Bye Bye Don

[Diggler]

Racism always hurts someone though, which is why it cannot be defended as free speech.

You CHOOSE to be offended. There is no freedom from getting your feelings hurt. I see lots of blacks in the audience laughing their butts off when Eddie Murphy or even Carlos Mencia makes a joke about a black stereotype. When a rapper stands up and says the 'n' word more than two dozen times in one 'song', no one is offended, and the word 'ho' is used quite regularly in that culture. When Al Sharpton calls Jews "diamond merchants" and followers of a "gutter religion", just dismiss him as a complete ignorant tool and move on.

Who's going to decide what is 'racism?'

Al? Jesse? La Raza? CAIR? A government Panel of Acceptable Speech?

I've listened to Hannity on my way home because he's on. He's not my favorite, but he has a "Hate Hannity Hotline" where liberals call and bash him and he plays them back. One of the most popular accusations is that he's a racist. I have never heard him say ONE THING that is even remotely close to being racist.

EVEN IF SOMEONE WAS RACIST, that is their own bigoted beliefs, and I believe that if you want to be an ignorant racist, that's your right as long as you don't cause harm to someone.

Is it going to be racist to suggest discuss the illegal immigration problem? Is it going to be racist to discuss Islamic extremism and terrorism? How about discussing ending affirmative action? All valid points that need discussion... but by simply labeling the other side as racist, you can avoid any discussion and declare one side the winner because debate can't take place.

Everything will end up being vanilla, and no serious discussion can take place because everyone will be afraid to offend someone.

I don't like the idea of organized threats of boycotts, either. If I don't like someone or some company, I stop using their products. I might send one email stating why I'm displeased, and that's it.

In this case, Al Sharpton virtually fired Imus himself using threats. The free market should have been allowed to work by individuals making their choices as to listening or not over time, and as his viewership declined, the networks would have dropped him on their own.

Q: Anyone happen to know what Whoopie Goldberg's production company is named?
A: One Ho Productions.

Q: What did Mayor Nagin want to rebuild New Orleans into?
A: A 'chocolate' city.

Finally, this is an excerpt of a speech that was broadcast in its entirety on C-Span by Dr. Kamau Kambon. Where were the calls for racial unity and rebukes by the usual suspects?

...they have what they call racial profiling, DNA banks, and they’re monitoring our people to try to prevent the one person from coming up with the one idea. And the one idea is, how we are going to exterminate white people because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.”

ETA: For the networks to not back up Imus for his right to say what he wanted was pretty crappy. They winked and nodded and raked in $15 million a year for 30 years because of quotes just like the ones he was fired for. They could have reigned him in at any time.

 

[IotaNet]

+1 on that, but let's not ignore the racial element of what he said. Having checked out the Rutgers University Women's basketball team website, it's painfully apparent that none of the women have a frizzy hairstyle. Referring to them as "Nappy headed" can only have been a racist comment.

I hear you but I specifically focused on that part of the commentary because it's what nobody wants to deal with.

If you look at all the posts in this thread, we've gotten all off into Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and everything else. This isn't about them -- it's about some very offensive comments that Don Imus made about some young women who happen to be sisters & daughters.

They are educated women who are excelling in a way that most of us will never achieve. They are articulate and intelligent.

This man called them Whores.

That's unacceptable -- no matter what color they are.

 

[bmc]

I hear you but I specifically focused on that part of the commentary because it's what nobody wants to deal with.

If you look at all the posts in this thread, we've gotten all off into Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and everything else. This isn't about them -- it's about some very offensive comments that Don Imus made about some young women who happen to be sisters & daughters.

They are educated women who are excelling in a way that most of us will never achieve. They are articulate and intelligent.

This man called them Whores.

That's unacceptable -- no matter what color they are.

Nahhhh. You're missing the point. It's about freedom of speech, not about being tasteless, hurtful and saying ignorant things. Being able to say ignorant things needs more defending than those young hard working innocent women being treated like shyt on a morning radio show. Don't you get it?

Comes from the same school of reasoning that says you gotta impeach a president for lying about a BJ, yet let the next lying guy off the hook for killing 3,000 of his countries finest.

 

[dlloyd]

You CHOOSE to be offended.

The problem lies with the person discriminating by race, not with the person who is being discriminated against. Racism stands against the most fundamental principle of the US constitution, as Lincoln summed up, that "all men are created equal." To use an amendment of that constitution to deny this seems hypocritical.

In the UK, we have a similar guarantee of freedom of expression under the European Human Rights Act, but it is limited by a several UK acts of parliament which create the criminal offences of inciting racial or religious hatred.

