Imus: The TV-Decency Angle

Thanks for this perspective. When I was in high school (ages ago!), we read Catcher in the Rye. Included in the book was a scene where the protagonist visits his little sister's school and notices an expletive on the wall. TO protect the innocence of his sister, he erases it, or wipes it off or something. And there were several kids in the class whose parents wouldn't let them participate in that entire unit of class because the book printed the text of that word. Yes, there was a "bad" word in the book. However, I think that words themselves are harmless, it is their context that gives them meaning. Thanks for pointing out the justified brilliance of that South Park episode - it was one of my favorites, and although the n-word has no place in my personal vocabulary I definitely appreciated the message of the show. Hopefully we can soon stop talking about "words" and start talking about more substantial ways to create a more egalitarian and open society.

YIKES!!! Now CBS has fired Imus. He has no show period. That is overkill in my opinion. Sharpton will take all the credit too.

Firing Imus was needed. But the language of our culture has been denigrated by much more pervasive factors. A lot of hip-hop, and some rap before that, made common what we are complaining about now. Lets face it, kids of all races in this country hear it and mimic it, in their language and behavior. When will the advocates drive a boycott of the record companies publishing this material?
Also, when will Al Sharpton apologize to the 3 students exonerated from the rape charges in NC? He vilified them without all of the facts. That had major race implications. As a reverend and a public figure, he should do the honorable and Christian act and apologize. But.... I think that just won't happen, which in itself, perpetuates the problem.

In this composition I will not be addressing the whole of hip-hop and rap, but rather hardcore and gangsta rap. It is my assertion that the mainstream media and political pundits---right and left--- have painted rap and hip-hop with a very broad brush. Let me perfectly clear, hardcore and gangsta rap is not listened to, watched, consumed or supported in my home and never has. I will not be an apologist for anything that chooses to frame the dialogue about Black women (and women in general) and Black life in morally bankrupt language and reprehensible symbols.

In the wake of MSNBC’s and CBS’s firing of Don Imus, the debate over misogyny, sexism and racism has now taken flight ---or submerged, depending on your point of view. There are many, mostly white, people who believe that Imus was a fall guy and he is receiving blame and criticism for what many rap artists do continually in the lyrics and videos: debase and degrade Black women. A Black guest on an MSNBC news program even went as far as to say “where would a 66 year-old white guy even had heard the phrase nappy-headed ho” ---alluding to hip-hop music’s powerful influence upon American culture and life (and apparently over the radio legend as well) ---and by so doing gave a veneer of truth to the theory that rap music is the main culprit to be blamed for this contemporary brand of chauvinism. However, I concur with bell hooks, the noted sociologist and black-feminist activist who said that we must “…see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant ‘pathological’ standpoint does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behaviors this thinking supports and condones,--rape, male violence against women, etc.-- is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the ‘heat’ for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy.”

There are those in the media, mostly white males, who now want the Black community to take a look at hip-hop music and correct the diabolical “double-standard” that dwells therein. Before a real conversation can be had, we have to blow-up the myths, expose the lies and cast a powerful and discerning light on the “real” double-standards and duplicity. Kim Deterline & Art Jones in their essay, Fear of a Rap Planet, points out that the issue with media coverage of rap is not "whether African Americans engaged in a campaign against what they see as violent, sexist or racist imagery in rap should be heard—they should. …why are community voices fighting racism and sexism in mainstream news media, films and advertisements not treated similarly? The answer may be found in white-owned corporate media’s historical role as facilitator of racial scapegoating. Perhaps before advocating censorship of a music form with origins in a voiceless community, mainstream media pundits should look at the violence perpetuated by their own racism and sexism."

Just as the mainstream media and the dominant culture-at-large treats all things “Black” in America as the “other” or as some sort of science experiment in a test tube in an isolated and controlled environment, so hardcore rap is treated as if it occurred in some kind of American cultural vacuum. The conversation is always framed in the form of this question: “what is rap’s influence on American society and culture?” Never do we ask: what has been society’s role in shaping and influencing hip-hop?” Gangsta and hardcore rap is the product of a society that has historically objectified and demeaned women, and commercialized sex. These dynamics are present in hip hop to the extent that they are present in society. The rapper who grew up in the inner-city watched the same sexist television programs, commercials and movies; had access to the same pornographic and misogynistic magazines and materials; and read the same textbooks that excluded that limited the presence and excluded the achievements of women (and people of color as well) as the All-American, Ivy-league bound, white kid in suburban America. The debate and the dialogue must be understood in this context.

Excellent points. The aspect increasingly absent from modern debate over... well, almost anything.... is judgement. As a society we seem to want to develope hard and fast rules for everything from gender relations to politics to war to religion in society. This is lazy thinking. It's also an attempt to take the easy way out and avoid the responsibility of saying "This action was toxic by intent. That one was just a screw up or random noise". Because people will question such calls (which they should), and we're gotten it into our heads that questioning someone elses view of morality is a deathly insult or crime. It's not. It's normal. It's healthy. Trying to legislate thought and words is none of the above, and ultimately it's cowardly. Our children will pay the price for this.