Nothing's Shocking
A brief note: You may have noticed a lack of new entries lately. This was due to the unfortunate demise of my old computer upon my move to a new apartment two weeks ago. I am now back up and running with my new computer and will be returning to my usual irregular schedule of posting new entries. And so, without further ado...
Well, I'm sure you're all expecting me to comment on the whole Imus situation, as I am both a former radio programmer and a former local board op for "Imus in the Morning." Essentially, it comes down to this: What Don Imus said was wrong, no question about it; I neither condone nor defend what he said. However, for him to be fired for this is just plain ridiculous.
If you're unfamiliar with what Imus said and what has happened since (which means you've been living under a rock for the last week), here's the gist of it... Don Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk were having an on-air conversation about the Rutgers womens basketball team, which had just competed for the NCAA Championship. Imus mentioned how the players had tattoos, and McGuirk called them "hardcore hos." I expect such comments as this from McGuirk, and they're usually followed by Imus either shushing him or just plain going off and calling him a "bald-headed geek" or something to the effect. This time, however, Imus went one step further (and one step over the line), calling the players "nappy-headed hos."
When Rev. Al Sharpton caught wind of what Imus had said, he went nuclear, calling for Imus to be fired from both his national radio show and the TV simulcast on MSNBC. Sharpton had Imus on his radio show and proceeded to try to goad Imus into saying some more racially insensitive things such as referring to African-Americans as "you people." Following Imus' on-air apologies, both on Sharpton's show and his own, Sharpton still called for Imus to be fired. CBS Radio suspended Imus for two weeks, which would have become effective this coming Monday. The annual radiothon for children with cancer was yesterday and today on Imus' flagship station, WFAN in New York, and management wanted to give him the chance to be on live to promote his favorite cause.
Well, the reactions came fast and furious from politicans of all stripes, lining up on predictable sides. Sen. Hillary Clinton called for Imus to be fired as well, and people were quick to point out that Imus has called her "the devil" in the past. They miss the point that Hillary has had it in for Imus ever since he started his speech to the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner a decade ago with a joke about how his speech notes had been mixed up with Hillary's missing Rose Law Firm billing records. Then, Sen. Barack Obama (another presidential candidate) also joined the chorus of people calling for Imus to be fired... but he was then criticized by black leaders for not coming out against Imus quickly enough. These are the same people, by the way, who don't believe that Obama is "black enough" to earn their vote, because he is not descended from slaves. Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, two Republican presidential candidates, took a stand for Imus, criticizing what he said but saying they would continue to go on his show if asked. For this, I'm sure they were labeled "typical racist Republicans."
The Rutgers women's basketball team held a press conference, which was carried live on CNN, where they announced that they had agreed to meet with Imus and talk about what happened. They then proceeded to say "no comment" to just about every question asked for a good 20 minutes. By this point, anything to do with the Imus situation was worthy of being on the news channels. After all, there really was nothing else to cover, right? I mean we know who the father of Anna Nicole's baby is and the Duke lacrosse players were cleared of rape charges (or as CNN put it, they were "cleared"... as in "we're sure they're still guilty of SOMETHING"). Sharpton took on the advertisers of Imus' show, several of whom proceeded to wimp out and pull their advertising, saying things like, "We don't sponsor controversial shows." Excuse me? Then WHY did you sign the contract in the first place? You knew what you were getting... it's not like Imus has never been controversial.
By yesterday, this had become a true media circus. The Rutgers women's basketball team was on "Oprah." Imus was fired from MSNBC right at the START of the charity radiothon... and MSNBC proceeded to replace Imus with 4 hours of Imus coverage. Then they talked about having "integrity"... how is it integrity to pull a guy's show when he's about to raise funds for children with cancer? Then the backlash came against Sharpton and co. People wondered why they haven't criticized the rappers who put the word "ho" into our society. Opie and Anthony on their national morning show proceeded to read the lyrics of the top rap songs in the country; these two white DJs uttered the "n-word" about 20 times in a minute, just to prove the point of how this stuff is out there in our culture. Well, you'll be happy to know that Snoop Dogg responded...
"It's a completely different scenario, (Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about hoes that's in the 'hood that ain't doing s--t, that's trying to get a n--ga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them muthaf**kas say we are in the same league as him. Kick him off the air forever."
