an obnoxious trend/tendency on the right by siting one example of wrong doing on the left, thinking that cancels it out. NOT. 7 Just outright denial….
April 13th, 2007 at 1:14 pm#34 – don’t be ignorant – i didn’t say it wasn’t racist – all I said was that its 100% hypocritical t ogo after a white person saying what many in the black population say and use every day; or at least if they don’t personally say it, they tolerate it and allow it to continue in their own culture.
for that reason – i find it utterly sickening that Imus is getting taken to the cleaners on this issue; it appears that some people are able to stick a knife in someone else critically but are unable to see the same knife stuck in their own back. in other words – fight your own internal battles and get that taken care of before you demonize a white person for saying nothing different than would be tolerated of a black man.
i mean – come on. are you all really that ignorant?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:14 pmwait – i probably don’t want to know. the answer might scare me.
need to knock it off.
Comment by powkat
Not in America they dont. The U.S. Constitution ensures this.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:16 pmGood Lord, who does this clown hang around with? Certainly not “normal” people.
I hadn’t heard the KKK slur “jig-aboo” used in decades. And that was the comment Imus was feeding off from when he made his racist and sexist comment.
It also pains me to see African-American’s claiming the comments were not racist. Either Martin is not fully up to speed on what was said or he is too young to remember the hate language of the KKK. Either way, he should do his homework before making foolish statements.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/13/martin.imus/index.html
April 13th, 2007 at 1:19 pmExley, if Democrats lose a pipeline with Imus…so be it. Some people, i.e. most Democrats, actually have morals. For someone like you, where winning is all and power the prize, that would be hard to understand. You have defended indefensible people and policies on this sight for a long time. I say…..To hell with Imus and the trash talking media pundits that spew racism and hate. Party isn’t everything ….but then……..you wouldn’t get that.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:20 pmAmen #35 – it’s time that certain individuals who think they are ENTITLED to special treatment realize that the world was here before they were and it owes them NOTHING. life is tough; suck it up and get a little thick skin under your chin. that’s what the rest of us in the world have learned to do.
just because your great-great grandfather may have had it rough in the 1800s doesn’t mean jack shit other than he had it rough. it does not give you a free pass or any sort of entitlement in this nation or world.
granted, Imus made a mistake and said something he should not have; lots of people do that. especially when it is language that has infiltrated our culture. Look at Rush Limbaugh; look at Bill OReilly – they say things just as bad – if not worse aimed a either liberals or joe blow redneck at the corner gas station and that’s just fine and dandy. same goes for Jackson and Sharpton who insult and wrongly demonize white folks all the time. i don’t see them getting suspended or fired; just poor Imus. perhaps Imus should have called the Rutgers team crazy crackerjacks – he probably would still have his job.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:20 pmOK, I’ll bite. Yes, my friends and I say seriously awful s*** to each other. Vile, misogynist & racist s***. We all come from the racist misogynistic suburbs of the 70s & 80s, surrounded by people who talked like that because they thought like that.
My friends & I do not think like that. We’re trying to out shock each other, we know none of us means what we say. We in fact go overboard in hate-humor to take it to surreal, unbelivable levels (for instance, thanks to Henry Gibson’s Nazi in The Blues Brothers, we often remind each other that the Jew is using the Black as muscle. “Do you know why the pizza guy is so late? Because the Jew is using the Black as muscle.” And we’ll blame various groups for everything, including the weather and a show like Arrested Development being taken off the air). But if any of us were standing by a white guy who just flat-out calls a black person something racist, we’d make sure that guy felt miserable about it ASAP. Some people may feel like there’s no difference between what I say with my friends and what Imus says on the air, same as how they feel there’s no difference between what Imus says or what Howard Starn says. I disagree. Intent and content are extremely important in any conversation, and anyone who believe otherwise is fooling him or herself. We ALL say stuff to our friends we don’t mean, don’t feel. But Imus had a history of saying those things on-air and off-air. He had a history of just throwing a racial invective at someone, just ‘cuz. I know not every joke needs a traditional setup and punchline, but the humor “those are some nappy-headed hos” is a “joke” that’s too vague for me, & I get most of the cartoons in The New Yorker! (wanna give a shout-out to my ironic faux-intellectuals in the hizz-ouse!) Imus went off the air because it’s never been clear that he doesn’t mean the awful things he says about specific people whose only “crime” is the color of their skin, or the size of their nose, or that they have to pee sitting down. Or at least squat. This outrage didn’t just come from the hypocritical Sharpton & Jackson, carefully avoiding their support of the Duke lacrosse rape victim who’s case has been closed as demonstrably false. This comes from people who deal with Imus on a regular basis. They all had similar stories to tell of a guy saying awful things who meant them. He had a history of apologizing, saying he would watch his words, and then “slip” again, because it’s pretty much how his mind works. The recordings of him trying to apologize, which really does boil down to “I know LOTS of black people, and I do lots of charity work, so get off my back” and the infamous “I can’t win with you people” (sure, Don, you meant the people you were talking to, and only those people, right). He didn’t sound like me or one of my friends explaining that we say awful things because we like to point out the hypocrisy and stupidity of hateful thinking to each other. He sounded like a racist who was fighting to keep his job. What do I have to say? Whose ass do I have to kiss? When does this end?
