Random Thoughts about the firing of Don Imus.

First of all, I am not a Don Imus fan. I have tried to listen to his show a couple of times, but it just didn’t do much for me I guess. I found him not to be my style and he just didn’t interest me, except for those funny cowboy hats. Where can I get one of those?


Anyways, Don Imus called some Rutgers women's basketball players "nappy-headed hos" [video] on his radio show last week. Wow…that was not very smart now was it.
Yes, it was wrong for Imus to say what he said. It was even distasteful in my opinion. Definitely not a comment I would have made about a group of people I have never met, but I am not Don Imus.

Should Don Imus have been fired? I don’t know. I am not his boss. Would I have fired Don Imus? I probably would not have fired Don Imus. I am not an advocate of censorship and believe in the freedom of speech.

Of course, just like all freedom, freedom is not free, it comes with responsibility. There is a price that comes with freedom of speech. Just ask the Dixie Chicks. They learned real quickly the lessons in freedom of speech. Other artist, actors, politicians, and entertainers have paid the price for freedom of speech as well, but most of them never lost there jobs over it.

Some may argue that Don Imus is paying the price for his freedom of speech and to a certain extent I may even agree. However, I would argue that Don Imus is paying more of a price of a head hunt rather than the price of freedom of speech.

This was Don Imus’ radio show. He is free to say what he wants. If he can get the ratings, and there is an audience for what he says, that can pay the bills for his show so be it.
This is a free country; nobody is forcing anybody to listen to Don Imus. If you do not like what Don Imus says then change the station.

If enough people change the station then Don Imus drops in ratings. If he drops in ratings then advertisers will drop Imus. Then if I am his boss I fire him. Then Don Imus truly pays the cost for freedom of speech, but that is not what happened here.


What happened here is Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson called for Imus’ head on a platter and they got it. They called for an action of censorship and they got it.
Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson took an issue that did not even concern them, stir the racial victimization pot, and WHAM!!! Created a media fire storm. They then cashed in for all it was worth and got Don Imus fired.

The fact that Sharpton and Jackson were able to join together, influence the removal of one man’s voice from a successful radio show is disgusting…and all in the name of racial equality.

What about the remarks Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson have made in the past?
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have no room to comment when it comes to racial remarks. Al Sharpton is a race warlord. Always exploiting the sense of black victimization for his personal gain and he does not care who he hurts or lies about in the process.

Sharpton falsey accused Steven Pagones of the rape and mutilation of Tawana Brawley in 1987. He has never once apologized for it.

He incited murder at Freddie’s Fashion Mart in Harlem while loudly denouncing white interlopers in 1995. No apology.

How about the Crown Heights Riot in New York City in 1991 ? Sharpton whipped a crowd into a four-day riot on rumors that a Jewish ambulance had failed to treat a young black at the scene of a disturbance after a car accident. Sharpton referred to “diamond merchants” (racial slur for Jews) shedding the “blood of innocent babies.” No apology. Of course, he never really had to; the media gave him a free pass.

Jesse Jackson was quick to jump on the bandwagon against the Duke Lacrosse team who was wrongly accused of sexually assaulting and raping a black woman. He has never apologized and correct me if I am wrong but did he not use the words “ Hymie Town ” before?

So, Don Imus hurts the feelings of some female black basketball players and he is destroyed, thrown to the arena of the media hyenas and fired from his radio show. Al Sharpton, who in my opinion has blood on his hands, should have went to jail for his comments. Free speech does not cover inciting a murder or riot. Jesse Jackson, he is just an idiot, but he was never fired. There was never a media frenzy over anything that these two have said.

This shows me the real issue has little to do with racism or racial and degrading comments against black women, but more to do with a white man saying them.




What if it really was about racial and degrading comments against black women?
Do I even need to mention the hip hop, gangsta rap industry here? Imus did not say anything that can not be heard on a daily basis from disk jockeys and the music on urban radio stations across the country.

You want to see the degrading of women turn on MTV or BET. Watch these women get paraded around in G-strings and called “bitches” and “hos.”

Rapper Snoop Dog has showed up at award ceremonies with women on dog leashes. He makes pornography in the basement of his house and his lyrics to his music are filled with comments far worse than what Don Imus said. Isn’t that degrading to all women in general and not just black women?

