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Bye Bye Don
- Thread starter Embryodead
- Start date
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 ....
Don't be talking about Stern... I did and I still have nightmares.
Not really... it's fun unwinding to this stuff. I couldn't make it up.
I guess you can tell who worked today.
I agree with Brad. Sharpton represents Sharpton. It doesn't mean everyone's like him. Unfortunately, when someone steps up and tries to assert themselves as a leader in the African-American community, there's not much of an outcry from the public no matter who it is or how vile their views may be as long as their interests are served, so guys like Sharpton become leaders by default. Hopefully down the road, that will change. Funny, though, looks like public opinion is with Imus according to a survey I just found out about. They must not know what a jackass he is.
If he'd have acted the least little bit humbled, made a short but sweet apology about how hard it is to talk for 4 hours a day and sometimes things slip out, then gone away for a month and quietly returned to the air, it would have been OK, but he kept opening his big mouth and saying worse stuff. Imus thinks he's brilliant, but he doesn't seem too brilliant to me.
If he'd have acted the least little bit humbled, made a short but sweet apology about how hard it is to talk for 4 hours a day and sometimes things slip out, then gone away for a month and quietly returned to the air, it would have been OK, but he kept opening his big mouth and saying worse stuff. Imus thinks he's brilliant, but he doesn't seem too brilliant to me.
Oh I work every weekday. It's good to be in I.T.
I just get up WAAAAAY early so I can get home early and spend some time with my kids.
Plus I have a remote desktop connection to my home PC so I can surf without being recorded on the company logs.
You know how racism will be ended in this country?
Blacks will go out and succeed by themselves and pull themselves up without Jesse or Al. "The Man" recognizes success regardless of color. Using race as a crutch is worse than prejudice, IMO, because if a company is racist and doesn't hire you, that's one company or opportunity. Using race as a crutch follows you around forever until you say "Enough" and succeed for yourself!
Al and Jesse provide excuses and the bigotry of low expectations, that's all. They can't make minorities successful. Only individuals, regardless of color, can do that for themselves.
Blacks will go out and succeed by themselves and pull themselves up without Jesse or Al. "The Man" recognizes success regardless of color. Using race as a crutch is worse than prejudice, IMO, because if a company is racist and doesn't hire you, that's one company or opportunity. Using race as a crutch follows you around forever until you say "Enough" and succeed for yourself!
Al and Jesse provide excuses and the bigotry of low expectations, that's all. They can't make minorities successful. Only individuals, regardless of color, can do that for themselves.
You're obviously entitled to that opinion and you just as obviously seeing one small part of this.
How many do you truly think use race as a crutch? Seriously?
The Black people I know generally get up every day and go to work just like anyone else. Most that I know work hard and don't bitch about it... that's just the way things go. Many watch others get promoted past them without merit. That's life. Many lose jobs so that others can keep theirs. Oh well.
I'd wager that there are more Black people quietly going about their lives, keeping their heads down and their mouths shut than many of you can imagine.
That you truly believe that the "Man" recognizes anything regardless of color is just a factor of where you're coming from. From the other side unfortunately, that's laughably wrong. I can say that from personal experience. So what do I do when that happens? Look for a better situation. Making excuses and using crutches doesn't pay the bills.
Bottom line I have to provide for my family despite all the fun and games that alledgedly aren't played anymore. See my North and South reference.
You obviously think this for a reason, I won't ask why. As long as you know why, cool.
Almost forgot... racism will not end in this country... not until the Martians come and we all become part of one group again... humans.
Or make that Earthlings. Moist, tasty Earthlings.
Oh I work every weekday. It's good to be in I.T.
I just get up WAAAAAY early so I can get home early and spend some time with my kids.
Plus I have a remote desktop connection to my home PC so I can surf without being recorded on the company logs.
I haven't been on here until this evening.
I used to do IT, seemed like forever.
They don't and that's hardly a surprise. In fact many are doing what Sharpton and Jackson did at Duke... jumping to conclusions with little to no clue what was actually going on.
I agree, he could've weathered it. I also agree about his "brilliance" being a huge factor in the end result.
You're obviously entitled to that opinion and you just as obviously seeing one small part of this.
How many do you truly think use race as a crutch? Seriously?
