BREAKING: MSNBC Fires Imus

What Imus said over the radio waves was dead wrong. But with that said, can one answer where the word "ho" and "gansta" comes from. The African American people can only look to themselves for this as promoted by the various black hip-hop and rap groups that degrade their own people especially women. Maybe if blacks would work on respect and peace within their own race none of the above would happen. If you want to be respected you have to respect yourself first. Quite frankly I'm tired of the black race crying racism and unfair treatment all the time. You are given a free education from our government if you want one. This is the key to changing the world and breaking free of this racism. Does racism exist, sure it does. But I feel that it is often provoked and I speak of this as a southerner who has to deal with a biased media every day. The headlines of our newspaper and t.v. media is always of some form of racism. Racism works both ways. Blacks are just was racist towards whites. The only difference is when blacks publicly display it whites are expected to turn the other cheek and just except it. Any other form of response results in what happened to Imus.

As an educated black woman that is connected to world and political issues, I understand where anonymous comes from...to a point. Imus has been spewing this crap for years, not just about blacks, but other ethnic groups as well, and finally someone called him on it. I was shocked that MSNBC made this decision, but good for them. I am just as offended hearing a rapper call black females "ho's" as I am hearing a white person call us this name. White people do it because they feel that they are getting permission from the black population to do so! Catch-22. "They are saying it about themselves, it must be cool". I am raising my child (mixed race black/mexican) to respect herself (nappy hair and all) and to have respect for others. This is the gift that I will pass along.

No one listens to Don Imus. I mean, 2.5 million listeners a week for a morning drive show in national syndication is nothing to write Mom about. Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Howard...these people do 10 million, 15 million plus. And yet, everyone has an opinion about Don Imus. The San Francisco Chronicle, a newspaper serving some of the most insular, provincial and close-minded people the world has ever known, put the Imus story on the front page. The front page, mind you. You may ask, what's so weird about that? Nothing, except that Imus isn't (or wasn't) carried in San Francisco. The closest station to San Francisco that ran the Imus show was located in Napa. That's the wine place up in the sticks. So what's the deal? Well, here it is in a nutshell.
Like slower members of a Serengeti herd set upon by cheetahs or leopards, some media figures get caught in the meat grinder because they just don't have the smarts. They are the weaker pack members whose days are numbered in an increasingly dangerous and violent world. One false move, one dozing moment at the pond, one idle slip of the tongue and they are like so much hamburger, laying there for all the world while their rended bellies become a feeding trough. The faster, smarter and more aware animals have fled the scene, well ahead of a fleet but easily manipulated media mob.
In the world of radio (and entertainment in general I would guess) being funny can earn an awful lot of forgiveness from otherwise persnickety and anal listeners. Imus isn't funny and hasn't been for many years. When he said the words "nappy-headed 'ho's" he thought he was throwing off something cute, amusing and relevant. He thought, like cutting a fart, he would grab a quick laugh going to the break or whatever he was doing. I know that's what he was thinking because I've been around these "media stars" my whole life. They are propped up by executives who think the same way. Believe me when I tell you had Imus' remark not drawn any attention at all, his bosses wouldn't have blinked. They are all from the vanilla school of broadcasting. Make sure the terrain you tread has been well worn by other feet before you go there yourself and then count the money. The problem with these consummate geniuses is that they do not understand the art necessary to make a "nappy-headed ho'" comment work. It has to be in context, appropriate for the moment, delivered credibly and, oh yah, it has to be funny. None of these criteria were met by the guy some call "The I-Man."
An example of artfully delivered satire would be a couple of moments from my radio show. In one bit we spoke of a new food for mentally retarded kids called "Mongo Chow." We did the bit in character and hit the point that no matter what some people say, the mentally retarded among us are viewed as nothing more than pets. Another time we had our program director call in, a man who claimed he had just been raped in the parking garage. Again the bit was done in character and demonstrated to our listeners the propensity many behind the scenes have for wanting to be the out-front stars, even if it means they have to make themselves the news. The bottom line on both of these bits is that they were funny. When we laugh, we are saying, whether we like it or not, something is true. In fact, laughter is the greatest lie detector of them all. Some posing, politically-correct anus can be shown for the hypocrite he is when he suddenly laughs at a Mongo Chow bit or the image of a fat, self-important radio technocrat getting butt-pirated near his Mercedes.
Don Imus doesn't have his job at MSNBC today because advertisers began to flee and the network needed to stop the bleeding. His radio show on the other hand will most likely benefit. The reasons are that TV sees itself as an artful medium and radio does not. Dumb, stupid and unfunny often wins on radio because it's supported by the dumb, stupid people that run it and is therefore widespread and the norm. Dumb and stupid is scrutinized a bit more on TV because there is a tradition of artfulness or at least the attempt at artfulness. But bottom line, Don Imus was the old, slow gazelle at the back of the herd that didn't heed the approach of predators. He got eaten....the hay-haired pimp.