Personally, I think Imus should have been taken off the air years ago, merely for being awful. an awful bore.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:20 pmHey Jake, I remember not to long ago when they thought “Heavy Metal” was bad for young white america. Hell they were even saying if you played the music backwards you could hear the demonic message. What did that music do to young white america???
April 13th, 2007 at 1:24 pm“There is a double standard in this nation when it comes to race. For some reason, people seem to only think that racism works one way, from whites aimed at blacks.”
maybe it has something to do with that other double standard about who could vote and who couldn’t
April 13th, 2007 at 1:25 pmall I said was that its 100% hypocritical t ogo after a white person saying what many in the black population say and use every day; or at least if they don’t personally say it, they tolerate it and allow it to continue in their own culture.
You must live in a bubble. If you live in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Loiusiana, etc. you’ll hear whites using this language every day. Do you think the Blacks started using this language first, bubble boy?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pmSo Derbyshire won’t object to my airing of my intellectual “dirty laundry” on a nationally syndicated program?? Somehow I doubt that. If hypocritical double standards are the “part of America” that is “dead” now, you’ll have to forgive me for not attending the services.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:37 pmDallasNE at 45; I may be wrong, but I think the term was in reference to a Spike Lee film the wannabes vs. the jig a boos or something like that.
Again, I’m not defending Imus, just trying to clarify the context of his remark.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:39 pm47 just because your great-great grandfather may have had it rough in the 1800s doesn’t mean jack shit other than he had it rough. it does not give you a free pass or any sort of entitlement in this nation or world.
Do you really think blacks just stopped being oppressed with the Emancipation Proclamation? Blacks couldn’t vote until the middle of the 20th century because they were 3/5 of a white person. Blacks could be lynched if they used a white water fountain or bathroom. Hell, we just had Harold Ford, Jr. smeared with a racist advertisement that brought up that old bogeyman, the evil black man having sex with our pure white girls. Some people act as if the blacks have no reason to be bitter and that is crazy. They still have substandard schools, they still have to jump through hoops if they want to vote. They have fewer opportunities to start and that is what makes Imus’s comments about young women who are doing something with their lives so disgusting.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pmHell they were even saying if you played the music backwards you could hear the demonic message. What did that music do to young white america???
Comment by marcus robinson
There is a case in a Weird Al song (can’t remember which right off the top of my head) that plays backwards really does say “The Devil eats Cheeze Whiz”. No foolin’! I played it backwards myself and really heard it. My friends and I laughed our butts off!
Ok, I’ll admit it. I do, in fact, listen to Weird Al. Yeah, I’m “White & Nerdy”.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm#48, I understand how it’s not okay when a white person says something to a black person that a black person can say to another black. It’s the same sentiment I have about my family. I can make fun of my mother, dad, sister, etc. but I would be quick to stand up for them if someone else was bad-mouthing them. It’s that way because I know that I love them; however when someone else says those things, I think they are saying them out of hate, and that’s not okay.
I just don’t understand why black people think that all white people are out to get them, and claim that the reason is because of slavery. Sorry, but YOU were not a slave and I was not a slave owner, so get over it! Race relations are not going to get any better until the people who have made a living by keeping the race issues stirred up find other jobs! Did they ever think that maybe they just make the white people resent the black people more because they protest and make a big deal out of every little thing that is said?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:42 pmSadly, if you walk into a suburban middle school or high school … that IS the way a lot of young people talk to each other.
It is just plainly true — Comedy Central, BET, hip hop and heavy metal music of today are big contributors to a disgusting level of violent, sexist and racist language that young people are using.
It shouldn’t be defended, this is being foisted upon us by very elite wealthy men in Tokyo and New York … think of people like Sony CEO Howard Stringer, Bush-supporter Rupert Murdoch and Bush-supporter Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom that owns of Comedy Central, BET, MTV, etc. Their sole aim is to make money, decency be damned if it gets in the way of a healthy profit.
