April 11, Context and Quotes

As I have been doing more thinking about the Imus quotes, and also Snoop Dogg's ridiculous self-denial, I realized that April 11, 2007 was full of sadness and news that was getting missed. In response, I wanted to put together a pictorial of how "the quote" from Imus demonstrates the way race is used in our culture.

Don Imus
We all know what happened here, when he actually said the quote. You say that thing, you ignite discussions about race and you get fire. Pretty standard fare, although my favorite irony is that they waited until I mus raised over 2 million in a telethon Thursday and Friday to do it. What a blatantly terrible man who only thinks about himself and his own race, he should certainly be fired....right after he funds the pedeatric ward at a New Jersey hospital (presumably a segregated New Jersey Hospital?)


Mike Nifong
Of all the people who ought to lose jobs because of race, it has to be Nifong, with Jesse Jackson (does he have an actual job to be fired from?) a close second. On top of this his blatant self-promotion and lack of skill should help the firing process. His apology was meaningless and sounded a thousand times less sincere than Imus'. See Wojo's column to get a sense of this.









Kurt Vonnegut

He died on April 11, and his death was totally overshadowed by this other nonsense. Sad, but also ironic...just the way Vonnegut would have liked it. Ironic because no one understood the dangers of political correctness and free speech like Vonnegut. We lost a prophet and a genius. Fortunately he left the truest words on both parenting and the human condition behind, "There's shit everywhere."

Imus and feeling good about myself

I have read through the articles several articles on the "Imus Incident", and there are a few things I think get lost. First, to accuse Imus of not being funny is certainly fair, I listened to him most mornings for two and a half years and often he was not funny. That Imus has a history of saying stupid things is also obviously true. But out of context of his radio program all of his quotes are going to seem odd and offensive. His radio show is just that, a "show" and he is constantly balancing the line between himself and the character he plays on radio. For those who actually listened to his apology (which was a whole segment and a half of his program, about fifteen minutes long) he clearly apologized and was sorry for what happened, but he also kept trying to make the point that he is not the same person he plays on the radio. There is obviously a fine line here, but should we get up in arms when Colbert makes an offensive joke about Iran, or what about when every Black comedian does a bad impersonation of a white guy? Does it mean all of these people are loaded with mallice and racism in their hearts? It may, but the struggle is how do condemn the message without condemning the medium? We pick the person out and assume that at his worst moment, this is when he was most honest. This speaks to the second point, Imus' comments were totally out of line and he ought to be punished for them, but the self-righteousness of the public on this is disgusting. I am not looking for a defense of Imus, just an admission of guilt and some responsibility by everyone else who clogs up the air waves. I have only heard one group of sports talk show hosts own up to their contribution to the culture of race (Fox Sports Craig Sheeman and James Washington). Also, shame on Snoop Dog, his blatant bigotry and disregard for women is okay because it is honest? Please. They are not the same venue for dealing with race, but if he truly believes he has no part of this then the drugs have damaged his brain beyond repair. I listen to enough sports radio, and watch enough television to know that there is prejudice and malice in all the stuff we hear and watch. I get offended by the blatant white, suburban, Americaness of Hallmark movies, I get offended by all artful, skinny guys being gay. I am offended that the images presented to our youth (not just girls) are only of dangerously thin girls, and muscle-bound tanned boys, that you are only as good as your body. When we play into these stereotypes, and use them ourselves all the time, how is we can get bent out of shape when they go wrong? In short, standing on the outside condemning Imus is the perfect way to perpetuate the problem, because when it is finished, none of will know anyone else any better and we will all feel a little better that we are not Imus. We should definitely quote Scripture to this issue, but it seems to me we are quoting the wrong one. Let quote the story of the Pharisee who stand in public and thanks God they are not Don Imus, and remember to add the part about the tax collector who beat his own chest in repentance.