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April 12, 2007Imus’ wiry grey scalp is no prizeI’m not an Imus fan. Stopped listening to him sometime in the 1980’s. Tuned in again after 9/11, but quickly tuned out. He’s not my cuppa. He is, like Ann Coulter, Al Franken, Howard Stern and Keith Olbermann, simply not a human being to whose mouthy excesses I’m willing to give my time or attention. They all spend an inordinate amount of time saying stupid, reprehensible, tiresome, inflammatory, insensitive and hateful things, and they do it with relish, much like 5 year-olds who think they’re being very brave when they giggle and say “poopy-head!” That said, what an irony that after kissing the ring of demagogue Al Sharpton - himself no master of racial/religious sensitivity - Imus is still a goner, and none of his oh-so-brave pals, Tim Russert, David Gregory and all the usual gasbags never at a loss for an opinion, seem so wholly unable to say anything remotely in his defense. Their friend - a guy who helped them sell a ton of books and opine like intellectualist egos run amok - is laid low and all they can do is sidestep him as they move along, ducking, covering and hoping it is never their turn to be roasted upon the spit of public professional assassination, with all of its attendant seasonings; snarky sage, poseur-y and spite. And make no mistake, the taking down of Imus weakens every one of them…unless, of course, they really brush up on their obsequious obedience to all things PC. Meanwhile, public fascination with the takedown of a famous figure is nothing new, but the bloodlust does seem to be more harrowingly voracious, lately. Dick Meyer has done such a good job of expressing my own feelings on the Imus story that I don’t have to write anything; he’s done it for me. The collective “we” that is, I suppose, contemporary American culture has made character destruction and celebrity-slaughter the gladiator sport of our day. People don’t get ruined in football and boxing except by accident. But it is the goal of the culture of the character assassins. And the Coliseum is columns like this, Web sites like this and television networks like this. The Coliseum is filled with people like you and me. We are all part of it. Who hasn’t enjoyed the downfall of some famous person — be it Mark Foley, Ted Haggerty, Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, Britney Spears or Martha Stewart? The merits or demerits, guilt or innocence of any of these names in the news are absolutely irrelevant to what I’m talking about. Some of us hate some people. Period. You’ll want to read the whole thing. And those who think that Imus’ thinning, wiry grey scalp is some sort of prize are deluding themselves. His schtick was nothing new. In fact, in the face of the crap heard by countless “ho”-bashing rappers, it seems tired. There is irony and hypocrisy abounding in this story, but beyond all of it is a vast and deep wasteland, into which we seem unable to keep from wading. And while we rut about in the muck, like contented piggies, more troubling stories go ignored. Macranger has an interesting post on the Imus story. So does Right Wing Nuthouse http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/04/12/imus-wiry-grey-scalp-is-no-prize/trackback/ 12 Responses to “Imus’ wiry grey scalp is no prize” |
April 12th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Imus, Stern, and a host of others seem to me to be caught in that time-warp where they are xeroxing copies of their naughty High School alternative “newspaper” with which they hope to elicit giggles from their pals and red-faced outrage from the grown-ups. Boring, infantile nonsense that left me cold.
Imus has been swept aside by the PC Police and the Office of the Perpetually Offended.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
There were times that Imus could be funny, but mainly he was an equal-opportunity insulter, not caring who you were or the color of your skin. I think he did some very good things for sick children ~ not too long ago on a trip home from NM, he diverted his jet to Atlanta to pick up a young black child who needed to go to NY for cancer treatment. I want to be free to turn my radio or TV to whatever I want to fill my airwaves ~ I hate that the PC crowd has done it for me. I do fear for some of the conservative talk shows if the libs have their way, since they are offended by everything. We need to stop being so sensitive to every perceived insult, and pay attention to the sign that says, ‘just put on your big girl panties and deal with it!’
April 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I can go you one better, Madame A: I’ve never listened to Don Imus, and I don’t think I was aware of his existence until earlier this decade. Lacking as I do any context I don’t have a nappy-headed or wiry-grey dog in this fight. It does seem to me (neither nappy-headed nor, as yet, wiry-grey) something of a tempest in a teapot, but I suspect that the network decisions were less a matter of pious horror at DI’s trash talk and slavish obedience to some imagined rfegime of PC than a rational calculation of the bottom line, since sponsors had started to bail.
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When you characterize the response as an “obsequious obedience to all things PC,” though, it makes me wonder how far Imus would have to have gone in this direction before you’d consider his departure appropriate. “Political correctness” is certainly an element in the cultural and particularly in the academic landscape (I’m presently halfway through an otherwise edifying and well-written tome on Mussolini’s Italy in the course of which the author regularly indulges an off-putting, tic-like genuflection to “gender politics,” heaven help us), but among the laity it seems more frequently employed as a conveniently ironic cover for saying things in a jocular tone that would otherwise well merit a snub in civilized company (”Well, it may not be politically correct to say this, but those jungle bunnies certainly do have a sense of rhythm!”).
