“Oh, George. I wish I had kissed the Sonuvabitch.”
(Patton reflecting on the consequences of striking a soldier suffering from PTSD.)
There is little doubt that Don Imus deserves to be fired. The problem is he has deserved it for going on 25 years. A major contributor to the toxicity of our culture, Imus has frolicked in the sewer of American entertainment, making a living being pointlessly hurtful and hateful to every ethnic and racial group in America. His targets in the past have included the Jews, Hispanics, Italians, Arabs, Catholics, evangelical Christians, and Muslims, to name a few. And he has gotten away with it because people recognize that he is doing it for purposes of “entertainment.”
Playing to stereotypes is a dangerous game and Imus (and his chief enabler and cheerleader, producer Bernard McGuirk), skirt the edge of outright hate speech constantly, settling for drawing broad analogies and using code words that allow their slack jawed fans to create their own punchlines. This gimmicky approach to practicing bigotry without actually crossing the line earned the radio host a huge following during the crucial morning drive time in most major markets and a sizable audience on television via MSNBC.
Now having finally crossed the Rubicon of racist caricature, it appears he is about ready to lose it all:
NBC News dropped Don Imus yesterday, canceling his talk show on its MSNBC cable news channel a week after he made a racially disparaging remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.The move came after several days of widening calls for Mr. Imus to lose his show both on MSNBC, which simulcasts the “Imus in the Morning†show, and CBS Radio, which originates the show.
CBS Radio, which is the main employer of Mr. Imus, said in a statement last night that it would stick by the two-week suspension of the show that it and NBC News announced earlier; the suspension begins Monday.
But CBS said it would, in the interim, “continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely.â€
The demands that Mr. Imus’s show be canceled have grown in intensity every day since last Wednesday when he made the comments, in which he labeled the women “nappy-headed hos.â€
The gutless wonders at CBS who have their finger in the wind seeing if the controversy will die down over the next two weeks are a perfect example of why Imus was allowed to get away with his hate shtick. The fact is, he is wildly popular and makes money for those who employ him. On that basis alone, he has been given a pass that politicians, athletes, actors, musicians, and other public figures never seem to get when it comes to inappropriate speech. And here is where the market forces that drive the entertainment industry actually work to bring the culture down to the level of the gutter. We are told that sex, violence, perversion, and the general coarseness of our popular culture is the result of our own choices, that if people wanted more elevating fare they would demand it.
This may be true to a large extent. But it is also true that even with a veritable cornucopia of choices available on television, the internet, the movie theater, and radio, along with satellite outlets such as DVD’s, CD’s, and gaming, the ever shrinking number of corporations who control all of this media fail to offer much in the way of alternatives. The odd family show on television or small number of G-rated movies released every year reveal the fact that our media gatekeepers simply don’t try very hard.
In a perfect world, edifying and uplifting fare would if not dominate all aspects of our culture, they would certainly compete equally for dollars and viewership. Not living in a perfect world instead gives us Howard Stern who at first, tried to “out-Imus” Imus until he settled into his own brand of sexually charged, off the wall rantings against gays and racial minorities. The fact that he is now on a pay service doesn’t minimize his impact on a specific segment of the population – 18 to 25 year old males. Stern’s objectification of the female body, his leering references to lesbianism, and his ignorant political diatribes are gobbled up by the most impressionable of audiences. His estimated 5 million listeners on Sirius radio pay for the privilege of listening to this weirdo – a sure sign either in the efficacy of capitalism or that civilization is coming to an end.
Beyond the hate and the prurience, there is a general coarseness to our culture that leaves those who consume its fruits at times feeling unclean. I enjoy movies with lots of explosions and death as much as anyone. But there are times that I come away feeling as if I had wallowed in a pool of blood, so ultra violent and utterly devoid of social value much of this fare offers. The Kill Bill films are a good example. Hugely entertaining because they tell an interesting story populated with interesting characters, the gore and casual attitude toward spilling blood nevertheless made it much the guilty pleasure.
To be a critic and a lover of popular culture is not so much a dichotomy as it is a realistic response to the world in which we live. But the Imus’s of this world are different. Quentin Tarrantino may have made the Bill movies for the same reason Imus seeks to shock and titillate his audiences – for the dollars. But Tarrantino’s is a stylized violence – an artistic artifact that reveals a larger truth than the simple sum of the film’s parts. For Imus, he shocks simply because he is able to. This truly places him in a cultural gutter along with rape pornographers, some rap artists, , and others who seek to manipulate the emotions of their audience in order to elicit a base emotional.