The Black people I know generally get up every day and go to work just like anyone else. Most that I know work hard and don't bitch about it... that's just the way things go. Many watch others get promoted past them without merit. That's life. Many lose jobs so that others can keep theirs. Oh well.
I'd wager that there are more Black people quietly going about their lives, keeping their heads down and their mouths shut than many of you can imagine.
That you truly believe that the "Man" recognizes anything regardless of color is just a factor of where you're coming from. From the other side unfortunately, that's laughably wrong. I can say that from personal experience. So what do I do when that happens? Look for a better situation. Making excuses and using crutches doesn't pay the bills.
Bottom line I have to provide for my family despite all the fun and games that alledgedly aren't played anymore. See my North and South reference.
You obviously think this for a reason, I won't ask why. As long as you know why, cool.
Almost forgot... racism will not end in this country... not until the Martians come and we all become part of one group again... humans.
Or make that Earthlings. Moist, tasty Earthlings.
I agree with this. I think that Al and Jesse play to the lowest common denominator, and that the majority of blacks don't REALLY bond with them.
People lose jobs and gain jobs all the time, it's life. Some have to struggle harder than others. To beat the system and succeed in spite of it willl do 1000000x more than any 10 point advantage on a test.
How many people use race as a crutch? Probably about the same amount that proclaim that they are Jackson/Sharpton supporters. The others are out there DOING what they need to do, like the rest of us.
And that lowest common denominator is... surprise, White people.
How large a crowd of Black people do you see following either of them?
I contend that White people pay more attention to either of them than Black people EVER did. At best Jackson is an MLK wannabe, Sharpton, I have no real clue how he captured the spotlight other than the hair.
Yes they do. Now add in ADDITIONAL OBSTACLES BASED SOLELY ON RACE and you may see where I'm coming from.
And who claim to be supporters? Take a minute and really look at that. You may be making the fundamental mistake that many do in thinking that if someone's position coincides with someone else's position on a SINGLE situation, they're a supporter. That's box thinking, assuming one thing from one factor.
If African-American people truly think that Sharpton is out to lunch and they don't want a fool like him as their spokesman, it's time for them to step up and announce to the world that they think he and people like them are racist fools and start calling for his ostracization from society just like they do with Imus and Michael Richards. But if they sit there quietly and say nothing just because he represents their interests above all else, their quiet is a tacit seal of approval.
Meanwhile, Bill Cosby comes out and says how black people need to stop calling their women hos and stop calling each other the N word and all that, and he's the one who gets the backlash.
Say what you want about white people, but we're quick to denounce those who embarrass us.
Meanwhile, Bill Cosby comes out and says how black people need to stop calling their women hos and stop calling each other the N word and all that, and he's the one who gets the backlash.
Say what you want about white people, but we're quick to denounce those who embarrass us.
Answer to your rhetorical question: Black/White relations are still poor after all this time. Maybe its not motivated by racism necessarily (as it surely WAS in the past), but in both communities around me, of which I frequent both, there seems to be a tendency to view different people as 'other'. I've seen both blacks and whites throw stereotypes around because they truly don't know what the other side thinks or feels, because they've never engaged them more than casually. In fact, when I first started playing with Maurice Johnson, who is a phenomenal Black guitarist that studied with George Benson, I could sense some tension between myself and Maurice's regular crowd when I walked around in between sets. Nothing major, just a reticence to really engage in conversation and a visible sense of being uncomfortable. After all, I am a goofy white dude.
But after a few shows, I was able to get to know not only the guys in the band, of which my man T.J Peterson is still one of my best friends and top musical cohorts, but the regular crowd as well. Now, I had grown up around a lot of diversity in S. Florida where I grew up, including blacks, all types of white, Cuban/Puerto Rican/Columbian, Mexican, Caribbean, Indian, whatever. However, when I moved to the Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt that is Oklahoma, these relations were few and far between. But when I got to really talking to Maurice's older crowd, it stunned me in how varied and deeply felt were most black people's opinions/beliefs. Why? Because I had only been getting contact with black culture through the media. All I saw were athletes, rappers, gross gang-stereotypes, and then figures like Sharpton and Jackson. I wonder, do other whites have any type of association with people of color besides TV, the airwaves, and what's on the top 40 Rap Charts? I ask, because it seems as if a LOT of white and black people are still segregated mentally and spiritually.