The rap industry has been doing this for years on end. Why not any outrage there? Where is the media frenzy…Oh, that’s right…they are not white males. Only white males say degrading things about black females I guess.

Is it about Race at all?
If the Don Imus story was truly about race and racial justice, then why not the same media frenzy over Crystal Gail Mangum?

Who is she you ask? She is the black woman who falsely accused three members of the Duke Lacrosse team of sexually assaulting her and raping her. Her accusations caused a huge media frenzy against Duke University and these lacrosse players that was completely race generated.

Jesse Jackson also had a lot to say about this case. He wrote, in one of his columns on Blacknews.com, “Predictably, the right-wing media machine has kicked in, prompting mean spirited attacks upon the accuser’s character.” Later he said his organization, the Rainbow/Push Coalition, would pay Magnum’s college tuition for a degree even if her story turned out to be completely made up!

Wow! Hey black ladies, want a college scholarship? All you have to do is accuse an all-white college sports team of raping you. I am sure that did a lot for racial relations.

So we learn that the whole rape charge was a hoax. The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office dropped the charges and an investigation from the state bar association is under way against the District Attorney Michael Nifong who was prosecuting the case. Nifong has at least apologized to the accused; Jesse Jackson has never offered one.

The point is we have two college sport teams, the Duke Lacrosse team that is mostly white and the Rutgers women’s basketball team that is mostly black.

The Duke team members were falsely accused of a crime, charges was filed, DNA swabs taken. The district attorney claimed a rape definitely occurred.

They were a nationally ranked team and had a chance for a championship. Instead the season was cancelled, games forfeited. The coach, Mike Pressler resigned.

The accused had to hire attorneys and pay tens of thousands of dollars to defend themselves. Reputations damaged as “mug shots” were posted across campus. Duke African Studies professor Mark Anthony Neal claimed it was “a case of racialized sexual violence.” One Durham NC resident cried “racial terrorism.”

Many lives were affected by these false accusations. Now let’s look at the Rutgers situation.
A white radio talk show host makes a stupid, distasteful comment that insults a Rutgers team. No season cancelled, Rutgers played in their championship game. No coaches resigned, no one was arrested. None of the Rutgers ladies had to spend tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. They were insulted, the targets of a stupid racially charged remark that every one of us has heard before. No life changing experience at all really.

The evil white man who made the stupid, hateful remark is being attacked and crucified. The black woman who made the false accusations of rape is going to walk free. No criticism, no media frenzy. In fact, I am willing to bet that the same civil rights leaders, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, which destroyed Don Imus will come to the rescue of Crystal Gail Magnus if anyone tries to place any kind of blame on her.

Should Don Imus have apologized?
Don Imus apologized here, apologized there, apologized on Al Sharpton’s radio show, [viideo] but it wasn’t enough. Don Imus would have never been able to apologize enough to satisfy Sharpton and Jackson. I guess these reverends are just not into that whole Christian forgiving thing.
Anyways, why apologize to Sharpton and Jackson anyway. Don Imus’ comments were not directed to or about Sharpton or Jackson. They were directed at the Rutgers female basketball team that is it. They are the only ones in this whole ordeal that deserves an apology from Don Imus, and he was right to meet with them to apologize. However that is where it should have ended.

The real mistake Imus made in this, other than uttering the stupid remark in the first place, was the continuous apologies and making an appearance on Al Sharpton’s radio show.

Don Imus should have made a statement that he had met with the women from the Rutgers basketball team and offered a heartfelt apology. He is sorry and knows what he said was wrong and inappropriate and should not be said by anyone. He then should have said that he is putting this event behind him and moving on. He then should have refused to comment on it any more.

His appearance on Sharpton’s radio show should have been reduced to a statement and that is it. He should have gone on the show made his statement and left. Let Al Sharpton and his critiques scream and cry all they want, but do not validate the cries and screams with continuous apologies.

It’s really about censorship, not race. Watch out talk radio.
The whole Don Imus affair has very little to do with race and a lot to do with censorship. You need to look no further than Al Sharpton’s remarks to see that.

“Somewhere we must draw the line in what is tolerable in mainstream media. We cannot keep going through offending us and then apologizing and then acting like it never happened. Somewhere we’ve got to stop this,” said Sharpton.

