There's only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's not being talked about.

 

I didn't expect this thread to go on as long as it has. But I also didn't expect anyone to defend Imus.

 

Exactly...the way to end racism isn't to collectively pretend it doesn't exist.

 

You can actively ignore racist speech though, especially if it has little chance of doing anything except circling the wagons of Imus' most ardent supporters and giving his most strident critics yet another reason to rake him over the coals.

Let's face it - except for the few days of hoo-haw made over his simple-minded comments - this guy is about as impotent as a media personality can get . . . isn't he?

 

As Edmund Burke said "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." which is often mis-quoted as "All that is necessary for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing."

 

http://www.newsday.com/services/new...sday/longisland/ny-etimus0625,0,4398109.story

I-Man to Pacman: I was trying to "make a sarcastic point."

New York radio host Don Imus -- whose name seems to be appended with the word "embattled" every six months or so -- told his listeners Tuesday morning that his Monday throwaway line about Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, had been misconstrued as racist. "No man has more discussions about race than I have. Why not report on that? I know some people want to get me, but this is ridiculous," he said.

Imus' on-air defense Tuesday just after 6 a.m. didn't rise to the level of a diatribe, but he did spend 10 minutes or so explaining why the original comment ("There you go -- now we know") was made and also re-played the Monday exchange between himself and sports anchor Warner Wolf, not once but twice. He also insisted that the criticism of his comment was "ridiculous," given that he has two on-air colleagues who are black (Karith Foster and Tony Powell) as well as a black producer. "How insane would I have to be? What would I be thinking?"

On Monday's program, Wolf and Imus were discussing Jones' string of arrests, when Imus asked, "What color is he?"" Wolf said "African-American," and Imus responded, "There you go. Now we know."



During Tuesday's show, Imus said the point he wanted to make was that Jones was effectively being harassed by the police, saying, "What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason. I mean, there's no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once."

In a phone interview Tuesday, Phil Boyce, WABC boss and chief of talk radio for Citadel, which owns the station, said "when I first heard the comment [on Monday's show]I thought that's probably what he meant, but I called him and he explained and it made sense to me. I said, 'Let's make sure you explain it the next time you're on the air,' and he did a very good job.

"Look, I understand the firestorm. There's a group of people sitting out there waiting for Don to say the wrong thing again, but it's not going to happen. He's too smart for that and I don't even think he has those thoughts, we have to be prepared for something like this. In this Internet age, once it gets out there, it's like lighting a match to newspapers."

During the show, Foster supported Imus as well: "People who interpret what you said as racist clearly didn't hear the whole thing, and they don't know who you are and what the program is about -- and they obviously haven't been listening."

Rachel Nordlinger, spokeswoman for the Rev. Al Sharpton, who criticized the Monday comment, referred a caller to comments Sharpton had made to CNN following Tuesday's show.

"I hope he meant what he said," Sharpton told the network.

Boyce also said the station would reach out to Jones to appear on the show.

 

Some talk show folks here in St. Lou were talking about this and their idea to end crap like this is for people, like the guy Imus was talking about, to say something along the lines of 'what the fuck, dude.' To assert that such a question is not acceptable. If you have a friend who constantly says racist crap, you speak up. I laid in to my mother's boyfriend for using some kind of racial slur about black people. He called them mud people or something. I let him know flat out that such a thing was not acceptable around me. Back in college while driving around with my roommate he saw a black guy driving a nice cadillac and said he was probably a drug dealer. I came down on him the same way. I'll even chastise my mom if she says something like that.

That's how racism should be dealt with. In the clip you hear the other guy hesitate, you know he's thinking 'WTF', but he says nothing. People need to stop distancing themselves from such behavior and speaking out against it.

-S-

 

Get over it.

 

>.>

Imus will always be Imus

 

hmmmmm, I wonder if the auto-anti-Imus crowd will apply the principle of charity given his explanation of his comments? They sound reasonable to me. Perhaps the interpretation of his comments is more heavily swayed by one's personal opinion of the guy than one would like to think.

 

If this was something new I would probably give him the benefit of the doubt, but it's not. Personally I don't care what happens to him, I wasn't one of the people who called for his firing the last time and I don't care if he gets fired now, I don't listen to him. The bulk of my argument was with AJ and that like him or not, he's still a racist.

-S-

 

We have a winner...

 

Imus says he was defending Pacman Jones. Yeah right. There is a story at SI . com What other lies will Imus come up with ?

pete

 

I don't think he needs my charity. He didn't need it the last time.

Like Shake, I never listen to the guy. I watched little bits of his show when he was on TV, and frankly, and I don't think he adds much value to my life.

 

I didn't realize he had been misquoted, to be honest. And then I ran across this interesting essay...

http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html

 

The solution

If you don't like it...do what I do when Sharpton and Jackson start spewing their rhetoric...change the station...it just shows what a sad state of affairs America is facing, when political satire is soooo off-limits to spoof, yet, BET can be chock full of the EXACT same stuff, with a mirror image and NOONE says anything, because of the response that the left extremists will shout, "Racists, biggots, etc..."

Point of thought: Maybe if African-Americans would lean more towards the classiness of Michelle Obama (and I'm not a political fan of Obama's, but do give him props for his leadership and image) instead of dipping into the garbage that so perverts this wonderful race (glorification of 'da ghetto, debauchery, and defamation of women) then in-general the image of this division of humans would have a more positive overall chance at equality....

Has anyone noticed that the flooding in the Mississippi River Area of our country has yet to raise international furor of how FEMA, Bush, Corps of Engineers, and in general the system has failed and is racists, due to the absolute destruction of entire towns and ways of life?? No-one's crying racist here or bitching about more free shit needed, AND NO-LOOTING!!
What gives?

 

Trumpet that is not a misquote. It is a simple and accurate English to American translation. To see how much it was improved by this action, please check out Kimiko's simple explanation which she was kind enough to link.