Dead Tree Alert: Who Can Say What?

I think it's idiotic to refer to the "Imus in the Morning" program as "half frat party" in light of the Duke lacrosse fiasco.

What an ill-timed, ill-conceived characterization.

The Imus lynching (yes) and firing is just another example of the media feeding like sharks on their own. A little blood in the water, and how quickly it becomes a frenzy. "Take down the powerful" has become a spectator sport now that "news" operations have to wait for the really big and important stories like Anna Nicole Smith, or the Michael Jackson trial, or even the O.J. Simpson stuff comes along.

How hypocritical of NBC news executives and all the media elite to take Imus induced ratings and money... participating in his schtick... tacitly approving, or choosing to ignore his uncomfortable humor, only now when the heat is on, to react as Captain Renault in Cassablanca, "I'm shocked, shocked to learn there is sexist and racist humor on Imus' show". "Here Mr. Campus are your winnings". "Oh, thank you". Give me a break.

And don't hand us the line that NBC cares more about what it's employees think standards should be than what viewers want. Why don't you send them all complimentary copies of your Universal NBC owned Interscope Records rap music to enjoy now that Imus is off. Your standards are clear.

When you watched Imus, it might have made all of us uncomfortable at one time or another. Maybe make us wince and shake our heads. But, it was fresh, alive, mostly unscripted, unsanitized, honest, passionate, and without the phony balony everyone-is-nice and gets-along political correctness of every other news and entertainment show on tv.

See Simon Cowell. Don't you get it. Real is in. It's just rare.

Let me get something straight up front: I'm not a particular fan of Don Imus. Sometimes, I catch glimpses of his show getting ready in the morning to go to the office. For the most part, I find his remarks about people to be without humor and disparaging. Once in a while, I will stop to listen to a senator or some other talking suit say something on his show. It does seem that they let their hair down a little more there than elsewhere.

I don't like lynchings. Maybe its the western libertarian in me. Maybe, its just having watched too many Saturday morning westerns on tv when I was a kid. It doesn't matter whose head is in the noose. Regardless of the offense, the vigilante's is worse. Lynch mobs are always led by people with their own agendas. Shouting demagoguery, they try to intimidate a result under threat that whomever resists will be next. Authorities cave in under the self-rationalization that justice is served, peace is preserved and we can then all move on.

Lynch mobs don't want tempered or discerning deliberation. They can't wait for due process. Their voice is more important than the witnesses' or the victims'. They want justice and they want it now. Of course, the absurdity is that their brand of justice betrays the very nature of true justice. Their end always justifies their means.

I listened to the President of NBC news justify his decision. I saw a lot of hand wringing. He said he heard voices; voices of his own staff demanding that Imus be canned. Sounds like a lynch mob to me. Sounds like the hand wringing rationalizations that the sheriff in all of those westerns makes after Johnny Ringo is hung and carried up to boot hill because he gave the mob the keys to the jail: "For me, I liked Johnny Ringo. But this time he had gone too far. You know he had done it before. We just couldn't have his type in our town anymore. We had to protect the women and children, the reputation of our town. Times have changed. This is what the people wanted".

The problem with giving into lynch mobs, of course, is that the first hanging is never enough. A feeding frenzy ensues. The underlying crime is obscured by the mob's hidden agenda to take over the town; and before you know it, they've moved from hanging criminals to those who are accused of being criminals to those who might become criminals to those who just look like criminals.

Too bad about Johnny Ringo. We'll never know if he could or would have served his time, come back, changed his ways and been a good citizen. Maybe, with his fast gun he could have helped the town stand up to the next outlaw who came through. As the sheriff said, he had a good heart.

Too bad about Don Imus. We'll never know if he could or would have served his time, come back on the air, changed his ways and been a voice for change on the bigger issue. Maybe, with his fast tongue, he could have helped MSNBC expose the next hypocrite, racist or misogynist who takes the public stage. As the NBC News President said, he had a good heart.

Oh, well, we can't do anything now about Ringo or Imus. We can just wonder about who's going to be next.

I'm disappointed in NBC News and MSNBC. And I'm disappointed in Keith Obermann. I've been an avid viewer of the Hardball-Countdown-Scarborough block. They have fearlessly taken on hypocrisy and the vigilantes over at FOX. It seemed all Obermann could do last night was glee in the fact that he had joined the mob.

James,

Your article has a link on Drudge. Sweet!