It would be a good thing if because of this Imus episode the language of violence and hate is toned down in favor of civil and peaceful discourse … even in entertainment and art.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:44 pmWhen I’m part of a team meeting an important client, and in the middle of the meeting, I suggest that the clients ‘get off their fat, white, pustulent, syphilitic a**es” and do something, it’s not enough that I apologize.
I get my a** fired.
The company wouldn’t care if I said that at home to my wife–they probably said the same thing–but not on the record, and in front of them.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:46 pm“Did they ever think that maybe they just make the white people resent the black people more because they protest and make a big deal out of every little thing that is said?”
that’s a silly assessment.
“I played it backwards myself and really heard it. My friends and I laughed our butts off!”
prince’s “bat dance” played backwards is frightening. moreso than it being played forward.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:50 pm#54, I agree that SOME black students have to work harder to pay for school than SOME white students, but in some cases it is the other way around. The most successful students, black or white, that I went to school with were the ones who worked the hardest, both in and out of the classroom. The ones who were looking for an easy step up because they were “owed” are still looking. You can’t help people who don’t want to help themselves no matter what color they are!
April 13th, 2007 at 1:50 pm#58 I am pretty sure saying inbred, hillbilly, cracker wouldn’t go over well with my boss. I might want to polish off the old resume.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:51 pmprince’s “bat dance†played backwards is frightening. moreso than it being played forward.
Now that I’ve stopped laughing, I’ll agree, not one of his finest songs. Personally, I like ‘Head’ myself.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:56 pmhow many politicians and household-name TV personalities have appeared on rap albums? Comment by joe — April 13, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Somewhat surprisingly, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is featured on two tracks on De La Soul’s “Three Feet High and Rising” CD.
And, TV personality Mary Hart has recorded several rap albums under the pseudonym “DJ Cleancut.”
/sarcasm off
April 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pm#60 I am not even talking about college. I am talking about public education. If they can overcome the horrible conditions and education they receive in city schools I think they deserve to attend college but they already have a huge disadvantage by the time they get to secondary education with the joke elementary and high schools they attend. I am not a huge fan of Affirmative Action because it just an excuse for politicians not to actually address the real problem. If we actually want to do something instead of paying lip service to equality Washington needs to do something about the quality of education offered to the disadvantaged.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pmDemocratic politicians lose a soapbox with Imus . . . Comment by Exley — April 13, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
Good. We don’t need racist speakers to give us a platform. Unlike Republicans and the racists like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:59 pmI will take the “modern day sanitized England” version ANY DAY over the crap we put up with now. Just. Damn.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:04 pm“Somewhat surprisingly, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is featured on two tracks on De La Soul’s “Three Feet High and Rising†CD.”
i thought that was him saying ‘ecoutez et repetez: a midi. a midi.’
April 13th, 2007 at 2:06 pm#65 I am not sure where they get that Imus is liberal. He appears to me to be a libertarian leaning Republican. From what I hear he is a registered Republican who is backing McCain in ‘08. The right seems to be wanting to hang a stuffed albatross around the left’s neck.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:07 pm#64–I can only speak from the school experience that I had. I KNOW that something needs to be done about the quality of education, across the board, not just inner-city. I went to a small, poor rural high school, but think that I would have been hard-pressed to get a better education in science and math…maybe because I was lucky and had good teachers, maybe because I took it upon myself to learn what I needed to know. We didn’t have AP college prep courses or any “extras,” but the students who CHOSE to be in the “advanced” class, which offered the MINIMUM qualifications to be accepted to 4 year universities, have for the most part “overcome” this and succeeded…whether that success be in work or higher education. MY point is that, once again, the quality of the education system has been turned into a race issue, and where I’m from it’s not. Conditions are crappy and teachers are underpaid in EVERY school!
April 13th, 2007 at 2:08 pm#69 Poor rural district need help too but you also didn’t have to deal with gangs and hardcore drugs. The environment is entirely different. And some of it is the inner-city culture, the low expectations, the lack of perceived potential. Any child that wants to learn not only has to apply his/herself, he/she has to deal with the daily weight of knowing that not very many people have made it out alive and became successful and that it is likely a long-shot.
I went to school in an average, small, manufacturing town. I got a pretty good education. In my family it was expected that I graduate high school and attend college. With the support I had from my family and community I did that. To say that it wasn’t light years easier for me to succeed than someone dealing with daily violence, very few resources and almost no support system would be ludicrous.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:19 pmImus is not an icon as has been suggested….he uses attacks on people as his style of delivering..I am not surprised that he put himself in this situation with his loose lips.