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For the rest, I yield to no man in my baleful want of regard for gangsta culture and its related idioms–thirty years in Oakland have rendered my unsentimental on certain fronts–and I’ve been oddly impervious to the moral exhortations of Al Sharpton since well before l’affaire Brawley.
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As to the “more troubling story” to which you allude, I am probably no more in favor of Iran going nuclear than you are, but if I were running that country I would have my researchers working triple-shifts to acquire that capability, not to nuke the Zionest Entity, but for its demonstrated efficacy as a deterrent against US military action. It’s a very rational response to American actions of the past 4+ years.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Not a fan of Imus or his idiotic “morning crew.” Not a fan of equally moronic other morning radio shows (or morning TV shows). But I’m not elated that he’s been canned. Better they just let him keep spewing his idiocy to an ever dwindling audience.
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Look, there are hundreds of things that offend me greatly EVERY DAY on radio, TV, newspapers, and movies, not to mention here on the Internet. My particular socio-cultural class gets slammed and slandered and insulted constantly. But we have learned to not give others the power to hurt us with their insults. We have been told that the world will hate us — and it does — but we are able to let the hate and bile directed towards us simply slide off. We bear such offenses patiently and we forgive.
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And it used to be that most of society dealt with insults the same way. Parents used to teach their kids that sticks and stones can break your bones, but names will never hurt you.
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We are clearly beyond those times now. We are clearly beyond the days when, if one caused offense, they apologized, and the apology was accepted and the offender forgiven. In short, we are fast moving beyond a Christian society. We are moving back to a pre-Christian and non-Christian society, where every insult and every hurt is nutured and cultivated and used as an excuse to retaliate in an never-ending cycle of hate and violence.
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And we are fast moving toward the Stalinist model — where not only social discourse is required to be “acceptable,” but our inner thoughts must be controlled.
April 13th, 2007 at 5:17 am
O’Reilly and Rivera Square Off Over Imus Firing…
A calm debate over the fate of the shock jock……
April 13th, 2007 at 8:09 am
[...] The Anchoress echos my sentiments about Imus and his big mouth [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 8:25 am
[...] has to be read whole and in context. There is a sublime and Anchoress-like sensibility (her calm, reasonable take on the Imus histrionic passion play is the best you’ll read, anywhere) in his view as he [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Imus…
Saw this over at The Anchoress.
Meanwhile, public fascination with the takedown of a famous figure is nothing new, but the bloodlust does seem to be more harrowingly voracious, lately.
Please go read the entire piece.
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April 13th, 2007 at 9:11 am
[...] That’s it. Want to see real commentary on this? Check out Rick at RWNH, the profane loons at BigLead, but most importantly Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, and of course the Anchoress. [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Well, I think it was the god of capitolism that did him in, not the pc crowd-but that’s just my opinion. He wasn’t pulled because he was offensive-that he did routinely-but because the station was going to lose money. Sponsors bailed because they were AFRAID of losing money- i suppose that could be called fear of the PC crowd, but other than the usual jokers, I’m not seeing that kind of reaction on the ground. Bottom line in America- if you make money, you’re hired no matter how offensive you are-but cost us money, and you’re a pariah. Money talks.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:39 am
it is amazing…
no surprise to see Russert, Barnicle, Matthews, Mitchell, Gregory, Kerry, Dodd, Schumer, etc., leave the Imus ship, like rats leaving a sinking fundraiser.
sadly, these same types who ran away from Imus, would easily abandon fellow Americans to the Radical Muslims Militants, in this world if they felt it would help their own ambition, demonstrated by their eager desire to leave the new Democracy in Iraq to the Terrorists.
strangely, it seems if Imus were of a different skin color, he would still be on the air…
as Mr. Simpson seems to have walked away from murder, because of his ethnic origin.
as an American, there is so much to be proud of in our history, overcoming such ugly, horrific forms of bigotry and oppression.
some try to divide us, employing exploitation to further themselves.
just as Hillary cries “plantation” on MLK’s Memorial Day.
we cannot allow our society to run by these frauds.
did i mention, i notice most of them support the Democrat Party?
April 17th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
“He is, like Ann Coulter, Al Franken, Howard Stern and Keith Olbermann, simply not a human being to whose mouthy excesses I’m willing to give my time or attention. They all spend an inordinate amount of time saying stupid, reprehensible, tiresome, inflammatory, insensitive and hateful things, and they do it with relish, much like 5 year-olds who think they’re being very brave when they giggle and say “poopy-head!”
I could not have said it better! Nicely put.
Hope you feel much better soon.