Why the double standard?
Agreed what he said was horrible, and he was removed from the station…but why not hold Isaiah Thomas, and all the mis-lead Black men that spew equal insults into account also?

We almost had a momentum going addressing this issue soon after this(Imus) happened, but that seems to be fading fast.

Imus spoke like you’d expect an old white guy to speak, and it was revealed that that wasn’t an isolated incident, that’s his thinking.

I expect better from some in our community that think it’s okay to call women much worse.

Peace

*Ck out the novel, ‘Big Sister Almighty’ by, Marcia Leota*

I have a simple question to those who were outraged by Imus – are you as outraged by rappers and rap moguls such as Russell Simmons, Snoop Dog, etal., BET and music execs who have accumulated billions of dollars by denigrating the women of their own community? By what authority do you or any group dictate who should or should not be employed??? Why you demand the immediate firing of these rappers and executives? Why don’t you demand the firing of Isiah Washington? The hypocrisy is staggering. “Protests” and “marches” now and again will not suffice, nor will “recommendations” by Russell Simmons to refrain from such language. I am also still waiting for Sharpton to organize a boycott of the advertisers who sponsor misogynistic videos on BET and rap lyrics on the radio’s public airwaves. They are a disgrace to the legacy of Martin Luther King and the real struggle for civil rights!

From my perspective and as a feminist and female listener, the feminists of yesteryear propelled us to positions of unimagined strength and power. But, thanks to the new generation of NOW and its PC cohorts, today’s generation has transformed us into whining victims in need of protection, lacking the spine to laugh at ourselves and laugh off tasteless and poorly conceived humor, or at least, to dish it right back. Perhaps that explains Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court when he wrote that women need to be protected from themselves because they don’t always realize the consequences of their actions. Where was NOW on this issue? This is how “untold” numbers of women are hurt because of actual legal policy, not because some idiot on the radio makes a stupid joke.

I don’t want to live in a sanitized society in which every utterance is scrutinized and is “approved” or “disapproved”. I would rather be offended than have a self-appointed thought police determine what I can and cannot listen to or what should or should not offend me. Who appointed Sharpton and the NABJ as the thought police and arbiters of virtuous radio behavior? This is straight out of the former Soviet Union’s propaganda machine. Or, perhaps you are ignorant of the history of totalitarian governments – so-called “offensive” remarks, and off to the re-education camp you go!

It is clear that the critics had never listened to the entire content of the show and don’t know what they are talking about. If you do not find a radio or television program to your liking – then TURN THE CHANNEL. If you don’t find that Imus has anything of value to offer, that is your prerogative but such an opinion is irrelevant. You have no right to impose your sensibilities on others, just as others do not have a right to compel you to listen to a broadcast that does not interest or appeal to you. If one believes in a free society, no speech should ever be suppressed or censured by whatever pressure group of the month — if you don’t like it, argue against it or turn it off.

And yes, I can’t wait for the return of the I-Man, hopefully with his entire crew intact, unchastened and unleashed, not a kinder, gentler, Imus lite. Yes, the joke about the Rutgers team was insulting and misguided, given the context of the show which has always been an eclectic unpredictable mix of satire, juvenile comedy and serious politics (which is why it was so entertaining to his listeners). But the humor was not malicious in its intent, and certainly not “reprehensible”,“despicable”,“ speech”, and other hyperbolic characterizations. The likes of Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Neil Boorz, and others spew racist content as serious ideology on a regular basis. I believe it was Neil Boorz and Glen Beck who described the victims of Katrina as thugs, thieves and hoodlums deserving of their fate – and they were not kidding. I don’t recall anyone clamoring for their immediate dismissal. And I would not support their dismissal from the air – I would rather argue against them.

The “market” did not fire Don Imus since we, the listeners/consumers are the market, and Capus and Moonves did not consult with us. It is a mind-boggling disgrace that such craven “executives” caved into a group of employees when making a business decision, rather than considering the actual consumers/listeners who buy pay their salaries by tuning in and buying the advertised products.