There is no freedom from getting your feelings hurt. I see lots of blacks in the audience laughing their butts off when Eddie Murphy or even Carlos Mencia makes a joke about a black stereotype. When a rapper stands up and says the 'n' word more than two dozen times in one 'song', no one is offended, and the word 'ho' is used quite regularly in that culture.

It's a question of ownership. It's not racism for, say, a black comedian to use the "n-word" as he is not using it in a discriminatory fashion. That's not to say it's okay for them to use it, but we're in the realms of personal opinion there.

When Al Sharpton calls Jews "diamond merchants" and followers of a "gutter religion", just dismiss him as a complete ignorant tool and move on.

See, that is racism, and he would hauled to court if he said it here.

Who's going to decide what is 'racism?'

It can be defined fairly simply. It is discrimination against a person based on their race. The difficulty comes in defining race, but it can cover any group of people of shared history, identity, culture and origin.

I've listened to Hannity on my way home because he's on. He's not my favorite, but he has a "Hate Hannity Hotline" where liberals call and bash him and he plays them back. One of the most popular accusations is that he's a racist. I have never heard him say ONE THING that is even remotely close to being racist.

I don't know who he is, so can't comment.

Is it going to be racist to suggest discuss the illegal immigration problem? Is it going to be racist to discuss Islamic extremism and terrorism?

No, no and no.

How about discussing ending affirmative action?

Positive discrimination is racism, just as much as negative discrimination is.

Finally, this is an excerpt of a speech that was broadcast in its entirety on C-Span by Dr. Kamau Kambon. Where were the calls for racial unity and rebukes by the usual suspects?

I've no idea who he is, but he'd have faced prosecution under UK law.

 

[Bayou_Brawler]

Anyone who defends blatant racism as free speech is a fool. The Bill of Rights is over 200 years old. We need to complete the "1984" movement that George Bush started (sarcasm)

ummmm richard pryor and dave chappell...especially chapell made their careers making fun of different races....

do you think they should be banished????


imus is a SHOCK JOCK.....you're not supposed to take him seriously!!!!!

stern, O&A, and other hosts have said FAR more racists things....and far more offensive things.....someone was just bored that day and decided to start a project....this freaking stuff is making me sick right now....this country is becoming a joke...the vocal minority has somehow become more powerful than the silent majority because the silent majority is LAZY....when scum bag drama queen spot light ho sharpton had his rally in NY...people with half a brain..black white yellow brown whatever should have stood up and opposed him.....

don't even get me into how much of a scum bag sharpton is.....

 

[jkritchey]

I hear you but I specifically focused on that part of the commentary because it's what nobody wants to deal with.

If you look at all the posts in this thread, we've gotten all off into Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and everything else. This isn't about them -- it's about some very offensive comments that Don Imus made about some young women who happen to be sisters & daughters.

They are educated women who are excelling in a way that most of us will never achieve. They are articulate and intelligent.

This man called them Whores.

That's unacceptable -- no matter what color they are.

I respect what you're saying, but I am going to assume you were not a listener of his. Whhat he did was insult people as a means of pointing out their foibles. Honestly he insulted so many people over the years you realized it was just empty language. It was no different than the insults I trade with my brothers.

But these girls were out of bounds, no doubt. I agree with that. Things I say to my brothers I wouldn't say to your brother.

But he did not conciously call them whores in the literal sense of the word. In fact, I don't think anyone in society uses that word in it's literal sense any more.

But he's a big guy and can fight his own battles. Just wanted to add some context.

 

[Bayou_Brawler]

I hear you but I specifically focused on that part of the commentary because it's what nobody wants to deal with.

If you look at all the posts in this thread, we've gotten all off into Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and everything else. This isn't about them -- it's about some very offensive comments that Don Imus made about some young women who happen to be sisters & daughters.

They are educated women who are excelling in a way that most of us will never achieve. They are articulate and intelligent.

This man called them Whores.

That's unacceptable -- no matter what color they are.

waaaaa waaaaaa

my friend called me a doo doo face in gym class.....i'm going to tell the teacher...my feelings hurt....waaaaaaa waaaa

these educated women should realize that 99.99999999% of the world probably looks up to them and they shouldn't care what some random washed up SHOCK JOCK says.....BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE DOES!

 

[Diggler]

The girls should be grateful that he was able to grant them the highest status in the Oprah-American society... that of "Victim."

One of the girls has said she has been "scarred for life." By Don Imus making a crude, ignorant crack about her. Wahh. Life sucks, get a helmet. If you're scarred for life because of that, check into the Kevorkian Hotel right now. You're too weak to exist on your own.

Wait till the 'scarred for life' lawsuits start up.

Hardships only make you stronger. Take your lumps and move on.