I've been talkin to my friends about this, and they vehemently deny both Jackson and Sharpton the right to sit on the "I represent all Black people" throne. Jackson used to be, at least it seems to me, a useful and able representative of the Civil Rights Movement. Now? Whose to say? The spinjob that is popular Media has a hand in how we see Mr Jackson, and how relevant he is to the discussion. Of Sharpton, didn't he get his break in the 60's (70's even?) when James Brown took him under his wing and groomed him?
No matter how much I hear about it,or am shown the evidence, I've accepted that I'll never really understand these obstacles, being white. I mean, I've got plenty of obstacles, but that's just life. But I get a little miffed personally when people try to argue that all slander and racism is deemed to be equal. Trying to sanitize and neutralize hurtful and racial epithets only serves to ignore the history behind those terms. And based off of the history, referring to Blacks in a racially derogatory manner evokes a well documented history of oppression that finds no equal in the history of White people. Black people never enslaved whites. Never happened. Therefore, its really not funny for a white person to demean the race of just about anybody. But then again, any racial humor is tasteless and juvenile. Why should we accept any of it?
It does seem like a lot of white public figures are jumping on the Jackson/Sharpton bandwagon as if they might gather acceptance points or scoop up some support from Black voters.
Fine... put me on TV. Oh, that's right, people like me don't get on TV. Joe Citizen doesn't get on TV. Over the top, loudmouth people like Sharpton and Imus get on TV.
Imagine me being interviewed about the Imus situation:
"Sir, how do feel about the comments made by Imus?".
"Doesn't bother me in the least. He'll have to deal with the fallout, not me".
"But as an African American, doesn't it upset you that he used the term he did?"
"No"
"But shouldn't there be some sort of compensation for the Duke women who were harmed by those comments?"
"
""Isn't there anything about this situation that makes you angry or upset?"
"Sorry... I'm not very entertaining, am I?"
off camera *let's go talk to that guy in the evening gown*
BTW Jimmy, in a better world I'd have no real reason to have to go out and tell people Sharpton is not my spokesman. I've never even hinted that he was... neither did most Black people. His leadership is a gigantic assumption on the part of other (than Black) people.
So why don't we get to the crux of the problem and get them to stop assuming?
Point taken, with qualifications. I think people in the media may not want to be presumptuous and believe that these people who prop themselves up as leaders aren't really leaders because they don't want to be insulting to a race that feels like other races hate them. Plus white people don't know who the true leaders are. And let's face it, they make great news, so they let them prattle on without questioning them.
However, I do think this Imus incident is about to open a big firestorm with all these so-called black leaders. It's already starting, actually. And I think that other prominent African Americans are finally going to denounce those who presume to speak for all, and denounce those who are racists. It's true that Imus didn't deserve to be fired over this one incident. But I have no sympathy for Imus because he's a jerkoff that everyone who works with him hates, and because he really is a racist, and I believe all of that came into play. I just hope that while the dialogue about racist black "leaders" is going on, we don't lose sight of the fact that Imus is a jerkoff that nobody likes.
However, I do think this Imus incident is about to open a big firestorm with all these so-called black leaders. It's already starting, actually. And I think that other prominent African Americans are finally going to denounce those who presume to speak for all, and denounce those who are racists. It's true that Imus didn't deserve to be fired over this one incident. But I have no sympathy for Imus because he's a jerkoff that everyone who works with him hates, and because he really is a racist, and I believe all of that came into play. I just hope that while the dialogue about racist black "leaders" is going on, we don't lose sight of the fact that Imus is a jerkoff that nobody likes.
The subject for Oprah's show this coming Monday is called "After Imus, Now What?" I know that sports columnist Jason Whitlock is scheduled to appear on it. His column "Imus Isn't The Real Bad Guy" got tons of attention last week:
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Also, check out his appearance on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC.com -- strong stuff:
It will be interesting to see how Oprah reacts to his position. Obviously she has a fair amount of influence over public opinion. I suspect she will denounce the hip-hop culture but probably won't go so far to denounce Sharpton and Jackson.
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Also, check out his appearance on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC.com -- strong stuff:
It will be interesting to see how Oprah reacts to his position. Obviously she has a fair amount of influence over public opinion. I suspect she will denounce the hip-hop culture but probably won't go so far to denounce Sharpton and Jackson.