Draw the line in what is tolerable… cannot keep going on offending… Who is going to decide what is offensive or tolerable. Al Sharpton? Is there going to be a list of what you can and can not say or is it merely based on opinion. What about free speech Al?

The removal of Don Imus is just the beginning. Al Sharpton and his cronies along with the media have successfully silenced a talk radio icon by getting his program removed from the air. Sharpton is feeling confident and good about himself right now and last week told an overly excited media; “It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves.”

So, let the head hunts begin. Sharpton and his cronies will now go after other talk radio heads. Sure, they will claim they want to clean up all media and entertainment outlets, but let’s make it clear the real goal is to silence talk radio, conservative talk radio.

For years the liberal left has used various tactics to marginalize conservative talk radio. The most heavily used tactic is the “hate radio”accusation. The idea is to claim anything said on a conservative talk radio show that goes against liberal dogma is “hate speech.” Of course, this tactic hasn’t worked and talk radio continues to grow.

The left and the media in this country doesn’t just dislike conservative talk radio, they hate it, despise it. They can not stand the idea of radio talking heads speaking to the masses in an open forum about public policy, opinions, and the matter of government.

The left knows they can not succeed in talk radio. Air America has pretty much proven that. Since they can not succeed in the arena it must be destroyed. Their original plan to destroy conservative talk radio was to wait until the Democrats controlled the Congress and the White House then pass the so called “Fairness Doctrine”Now; they see they may not have to wait for the electorate to give them the power to do it.

They now know Al Sharpton can move the corporate money with his racially charged dialogue. The tape recorders will be rolling, waiting, preying for the next slip of the tongue. Come to think of it…they do not even need the host to say something derogatory, all they need is a caller.

Yeppers, anyone remember what happened to Howard Stern?

Some Final Thoughts and Country Boy’s Suggested Reading on Don Imus.
Oprah Winfrey invited the Rutgers Basketball Team on to her show…well that was nice…I wonder when she will have the Duke Lacrosse Team.

Oprah also held a town hall meeting forum on her show recently to discuss race relations stemming from the Don Imus comments... However, I noticed not one white person on the panel.

Are racial relations plainly a black issue? Do whites have nothing to offer to the table? Maybe they couldn’t find any white people to go on the show in fear of being labeled a racist…after all only black people are allowed to talk about race.

I am agreeing with Rosie! Say What?
Rosie O'Donnell, weighing in on the Imus matter, warns us that the thought police are coming! Agreeing with Rosie. This is going to bother me for the rest of the day. Damn, I need a drink!

Ann Coulter says we need a rule book because of the Don Imus case? We now need a rule book that tells us when we're allowed to say certain things and what we're allowed to say. She also goes after the media hypocrisy over the reasons for the controversy in the first place. Great Read…

Cal Thomas says the firing of Don Imus amounts to a media double standard. What about rap music? What about Jesse Jackson's racist slur in the past?

Found this article in the archives… It is from the Heritage Foundation: Why the Fairness Doctrine is Anything But Fair.

The District Attorney who persecuted the 3 Duke LaCrosse players for a rape that never took place has apologized...sort of. "To the extent" that he made judgments that later proved incorrect, he says. Hey...it could happen to anybody, right? There goes the law license. Well, that is still more than Jesse Jackson has offered the Duke 3.

So with Don Imus erased from the airwaves, the next question on people's minds is just what are you allowed to say on TV and radio? Time magazine has a piece out today that tries to answer that question.

Two today from the one and only Ann Coulter. Coulter says Don Imus should apologize to the girls at Rutgers University and that's it...nobody else. Hmmm. Where have I seen that before….She also points out that Imus could have called her a ho instead...and there would have been no problem. Although she specified "flaxen-haired ho." Hilarious and outragous as always.

Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star says the controversy over Don Imus is allowing the black community to hide it's real problem: the gangster culture. As for Imus himself? Whitlock says his comment was at most a poor attempt at humor and is irrelevant anyway. Don't miss this column today. Definitely worth the read.

Sunday was the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. A lot of players wearing the number 42 this weekend in tribute…Ray McNulty says that Jackie Robinson would have ignored Don Imus.