 

[Ed Goode]

Imus is a major egotistical b*stard, always has been. His comments were definitely offensive and have caused a group of young achieving women to be placed in a spotlight they didn't deserve.

That said, Imus is no worse or better than that complete fool Stern. The comments by that equally obnoxious drone Sharpton that Imus' statement was demeaning to women is almost laughable when you consider the compete denegration of women by Stern on a daily basis.

Personally, I find Imus, Stern, Opie/Anthony and all of these supposed radio "personalities" childish, offensive and repugnant. I would love to see them all taken down. But I have the option of turning off the radio (which I do) .... the Rutger's team members have been forced into a negative spotlight by the Imus remark and the ensuing insipid remarks by Sharpton, and they can't turn it off.

Imus got what he deserved and I for one would love to see the rest of these types get the exact same treatment. While we are at it, pound that repulsive Rosie O'Donnell as well ....

 

[Diggler]

I don't listen to shock jock or potty joke radio, personally.

I disagree with just about everything that Rosie O'Donnell stands for and want to vomit when I hear her talk, but I want her to be able to say whatever she wants to say.

My wife and plenty of other people she knows have stopped watching The View... if enough people don't like Rosie and stop watching, then she'll get canned. But if there's a market for that kind of moonbattery, then she's got a job.

My only complaint is that they don't have a more balanced panel... poor Elisabeth Hasselbeck (hawt, BTW) gets hammered on there. Just for fun, and to balance out Rosie, they should put Ann Coulter on The View.

pointbass, you CAN take them all down. There's a knob on your radio, and you've used it already to not listen to them. That's the best, and fairest, way to do your part while letting the market work.

 

[Josh Ryan]

Playing Call Of Duty 3 on Xbox Live today I ran into a cretin called "Notwhitenotright". Man, what a tool.

I see that crap now and again on unreal tournament. I hunt them until they leave. spawn kill, whatever it takes to ruin there stay.

 

[jkritchey]

I wonder why it was so impossible for either MSNBC or CBS to say the following:

"In the current climate, it no longer makes business sense to broadcast Imus. We are replacing him with a show that we think will be a better fit for our business. If we can't sell product, it's bad for our shareholders."

Why would that not be a better statement than the tripe they put out which makes them look like idiots who don't pay attention to their own shows? It also has the advantage of being somewhat closer to the truth.

 

[Metal Mitch]

ummmm richard pryor and dave chappell...especially chapell made their careers making fun of different races....

do you think they should be banished????


imus is a SHOCK JOCK.....you're not supposed to take him seriously!!!!!

stern, O&A, and other hosts have said FAR more racists things....and far more offensive things.....

Right on, if Stern had said it nobody would even blink.

Imus is an entertainer. If he had no personality, style, or humor, he wouldn't be on air. I don't have a problem with anything he's said when taken in the context of entertainment.

The girls should be grateful that he was able to grant them the highest status in the Oprah-American society... that of "Victim."

One of the girls has said she has been "scarred for life." By Don Imus making a crude, ignorant crack about her. Wahh. Life sucks, get a helmet. If you're scarred for life because of that, check into the Kevorkian Hotel right now. You're too weak to exist on your own.

Wait till the 'scarred for life' lawsuits start up.

Hardships only make you stronger. Take your lumps and move on.

+1 on this too. These girls are in college to get an education. The lesson here *should be* that when you're in the public eye, you need to grow a thicker skin. Instead, they're learning that PC fascism is acceptable and encouraged. This is disgusting, and I DO have a problem with it.

 

[Dan Molina]

Sharpton and Jackson both disgust me. They exploit racisms double standard.

Bigotry knows no color.

P.S. They should really apologize to those Duke Lacrosse players.

 

[SBassman]

Sharpton and Jackson both disgust me. They exploit racisms double standard.

Bigotry knows no color.

+1

 

[SomecallmeTim]

I think Imus should be able to say what he wants - racist bile is protected under free speech just like anything else.

That said, there's no reason to be outraged that he's been fired. He has a right to say what he wants, as we all do - he does not have a right to say whatever he wants on the radio and get paid for it. End of story.

 

[bassturtle]

Life sucks, get a helmet.

That's hilarious!

 

[Diggler]

That's hilarious!

Credit: Denis Leary

 

[Vandelay]

Our band has been rehearsing a cover of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" (#1 hit in 1976), whose first line is "Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy". We play a lot of corporate events, and now I'm wondering whether we need to change that lyric for such things. Oh boy.

 

[Bayou_Brawler]

Our band has been rehearsing a cover of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" (#1 hit in 1976), whose first line is "Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy". We play a lot of corporate events, and now I'm wondering whether we need to change that lyric for such things. Oh boy.

god please don't