Well, thank you Snoop Dogg for clarifying the OBVIOUS double-standard. It's okay for Snoop Dogg and even Eminem (even though he's white) to degrade black women as "hoes" because it's in the form of a song and it's "relevant." No, it's NOT okay. You put these words into the culture, and then white kids who don't know better, who never experienced racism in their lives and see their black friends as just friends and not "black friends" say these words and get called racists. Which brings me to my point and my take on all of this... again, what Imus said was wrong, and I'm glad he apologized. However, the line was said in joking form. I do NOT need to hear the endless analysis of whatever racist subtext is thought to be behind what Imus said. I can tell you as an ex-DJ how this happened. You are on the air filling air time, the words go from your brain to your mouth and out in a split-second, and in this instance, conscience did not cause the words to be edited. In other words, he was HUMAN.
But now he's out of a job, as CBS fired him in mid-radiothon, showing that they are just as thin-skinned as MSNBC. But Imus will swallow his pride, go back to his nice Central Park West apartment or retire to his ranch out West, with the millions he's earned and his beautiful young wife and child, and he'll probably live out the rest of his days in contentment. However, now Sharpton and co. need a new target. See, when you realize that all you need to do is get the sponsors to back out of a radio show and the host will be fired, well... there's a lot of other shows that the PC crowd could get rid of, and they may just try, starting with Opie and Anthony because of both their flagrant use of the "n-word" yesterday (never mind that it was to prove a point) and because they're on a short leash with CBS since they've been fired once before.
DJs will make mistakes, because they are human. I am not talking about that idiot in Pennsylvania who decided to make light of the whole situation by doing a contest where the "phrase that pays" was "I'm a nappy-headed ho." He DESERVED to get fired because he did it consciously. I know this all goes into the belief by some that we are still in a racist society and that white America, by nature, is racist. I'm only going to speak for myself here... I work in an environment where there are a lot of minorities, and I get along with everyone. We don't see each other as black or white, not normally anyway, but when a story like this happens, well, you do start to see people by their skin color, because you wonder what they think. Interestingly enough, the African-American women at my work all said leave Imus alone, he apologized and people say stupid things. Which just proves that the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are not truly representative of the minorities they claim to lead, no matter how much they believe they are. I don't know if there will always be racism among humanity, but I do know that there will always be humanity among humanity. We are all fallible, all capable of saying dumb things, and people should just remember that before they get on their high horse trying to judge someone.
Well, I'm sure you're all expecting me to comment on the whole Imus situation, as I am both a former radio programmer and a former local board op for "Imus in the Morning." Essentially, it comes down to this: What Don Imus said was wrong, no question about it; I neither condone nor defend what he said. However, for him to be fired for this is just plain ridiculous.
If you're unfamiliar with what Imus said and what has happened since (which means you've been living under a rock for the last week), here's the gist of it... Don Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk were having an on-air conversation about the Rutgers womens basketball team, which had just competed for the NCAA Championship. Imus mentioned how the players had tattoos, and McGuirk called them "hardcore hos." I expect such comments as this from McGuirk, and they're usually followed by Imus either shushing him or just plain going off and calling him a "bald-headed geek" or something to the effect. This time, however, Imus went one step further (and one step over the line), calling the players "nappy-headed hos."
When Rev. Al Sharpton caught wind of what Imus had said, he went nuclear, calling for Imus to be fired from both his national radio show and the TV simulcast on MSNBC. Sharpton had Imus on his radio show and proceeded to try to goad Imus into saying some more racially insensitive things such as referring to African-Americans as "you people." Following Imus' on-air apologies, both on Sharpton's show and his own, Sharpton still called for Imus to be fired. CBS Radio suspended Imus for two weeks, which would have become effective this coming Monday. The annual radiothon for children with cancer was yesterday and today on Imus' flagship station, WFAN in New York, and management wanted to give him the chance to be on live to promote his favorite cause.
Well, the reactions came fast and furious from politicans of all stripes, lining up on predictable sides. Sen. Hillary Clinton called for Imus to be fired as well, and people were quick to point out that Imus has called her "the devil" in the past. They miss the point that Hillary has had it in for Imus ever since he started his speech to the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner a decade ago with a joke about how his speech notes had been mixed up with Hillary's missing Rose Law Firm billing records. Then, Sen. Barack Obama (another presidential candidate) also joined the chorus of people calling for Imus to be fired... but he was then criticized by black leaders for not coming out against Imus quickly enough. These are the same people, by the way, who don't believe that Obama is "black enough" to earn their vote, because he is not descended from slaves. Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, two Republican presidential candidates, took a stand for Imus, criticizing what he said but saying they would continue to go on his show if asked. For this, I'm sure they were labeled "typical racist Republicans."
