[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Big Brother is indeed watching us…[/quote]
Nah, this is just the marketplace. I don’t think it is nearly as insidious as a lot of you guys do. The way I see it, people like to feel moral indignation. These situations allow blacks to feel moral outrage at the people who say stupid things, and whites to feel moral outrage at blacks and media personalities they feel are overly sensitive.
Win-win.
He should be fired if no more than for being a dumbass…(and yes…people are fired everyday for doing dumb crap…)
68 years old…million dollar plus gig a year…close to 40 years in the business…KNOWS the litigious and “PC” climate of the US BECAUSE HE RALES ON IT DAY IN AND DAY OUT!
He may as well had pinched a Female Producer at NBC, then pulled his unit out and started wagging it at her…
Hey…that would have been no less dumb…and at least he may have even gotten off on it…
Mufasa
[quote]Kreal7 wrote:
Especially because off the top of my head I can think of two songs that have “ho” in the title.[/quote]
The first time I heard what Imus said, the verse from Boyz-n-the-Hood was the first thing to ring through my head. It’s about ten times worse than anything Imus said. I believe they sold 500,000 copies.
Snoop Dogg clears up the rapper/Imus confusion.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1556803/20070410/snoop_dogg.jhtml
Didn’t that clear everything up??
[quote]nephorm wrote:
Nah, this is just the marketplace. I don’t think it is nearly as insidious as a lot of you guys do. The way I see it, people like to feel moral indignation. These situations allow blacks to feel moral outrage at the people who say stupid things, and whites to feel moral outrage at blacks and media personalities they feel are overly sensitive.
Win-win.[/quote]
The most logical thing I’ve heard anyone say on the matter.
I think that Imus for the most part is a bitter asshole, and quite the bully.
Having said that, the article below is the most sensible thing that I have seen written about this overblown story about much to do about nothing:
Written by an African American:
[quote]Tokoya wrote:
Written by an African American:
http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html
[/quote]
Bravo! This is precisely the problem. We live in a country where it is easier to be a victim of some made-up wrong doing than it is to ignore stupid comments from stupid people.
God, I hope those poor women of Rutgers can get over this horrific tragedy. Can we please have another televised news conference when they finally do?
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Tokoya wrote:
Written by an African American:
http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html
Bravo! This is precisely the problem. We live in a country where it is easier to be a victim of some made-up wrong doing than it is to ignore stupid comments from stupid people.
God, I hope those poor women of Rutgers can get over this horrific tragedy. Can we please have another televised news conference when they finally do?[/quote]
CBS has now canned him. Maybe the old prick did this just to get out of his contracts and go over to Sirius.
All of this goes to show: Get your ‘Fuck You’ money stashed. Then you can say what you want. Boss tells you you’re fired? ‘Fuck You!!’
Simply outstanding commentary…
I’ve already placed it in my files.
Mufasa
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
All of this goes to show: Get your ‘Fuck You’ money stashed. Then you can say what you want. Boss tells you you’re fired? ‘Fuck You!!’
[/quote]
Imus is a schmuck for apologizing and his audience gets to finally see him for who he is.
What’s worse:
losing your job for doing your job too well? This shock-jockery won’t stand.
or
Being a corporate, ho, mouthpiece who had to swallow his pride and and take it in the ass by a semi-literate, woman’s, college basket-ball team before getting canned? What a schmuck.
By the way…
This is a “Nappy Headed Ho’…”
(Just thought you guys may want to know…)
Mufasa
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
All of this goes to show: Get your ‘Fuck You’ money stashed. Then you can say what you want. Boss tells you you’re fired? ‘Fuck You!!’
Imus is a schmuck for apologizing and his audience gets to finally see him for who he is.
What’s worse:
losing your job for doing your job too well? This shock-jockery won’t stand.
or
Being a corporate, ho, mouthpiece who had to swallow his pride and and take it in the ass by a semi-literate, woman’s, college basket-ball team before getting canned? What a schmuck.[/quote]
I agree.
I don’t really give a flying shit about this whole issue, but I would respected Imus at least a little bit if he’d said “I said it; I meant it. I will not apologize.”
It’s like when Billy Packer used the phrase “fagged out” on TV, and then told the PC-brigade to shove it when they demanded an apology. Packer’s stock rose a few point in my book.
I’m agreeing with liftus on something even slightly political! What has this world come to? 
Wonder if he’ll still meet with the Rutgers team?
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Wonder if he’ll still meet with the Rutgers team? [/quote]
Without a job he can’t afford to pay the nappy headed hos.