Whether he is racist or not…he has resposnsibility not to make fame and fortune by attacking other people.
He is not alone..there are ones still on the air who are much much worse than Imus…
The corporate media finally was forced to fold Imus tent…
If there was no cry..he would have stayed.
Corporate media is after profits…but they should also has standards to this profession of talking on the airwaves.
CNN has guys they need to go..FOX also the same.
These people making fortunes dividing the country using religion ,color ,women vs. men…straight vs. gay…etc. to make names for themselves,regardless of pain of others whether people were women,blacks,old,Arab,Moslem,Jew….etc.
They need to be told and stopped….
The world and the network will be survive after Imus.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:19 pmProud Dem…Weird Al is just that…Weird. You know what I mean by this am sure. Heavy Metal, Elvis and Ozzie had no real effect on middle america. And by the way, I must be a nerad as well because I can remember laughing my ass off at “Eat it”.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pm#51 – you missed the point – sure white people say the same stuff; the point is that black people do too – and the outcry from black activists that this is shocking and appalling to black people is seriously undercut by the underlying hypocrisy that it is tolerated and ok for blacks to say the same. your rebuttal that I must live in a bubble is simply ignorant and irrelevant to the point being made.
#54 – i don’t disagree with your point that racism has made a hard road for many in this country; yet I stick by my point – historical racism does not justify the attitude by many that they are entitled to special treatment from everyone else. separate but equal was admittedly not equal; but by the same token entitlement (aka affirmative action gone wrong) is not equal either.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:24 pmSorry, but YOU were not a slave and I was not a slave owner, so get over it!
Comment by LN #56
LN,
…chances are…
…YOU were not a victim of 9/11…
…are you counseling YOUR:
family members
neighbors
friends co-workers
…to GET over THAT?
…and FYI…
…unless you’re “FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT”…
…you ARE a slave…
…some of us just don’t have the capacity to realize it…
April 13th, 2007 at 2:27 pmAmen #35 – it’s time that certain individuals who think they are ENTITLED to special treatment realize that the world was here before they were and it owes them NOTHING. life is tough; suck it up and get a little thick skin under your chin. that’s what the rest of us in the world have learned to do.
Comment by chris — April 13, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
I agree…same goes for Imus!
April 13th, 2007 at 2:36 pmwhite corporate america decided that imus cant say his stupid shit anymore. he was just going to get suspended until the sponsors dropped out and only then was he fired. the sponsors decided his fate. it had nothing to do with “the left”. when white corporate america decides that rappers cant say their stupid shit anymore theyll get the boot too. and guess who buys the majority of rap music? white teens in the suburbs.
but rock and roll and rap and all that have always gotten away with more than the rest of society.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:43 pm“Somewhat surprisingly, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is featured on two tracks on De La Soul’s “Three Feet High and Rising†CD.â€
i thought that was him saying ‘ecoutez et repetez: a midi. a midi.’
Comment by pgw — April 13, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
both of you….HILARIOUS!!! Bringing back memories….
April 13th, 2007 at 2:44 pmNo, I am not a direct victim of 9/11. However, the victims’ families experienced that FIRSTHAND. They were THERE when their family members were victimized. In future generations, I do not think that every one of their ancestors will need to be compensated b/c their distant relatives were victims of a horrible attack. I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “financially independent” and the reference to slavery. If it means that I rely on a job to support myself, then yes, but it is CHOICE, so it’s not slavery.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:44 pmwhite corporate america decided that imus cant say his stupid shit anymore. he was just going to get suspended until the sponsors dropped out and only then was he fired. the sponsors decided his fate. it had nothing to do with “the leftâ€. when white corporate america decides that rappers cant say their stupid shit anymore theyll get the boot too. and guess who buys the majority of rap music? white teens in the suburbs
Comment by ron — April 13, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
100% correct
April 13th, 2007 at 2:47 pmHey ron, amen to that.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:55 pmOf course John Derbyshire defends Imus — after all, he’s the guy who called for Chelsea Clinton to be murdered.
April 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pmBS! This is precisely how neo-nazi racist GOPigs think! Middle America is totally appalled by this reprehensible, amoral behavior and to suggest that the average individual is a racist pig is totally inaccurate. Nice try, reichwing GOP-IGS!