The Rutgers women's basketball team held a press conference, which was carried live on CNN, where they announced that they had agreed to meet with Imus and talk about what happened. They then proceeded to say "no comment" to just about every question asked for a good 20 minutes. By this point, anything to do with the Imus situation was worthy of being on the news channels. After all, there really was nothing else to cover, right? I mean we know who the father of Anna Nicole's baby is and the Duke lacrosse players were cleared of rape charges (or as CNN put it, they were "cleared"... as in "we're sure they're still guilty of SOMETHING"). Sharpton took on the advertisers of Imus' show, several of whom proceeded to wimp out and pull their advertising, saying things like, "We don't sponsor controversial shows." Excuse me? Then WHY did you sign the contract in the first place? You knew what you were getting... it's not like Imus has never been controversial.
By yesterday, this had become a true media circus. The Rutgers women's basketball team was on "Oprah." Imus was fired from MSNBC right at the START of the charity radiothon... and MSNBC proceeded to replace Imus with 4 hours of Imus coverage. Then they talked about having "integrity"... how is it integrity to pull a guy's show when he's about to raise funds for children with cancer? Then the backlash came against Sharpton and co. People wondered why they haven't criticized the rappers who put the word "ho" into our society. Opie and Anthony on their national morning show proceeded to read the lyrics of the top rap songs in the country; these two white DJs uttered the "n-word" about 20 times in a minute, just to prove the point of how this stuff is out there in our culture. Well, you'll be happy to know that Snoop Dogg responded...
"It's a completely different scenario, (Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about hoes that's in the 'hood that ain't doing s--t, that's trying to get a n--ga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them muthaf**kas say we are in the same league as him. Kick him off the air forever."
Well, thank you Snoop Dogg for clarifying the OBVIOUS double-standard. It's okay for Snoop Dogg and even Eminem (even though he's white) to degrade black women as "hoes" because it's in the form of a song and it's "relevant." No, it's NOT okay. You put these words into the culture, and then white kids who don't know better, who never experienced racism in their lives and see their black friends as just friends and not "black friends" say these words and get called racists. Which brings me to my point and my take on all of this... again, what Imus said was wrong, and I'm glad he apologized. However, the line was said in joking form. I do NOT need to hear the endless analysis of whatever racist subtext is thought to be behind what Imus said. I can tell you as an ex-DJ how this happened. You are on the air filling air time, the words go from your brain to your mouth and out in a split-second, and in this instance, conscience did not cause the words to be edited. In other words, he was HUMAN.
But now he's out of a job, as CBS fired him in mid-radiothon, showing that they are just as thin-skinned as MSNBC. But Imus will swallow his pride, go back to his nice Central Park West apartment or retire to his ranch out West, with the millions he's earned and his beautiful young wife and child, and he'll probably live out the rest of his days in contentment. However, now Sharpton and co. need a new target. See, when you realize that all you need to do is get the sponsors to back out of a radio show and the host will be fired, well... there's a lot of other shows that the PC crowd could get rid of, and they may just try, starting with Opie and Anthony because of both their flagrant use of the "n-word" yesterday (never mind that it was to prove a point) and because they're on a short leash with CBS since they've been fired once before.
DJs will make mistakes, because they are human. I am not talking about that idiot in Pennsylvania who decided to make light of the whole situation by doing a contest where the "phrase that pays" was "I'm a nappy-headed ho." He DESERVED to get fired because he did it consciously. I know this all goes into the belief by some that we are still in a racist society and that white America, by nature, is racist. I'm only going to speak for myself here... I work in an environment where there are a lot of minorities, and I get along with everyone. We don't see each other as black or white, not normally anyway, but when a story like this happens, well, you do start to see people by their skin color, because you wonder what they think. Interestingly enough, the African-American women at my work all said leave Imus alone, he apologized and people say stupid things. Which just proves that the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are not truly representative of the minorities they claim to lead, no matter how much they believe they are. I don't know if there will always be racism among humanity, but I do know that there will always be humanity among humanity. We are all fallible, all capable of saying dumb things, and people should just remember that before they get on their high horse trying to judge someone.
Labels: being human, Imus
posted by Dave | 7:29 PM
1 Comments:
Well said.
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