[quote]jlesk68 wrote:
And this is how in the year 2007 we began to lose our Free Speech…[/quote]
I don’t think this is about free speech in the traditional sense. The FCC hasn’t taken any action, and neither has any other governmental agency or arm. The courts aren’t even being used to enforce some sort of social policy through a tort case.
Essentially, Sharpton, Jackson, et al were using their free speech to criticize Imus and call for a boycott. A boycott is also an exercise of free speech. Advertisers pulled back, and Imus’ two private corporate employers, CBS and NBC, respectively, decided to terminate him per provisions of his contract.
Now, that’s completely aside from any underlying argument about the merits of any complaints and/or responses.
Imus’ comments were stupid and regrettable – his apology was ill conceived and defensive – whoever advised him to go on Al Sharpton’s radio show should be summarily fired – and the response is overblown.
I don’t want to just repeat stuff that’s already been said, so allow me two minor takes of my own.
First, I find it hard to get too worked up about the fact that Imus essentially got screwed over by his employers. On a personal level, I hate his show, and there is a fat chick in my apartment building who constantly wants to watch it in our apartment gym on the mornings when I go in there to do some cardio – she sits on the exercise bike, pedals at about 2 mph and talks to no one in particular about Imus. I’m not going to miss that.
Also on a personal level, he is a creepy, androgenous, mummified little bully with dubious analytical skills whom some people quote as a font of wisdom – kind of like Howard Stern, but not as funny.
But he still got screwed, by employers who weren’t thinking about their own long term interests but were instead bowing to a politically correct tempest in a teacup. Howard Stern got it right - Imus should have made one brief apology and then told all the hustlers to stuff it.
He made millions for CBS and NBC, had decent ratings due to the dubious tastes of his audience, and the people he pissed off weren’t part of his audience’s demographic. Of course, if Imus himself had handled it more adroitly it probably would have gone away and he could go back to making them money – now he’ll probably go to Sirius or something.
On the “racist” charge: “Nappy headed” in and of itself, is about as racist as “dark skinned.” It’s a descriptive term related to a racial characteristic that is not in any way derogatory.
In fact, it’s actively promoted by at least part of the black community - a book search on Amazon.com with key phrase “nappy hair” returned 767 results:
Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron, Going-Natural: How to Fall in Love With Nappy Hair by Mireille Liong-a-Kong, Sculptured Nails and Nappy Hair by Lincoln Park, Nappy Hair 101 by Ayana Hardin, Happy to be Nappy by Bell Hooks, to name but a few.
In the context of what he said, it was obviously meant as part of a derogatory comment - particularly as it modified “hos” - but the level of reaction seems quite unjustified. It is not the same thing as if he dropped an N-bomb - it’s not even in the same ballpark, in the same city, or the same geographical region.
Sharpton and Jackson are cheap hustlers, and it is unfortunate that this incident gave them a chance to attention-whore themselves out yet again.
One small point of light, depending on your own proclivities: The Democrats lost a key point of outreach to get their message out to white male independents, who make up the bulk of Imus’ audience.
See this LAT piece: Democrats have lost a soapbox with firing
Imus loved to pretend he was serious and have Democrats (and Republicans - but they have more outlets to that audience) on his show.
I don’t give a rats ass about Imus, but it would be nice if this shit would cut both ways.
Is firing him going to make racism go away. No.
You know what I would respect, the Rutgers BB team having a large banner that read, "F#$% Y*# IMUS. and then let it go. Cause thats all the reply he deserves and all they air time they deserve.
I don’t see how they can fire Imus when Michael Savage doesn’t seem to be in any danger of losing his job. Savage is much more hateful, it’s not even close.
you can say, ‘blonde-headed slut’. you can say ‘big corn-fed whiteboy’. but you can’t say ‘nappy-headed ho’. well…unless you’re black. then you can whatever you want about whomever you want (ESPECIALLY black women) and no will say shit.
but imus has always sucked so at least he’s gone. for now.
We should wonder: why Imus? He’s certainly not alone in stupidity on the airwaves.
The black community DOES seem to be overreacting to what he said.
When the Rev. Sharpton denounces all the stuff black entertainers spew, he won’t appear as such a hypocrit.
[quote]Brad61 wrote:
I don’t see how they can fire Imus when Michael Savage doesn’t seem to be in any danger of losing his job. Savage is much more hateful, it’s not even close.[/quote]
Savage is a nut. Rosie too.