Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Imus...Blah, Blah...

I don't have anything to say about the Imus "scandal" so I'll just link to my favorite blogger's post on the subject...

Read Imus? on Political Animal.

Update: Here's another interesting opinion: The Luxury of Our Sensitivity

Oh yeah, and from Tom Giago, via Huffington Post:

"Was Jesse Jackson banned from radio and television or public appearances for life when he referred to Jews as hymies and to New York City as Hymietown? Of course not. And was the Reverend Al Sharpton similarly banned for his racist remarks about whites during the Tawana Braley episode."

Back to regularly scheduled programming, please!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's America for you. Quick to overreact- and quick to forget and forgive.

And I agree- in the larger scope- it's a good sign when the country reacts to hints of racism/sexism from a public voice like Imus.

We've made state-sponsored racism/sexism illegal and come to a point where overt acts of racism/sexism are taboo in most circles.

As a result, we've made it really difficult to determine what is and isn't racist speech- since it requires us to understand the intent of the speaker- not just the content of the speech.

For example, one could argue that Jesse Jackson's "Hymietown" comment was inappropriate, certainly. But after a public apology, some rehab, and a little time- people will forgive him.

Sure, he was using a racial-slur- but, hell, there ARE almost two million Jews living in NYC. ;)

Sure, it seems like a big deal, until you compare it to something like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying Israel is a "disgraceful stain on the Islamic world" that needs to be "wiped away".

And this wasn't just a comment made to a friend or an unrehearsed answer to a reporter's question.

This was from a speech at a conference called "World Without Zionism".

Man, you KNOW this guy really hates Jews and THAT, my friend, is racism.

I know it doesn't make what Imus said any less offensive- but at least we can be thankful we're moving in the right direction.