Imus should have been fired long ago. Perhaps the action taken by MSNBC will dampen the enthusiasm of the “shock jocks” who seek to skirt the edge of propriety all in the name of listeners and ad revenue.
But I wouldn’t count on it.
10:59 am
Imus is non-partisan in his regard for hacks and that is why he has little or no constituency to back him. Yes, he is in the
entertainment business and he does pander to his ‘audience’, but he does (thanks to help from Diedre)spend a great deal of time and money helping others.
In short he encapsulates the Castanadian dictum; ‘People who care, act like they don’t. People who don’t care, act like they do.’(paraphrased, but essence is there)
He is a decent guy, but because he does not shamelessly reiterate the talking points of either dimension, they shove him in front of the express train, without remorse.
12:19 pm
“a sure sign either in the efficacy of capitalism or that civilization is coming to an end.”
Civilization is not coming to an end, before the beauty of knowing our Creator, there will be global suffering on a scale never imagined. Only then will mankind seek God in pureness of heart. It has always been the way of man to ignore and deny God untill there is a catastrophe, but in disaster, the best of mankind comes shining through; witness 9/11. The day of and the days follwing 9/11 found most people drawing togethor to help and comfort each other, but that has quickly disappeared and has been replaced by our self-serving bickering and petty differences. What we see and hear happening today is the result of an increasingly decadent and complacent society. The global ELE will have it’s roots from within man. It will take years to recover from this, not just days or weeks. Only after this will the likes of Imus, Stern and the rest, never be given a second to spew their hatred.
No, I am not some radical religous zealot, I pray and study The Bible, and do the best I can not to be married to this world, but to help where I can. I believe the constitution that says “the state shall not establish a religion.”
1:34 pm
As a Liberal I visit this site on occassion because it is one of the few places on the web where I can find a Conservative voice that seems to be connected to a thinking individual, who normally has a rational view, and that I even agree with on occassion. This would, of course, be one of those times. There is far too much divisivness in the country today. People like Don Imus are a big part of that prolem, and it is more than time that he was shown the error of is ways. I’m very happy that this does seem to be being taken care of as a normal function of the market as opposed to a few loud voices bullying the rest into submission. It is, however, only a start. There are far too many other people out there working harder to divide us, and keep their market share,than to unite us and make us stronger as a whole. Mike Malloy, Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, Ann Coulter, Michelle Makin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Savage, Beck, O’Reilly, Bortz…all people who have far more to gain from dividing us, and who among them have each recorded a long and odious list of lies, half-truths, hatred, venom and bile. I’m sure other of your readers can add more of the Liberal voices to this list.
We have a lot of work ahead of us. I’m happy to see you agree with me. I hope you proceed from here with an even, unbiased, and just hand
We have a l
5:18 pm
Rick,
Off topic… but your brother Terry has really flown the coop on the Duke rape case. His article:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/terrymoran/2007/04/dont_feel_too_s_1.html
This is indefensible. He has thrown out the constitutional notion of the presumption of innocence. He actually covers legal cases. What does class, race, privilege have to do with the throwing out the presumption of innocence? I just don’t know how you grew up with him.
6:44 pm
Excerpt and link added to my 2007.04.12 Donny Dumbass Roundup
6:58 pm
CBS fires shock jock Don Imus…
CBS fired Don Imus from his radio program Thursday, the finale to a stunning fall for one of the nat…
8:54 pm
This is hysterical. Imus is a liberal,giving hours and hours of free time to the empty suits you probably support…and he was getting decent ratings,much more so than talentless “air america”staff. Do you think msnbc/democrat party will benefit from this?
The only one benefiting here is Al Sharpton…a real vote getter for you dems…...and all you had to do for this is stiffel free speech
btw,whats worse..uttering 3 offensive words or the tawana brawley affair…or drug dealers,violence,school dropouts,broken families,you know all the things that really affect minorities….
11:23 pm
I for one have never placed a lot of faith in the likes of Imus. He’s the exact opposite of what I think is decent and worthwhile.
