Who Cares About Imus? Is he really all that bad?
Submitted by kevin22262 on April 10, 2007 - 6:14pm.
hate speech | human rights | Imus | talk radio | Civil Liberties | Current Events | Human Rights | Soapbox
Well my answer would be, I do! Not only do I care about what this hate monger says, I care about what the other hate mongers have been saying for a long time.
We seem to get all worked up, enraged and willing to take action when someone famous attacks people of color or disparages our candidate of choice (the Edwards fagot fiasco). Where is the rage and action when these hate mongers attack women?
Examples:
Savage on "double-talking slut" Barbara Walters: "The woman is vermin"
On Imus, McGuirk said that "bitch" Clinton will "have cornrows and gold teeth"
CNN's, ABC's Beck on Clinton: "She's the stereotypical bitch"
This nonsense, this crap has got to stop! We have to be willing to fight these hate mongers wherever they are.
This is not about Hillary or even Barbara Walters this is about right and wrong. The famous names are used as ways to attack a group, we need to use them as a catalyst for action and change.
Seems we as a society have become used to and excepting of women being slandered and abused. All forms of media are used to attack women. Talk radio, music, TV, movies, magazines, the internet and even blogs, they are all used to bombard us with "excepted and expected" negative stereo types and attacks on women.
Women, gays and immigrants (legal and "illegal") all seem to be the acceptable people to kick around, disparage and abuse by society. It will eventually become less acceptable to do this to gays and immigrants but women will still be subjected to the abuse by all the pieces of or society and culture.
There is a well written piece from Washington Woman that deals with the ongoing "shock jocks" and their almost "Rwandan" ways in how they deal with immigrants.
I believe everyone deserves a second chance, even when they do vile things, except if they are purposefully causing or meaning to cause physical or psychological harm to humans or animals.
Here are just a few names (you can add to this list) that I believe should be fired, sued and possibly put in jail (why they are never sued is beyond belief):
Ann Coulter
Glenn Beck
Sean Hannity
Your choices?....
Why is there no campaign to stop this crap like there was when coulter called Edwards a fagot?
ALL of this crap!
Kevin
Washington Woman
http://washingtonwoman.blogspot.com
Wes Clark on ActBlue
By manufacturing a controversy (very common tactic these days) so they could shore up their viewership as well as ratings.
If they're trying to stir up a controversy, they can't be very happy about the major advertisers who are pulling out of the show, not to mention the guests who are now backing out.
This isn't a manufactured incident. This is Don Imus finally getting called on the ugliness he passes off as comedy.
Joy
I have listened and watched (on and off) for a number of years, because he DOES have top presidential biographers, media people, the latest country music, news and sports reports.
BUT: He does say the nastiest things about defenseless people and groups.
I prescribe to the headline in today's New York Daily News, that shows a picture of part of the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team, with the headline saying that THEY have dignity....Imus doesn't.
I am glad he finally got called on this, Two weeks off is not adequate. The networks (CBS Radio and MSNBC TV) should pay the price: loss of revenue from advertisers.
And Imus eating humble pie in front of ten 18-21 year old women. How humilitating is that?
Footnote: All the women had straight hair, including the two caucasions: Heather and Brittany. And how about the class shown by the Rutgers coach (who has taken three colleges to women's basketball's Final Four.
Exactly!
He kept on saying "this is a comedy show" and not an op-ed show, so therefore we shouldn't take his remarks as being serious. Or something... I'm not really sure where he was going with that idea.
But calling people names isn't comedy, it's lazy and infantile. Maybe if he said "this is a show for people who haven't moved past third grade emotionally" that'd be an excuse. But calling it comedy is just pathetic and delusional.
Regardless of the sheer offensiveness--hatefulness--of the words he used, somebody who thinks it's okay to call people he's never even met names needs to be taken down several notches. Who does he think he is, to sit on high and baselessly criticize somebody else's appearance and, even worse, their character?
Free speech is fine, but I'm glad at least some of his sponsors aren't using his right to free speech as a cover for nastiness. So I'm writing to P&G, Staples, and Bigelow to thank them:
http://pg.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/pg.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
http://www.staples.com/sbd/content/help/contact/other_quest.html
http://www.bigelowtea.com/contact/
That this diary is not just about Imus?
Kevin
Washington Woman
http://washingtonwoman.blogspot.com
Wes Clark on ActBlue
The trouble is, he's been doing this shock-jock schict for 40 years and it's to be expected. That's his thing, not matter how sick. The other ones mentioned, the right wing nut cases, seem to be able to get away with the same stuff - and frankly, it's time to put a stop to it.