As I commented in the previous post, personalities all over our society in general has seemed to find ways to focus the Don Imus story in ways that benefit themselves rather than dealing with any core issues constructively. Most public broadcast figures have found ways to make this an attack on their free speech, others are attacking the perceived hypocrisies of black culture and the word “ho,” black and women’s advocates have made this the next Rosa Parks moment and political types are using it to grind axes. They may all have some grain of truth in their arguments.
At the risk of being accused of over-simplifying the issue, let me make one rather obvious point:
What we’re talking about here is a guy with a job, same as you and I. His job was to aim his face at a microphone and talk. What he says gets people to listen, and then the company sells advertisements during his segment, and that’s how he gets paid. I’m not saying that it’s easy, I’m not saying that it doesn’t take talent, I’m not saying people don’t make mistakes.
But when you do make mistakes, you face consequences. I certainly do, especially at work. And when you fuck up the one and only thing everyone knows you do – when you fuck up the one thing that gets you and your boss paid – you should be expecting the pink slip. Period.
And this is not complicated: he said something jaw-droppingly stupid, he offended a lot of people, those people by stuff from advertisers, so advertisers pulled their support. Downplay what you will, but the “three second remark” managed to make it’s way around the country pretty damned fast. It doesn’t matter why they were offended and it doesn’t matter if they contradict themselves. Imus fucked up.
In fact, the only person I don’t hear defending Imus is – to his credit – Imus.
Over the course of several years of life,Tom Belknap and frequently been called upon to shut the hell up. But since at least 2004 when this blog first began, he's stuck by his mentor, George Carlin, and never, ever, ever done so. Covering politics in Rochester has been a passion since watching his grandfather yell at the television whenever Ronald Reagan was on. Covering science and technology has been a passion ever since he laid his tiny fifth-grader fingers on a Radio Shack computer in Mr. Price's class.
Hear, Hear! Bravo!