April 13th, 2007 at 3:23 pmIn fact, Don Imus is a very tired, wrinkled old fart whose career was over years ago. The only reason he was kept on the air was because he was felt sorry for and largely ignored by mainstream america. Everyone was pretending he wasn’t even there. I don’t know who was watching or listening to him other than miserable, depressed old racist pigs themselves because middle america certainly didn’t waste their precious time with such disgustingly depressed dialogue.
Don Imus’s day is over as America demands a new moral compass to guide us. This means equally that Bush’s day and the Day of Republican Rule is also over. It’s time for America to regain the moral high ground which was so tragically lost over the past 6 years of moral degradation.
April 13th, 2007 at 3:27 pm“Why not go after this guy, why not go after this group?”
My question is: why can’t anyone take a JOKE anymore?
April 13th, 2007 at 3:50 pm#84 My question is: why is the right never funny?
April 13th, 2007 at 3:51 pmFor what its worth while I think what Imus said was reprehensible particularly because it was aimed at young women who were only on the public’s radar screen because they won a lot of basketball games, I think a lot of commentators are sorely mistaken if they think that his being fired is some sort of victory for liberal/progressive values. To the contary, I expect that it has focused a lot of the festering racism in this country and will, with the benefit of hindsight be seen as the event which ended Obama’s quest for the White House. To be sure the backlash will be strongest among people who were unlikely to vote for a Democrat anyway, but there are a lot of those people who were getting fed up with Dumbya and the GOP. If all that had happened was that Imus apologized and was suspended, it would have been no big deal. By African American leaders getting him fired and Obama signing on with the likes of Jackson and Sharpton in that regard, there is no chance with a large segment of swing voters and the GOP base which has been listless, just got a major blast of energy. Certainly I as a middle age, middle class white male was sorely disappointed in Obama’s position on the issue and it raises additional doubts in my mind about supporting him in a primary or general election. By the way my two very liberal adult daughters who were raised in a mostly white affluent suburb with no low class African American males hanging around have been referring to girls they did not like as “ho’s ” since the 6th grade–They did not get that expression from my wife or me.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:04 pmI’m normal, and I don’t call women “hos” usually…
April 13th, 2007 at 4:26 pmI hope all radio hosts talk alike one day…dopes, diversity includes offensive voices
April 13th, 2007 at 5:31 pmI’m not exactly sure what you mean by “financially independent†and the reference to slavery. If it means that I rely on a job to support myself, then yes, but it is CHOICE, so it’s not slavery.
Comment by LN #78
…Stop working…
…and see how many “CHOICES” you have…
…TRY and see past your brainwashing…
…THINK of how many CHOICES you REALLY have…
…in ANY number of situations…
April 13th, 2007 at 10:15 pm#88 Yeah, because Ann Coulter adds so much to the national debate.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pmFace it, Sharpton and Jackson were looking for a white guy to lynch. Imus handed them the rope when he made his stupid comments about the Rutgers team. He deserved to be punished, but for Sharpton and Jackson, this was more about nailing a white guy than looking out for a group of young women. Black racisim is as dangerous a force in this country as is white racisim. I worked on the Kerry/Edwards campaign, but will not vote for either Obama or Clinton. They allowed themselves to get sucked in by the twin charlatans, Sharpton and Jackson.
April 14th, 2007 at 1:02 amI am afraid I agree with teryy#86 and John #91
I am way left-of-center and have been strongly opposed to discrimination for decades. But, if 200 are doing this publicly and only Imus is singled out, then it is discrimination. And I don’t even like Imus.
I have experienced unbelievable racist actions and verbage by blacks against innocent whites and asians. I tried to get people to do something about it and no one would go near it with a ten-foot pole.
I thought shock jocks were PAID to behave this way. I don’t like any of them. But I don’t like CNN talking endlessly about Imus when their very own Glenn Beck is far worse. He slurs one billion people because they are Muslim.
How about the black NYC radio station making jokes about the 180,000 asians who died in the tsunami? Miss Jones still has a job there.
April 14th, 2007 at 3:03 amlots of white americans feel strangely deprived and lessened of their natural vitality cause they no longer can say the word n*gger.
oh, the oppression. it stings.
April 14th, 2007 at 3:13 amI thought shock jocks were PAID to behave this way. — BM.
Well, BM, I guess reality has proven you wrong.
April 14th, 2007 at 3:15 amI knew you couldn’t understand—no matter how clearly I stated it.
April 14th, 2007 at 3:26 amI never say the word—but you just did.
April 14th, 2007 at 3:32 amIt is not possible for me to be racist against blacks and at the same time have a large number of intelligent blacks agree with me 100%.
Snoop Dog is far, far worse than Imus.:
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/50532/
April 14th, 2007 at 8:23 pm