Since everyone else is pontificating about the Don Imus fiasco here are my
three cents worth (and don¹t spend it all in one place):
1. Imus has spent a quarter century building a public persona for himself
as an angry, white male, no nonsense, red-neck cowboy. He takes himself so
seriously in this role that he even wears a cowboy costume while riding the
radio range at the high tech glossy studio from which he broadcasts in the
badlands of mid town Manhattan. It should surprise no one therefore,
particularly Imus himself, that racial put downs and ethnic "humor" offered
from this perspective are viewed in a very skeptical light. The jokes better
be damn funny because cowboy rednecks, in general, have had a pretty poor
and demonstrable history of real life unpleasant racial attitudes. When a
redneck calls a black woman a "nappy headed ho" it better be followed by a
hell of a punch-line because there is no bank of goodwill or unspoken
understanding between the black community and the rednecks that grant the
cowboys license to be insulting. As a professional, Imus should have known
that he is the wrong person to walk the fine line of racial comedy. Jumping
on Imus for racist remarks and not, for example, on Howard Stern, does not
present a double standard just a recognition that if you live by the sword
you die by it. Plus Howard is funny and Imus is just a mean spirited
knucklehead.
2. Where did Imus get the phrases "nappy headed" and "ho" from? As a white
guy well over the age of 50 he certainly did not grow up using those words.
No, he found them late in life as they drifted from a small section of black
"gangsta" culture into the popular vernacular probably through music. I have
always thought it is a big mistake when blacks use the words "nigga," "ho"
or "bitches" about themselves. Some have argued that this use is a positive
way to reclaim power over language and to negate historic injustice by using
the words in a new context for new purposes. I think it just coarsens the
culture, demeans the spirit, and appears to grant license to others, like
Imus, when they want to appeal to low brow poplar culture. Blowback sure is
a bitch.
3. MSNBC's decision to fire Imus reminds me a little of the scene from
Casablanca where Claude Rains, as chief of police, says he is "shocked to
learn of gambling going on" at Rick's Café. MSNBC pays Imus a fortune to be
stupid, mean spirited, smug, and obnoxious. They do it because a percentage
of the population likes his angry man persona and agrees with his repellent
views. But if MSNBC chooses to lavishly reward the guy for years for going
on the radio everyday and being ugly and obnoxious it is the height of
hypocrisy to now claim outrage when goes over a murky line of good taste.
Imus is like a child running around with the scissors that the adults at
MSNBC gave them him.