That being said, what about the black racist hypocrites Al Sharpton (Tawana Bradley and “diamond merchants” as well as other murdered innocent Jews) and Jessie (“Hymietown”) Jackson? There are many others, as the ugly “Scottsboro in reverse” recent Duke La Crosse situation has shown. The bigotted MSM, especially CBS, needs to be shown in the most brutal light that hypocrisy is not acceptable. Remember Dan Rather, well Mr. Moonves, how long did it take you to get rid of Rather? Far longer that it took your hypocritical ass to get rid of Imus. What a piece of hypocritical CRAP!
4:42 am
are you serious? at the end of the day Imus was fired because of his low ratings and all the nervous advertisers who pulled off the show. the comment gave les moonves the predicate he needed to fire a guy who was a star (for whatever reason) but over the last 5-10 years had seen his star fade (what’s that neil young song?) Stern – love him or hate him – used the market to solve his problem – he went to private pay service where he can say anything he wants. btw please point out when he has derided gays or minorities. that is the greatness of the western world – we are free to choose junk or classics.
Rosie o’donnell spews the most egregious conspiracy fantasies on the View. she stays because she gets ratings – not because her 1st amendment rights are any better or worse off than Imus. the right to free speech is the right to turn on or turn off or pay for content that i desire.
5:18 am
O’Reilly and Rivera Square Off Over Imus Firing…
A calm debate over the fate of the shock jock…...
6:29 am
Poster #1 is right about Imus getting himself really in trouble by lacking any hard-core group for political support – Rick stated the case for getting rid of him from a social conservative viewpoint; political conservatives were angered by his support of Kerry in 2004 and his continued attacks on Bush and his administration, while those on the far left have never, ever forgiven him for either his attacks on the Clinton administration during the 1990s or his attacks on Al Gore during the 2000 election.
To a site like Media Matters, there was barely a difference between Imus, Rush or Hannity, at the same time people on the right at places like the Media Research Center didn’t see much difference between what Imus and his (manily liberal) guests were saying, and what was being spouted over at Air America. If Imus just had strong enemies on the right, well, there are lots of folks who’ve survived those types of protests and kept their media/entertainment jobs; but he had never mended his bridges from the Clinton years with the folks on the left, and within the special interest groups on the left that glut media organizations like CBS and NBC, that was fatal, since it meant inside pressure on both his guests and his bosses to can him.
But ironically, it’s those same guests, and Imus’ higher-profile causes such as his children’s ranch and other cancer-related charities, that killed him this time. Howard Stern can say stuff just as bad, but Stern doesn’t have to try and raise corporate funds for his pet causes, because he is his only pet cause. So Stern could (can) remain defiant when controversies come up, while the corporate sponsors and the folks who enabled him to attract those corporations as donors via MSNBC were the ones who forced him to go cowboy-hat-in-hand to apologize on Al Sharpton’s radio show.
The old Imus, for good or bad, would have brushed off Sharpton and allowed his bosses to defend him because of his ad billing revenues. But the old Imus wouldn’t have been on TV; wouldn’t have had big national sponsors backing his causes, but who dread any controversy; and wouldn’t have had high-profile politicians and media pundits, who for the most part aren’t going to take a chance that the wake of the sinking SS Imus was going to take them down with him, if they continued to show their support.
9:11 am
[...] That’s it. Want to see real commentary on this? Check out Rick at RWNH, the profane loons at BigLead, but most importantly Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, and of course the Anchoress. [...]
2:31 pm
[...] Macranger has an interesting post on the Imus story. So does Right Wing Nuthouse My First and Last words on the Imus spectacle « Nothing pinged back with My First and Last words on the Imus spectacle « NothingJ’s Cafe Nette tracked back with Imus… Posted on: 9 Comments ? [...]
8:56 pm
God, can we pleeeeze stop talking about this.
Imus is gone and we can all sit back with baited breath and wait for the rev. sharpton to take the hip hop culture to task … yeah, like he’s really going to do that.
5:20 am
You’re right, Don Imus just needs to jump on the bandwagon and pile on verbal abuse directed at black women. After all this “rappers made me do it” defense seems to be working out pretty good. Author, Zora Neale Hurston called the black women the “mules of the world.” I guess they were just born to be abused. Thank you for your insight.
5:31 am
Ron, you misunderstand me. What Imus said was horrible and I did not agree with what he said about these young women.
I’m not saying “rappers made him do it”—I don’t know the man or what is in his heart so I don’t really know whay he said it other than to mention he has been insulting all walks of people for years in his shock jock career.
All I was trying to say is I would like to see someone go after the vile rappers who demean women on a daily basis.
Why is that O.K.?