Imus is Done, but Does That Solve the Bigger Problem
by Pamela LeaveyDon Imus is done. His show has now been canceled by both MSNBC and CBS. “The move” by CBS to cancel Imus’ show, “came one day after MSNBC, which has simulcast Mr. Imus’s radio program for the past 10 years, removed the show from the cable network’s morning lineup.”
The two moves together mean that Mr. Imus, who has been broadcasting his program for more than 30 years, no longer has a home on either national radio or television…
Both CBS and MSNBC had been under pressure from black leaders, women’s groups and advertisers, many of which said they intended to pull their commercials from Mr. Imus’s program.
In a statement, Mr. Moonves said, “Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society — all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society.”
He added, “That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many e-mails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies.”
The CBS decision came on the same day that Mr. Imus was scheduled to journey to New Brunswick, N.J., to meet with the Rutgers team to apologize in person for his remarks, which he had acknowledged in a number of public apologies were inexcusable.
But whatever the outcome of that meeting, it would have no bearing on Mr. Imus’s fate in the end. Neither of his employers was willing to wait to see if the meeting produced anything like a rapprochement.
I haven’t commented on the major Imus dust-up extraordinaire up until now, because quite frankly the whole thing irritated me on many, many levels. First, I think what Imus said was a sad and sorry statement on the society and culture of America that accepts that foul-mouthed, trash talking is acceptable. The say anything mentality exists in everything these days including the blogosphere. Some people spout just to hear themselves spout, some rant just to get a rise out of others. It doesn’t necessarily make them bad people, but racial slurs should not be tolerated and hate speech should not be accepted in society today.
But, firing Don Imus doesn’t solve the bigger problems — racism and sexism in America and big media controlling the market share of what we listen to. Media Matters notes that Imus isn’t the only culprit on our airwaves. That’s no small secret. We can keep up the outcry, we can threaten boycotts galore and we can drive them all off the airwaves but again, but it won’t make racism and sexism go away and it may not put big media out of business. I would have preferred to see Rush knocked off his pedestal, or Glenn Beck dropped off the airwaves. But honestly, I don’t believe we win by censorship. We win by teaching people that hateful, hurtful statements have no place in our society. We win by insisting on a more diverse media.
Society on a whole needs to begin to change at a deeper level, I think. We need to be willing to listen to one another and we need to understand that our words like anything have consequences. We also need to get that what someone else says should not be taken personally, even when directed at us. The hateful words are the symptom of something deeper inside of the person speaking them. Slinging back more hatred in response to hate-filled words is not the answer. And likewise, I don’t think that forcing censorship is the answer either. Helping people to understand that they have hurt someone is the first step in long road to treating the great dis-ease of the mouth that pervades our society.
Whether Don Imus meant to hurt anyone is a moot point, now. The lovely young ladies from Rutgers have been victimized beyond belief. With the hurtful words Imus uttered repeated ad nauseum across every media outlet and countless political blogs on both sides of the aisle, there has been no escaping the hurt for these women. It’s been rubbed into the wound so deep, that these young women may never forget. The internet will chronicle it all and there it will remain forever. So, in some way, every media outlet who repeated the meme, perpetuated the pain for these women. Think about that…
There was a strange irony to me last night when I reported that Kurt Vonnegut had passed away, to be reminded in the news about his death that Vonnegut had been the victim of censorship. We all have choices we can make about what we expose ourselves to, whether it’s books, music, radio, movies or tv. We can all choose not to read, watch or listen whatever we find distasteful and offensive. I think when someone starts making those choices for us, we’ve got a bigger problem.
There’s a little New Age book called The Four Agreements
Be Impeccable With Your Word Don’t Take Anything Personally Don’t Make Assumptions Always Do Your Best
I personally look to the young ladies from Rutgers to set the example of moving past this mess and being all they can be in life. They deserve it.
Do something to make a difference:
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You’ve got it backwards. If you want to link Imus and Vonnegut, I suggest doing a google search for this phrase:
“Kurt Vonnegut is Dead; Long Live the Handicapper General”
Harrison Bergeron gets closer and closer to reality.
If there is any fault it is with us.
We own the channel selectors, the volume controls and the emails.
I would like to see toilet bugs like Howard Stern disappear.
Ditto for Rush and the rest of his ilk.
We can have effect if we contact the stations and vow not to listen to any of their programming or buy any products from their advertisers.
I demand that our political leaders and wannabees respond to all hate speech.
Sorry to say but Kerry was on Imus’s show a lot.
Gheller
It’s a generalized statement of what censorship leads to. It’s not a good thing in my opinion. What Imus said was wrong.
Battlebob
Sadly the kids in inner schools use the names “ho” and “pimp” constantly with each other, kids of all races. This I know from what my daughter tells me. The glorification of these terms in rap hasn’t helped.
Fix what you speak of here and you are still only scratching the surface of the real problem. I spend maybe more time than I should monitoring the right wing. Remember the two Border Patrol guys sent to prison for shooting a suspect without cause, etc.? I found a pretty minor and mild right wing site that had over 100 responses arguing that this is the kind of conduct that we need to encourage, not discourage. A very common statement was “I hope that Bush gives them a pardon”. As individual words, this phrase is totally innocuous. As a phrase it is reprehensible beyond description.
I’m scared by the ones that build personal empires out of spewing hate to the millions on the far right who have their hate receptors turned on maximum. They’ll keep doing this as long as someone pays them for it and their audience is growing, not shrinking.
And they even have a cute little name for it! “The Culture War”.
battlebob,
Unfortunately I agree with you.
Now that Imus has been labeled/branded as a racist, anyone who is associated with him or goes on his show like Kerry or other politicians is going to draw criticism and scrutiny, which would be unfortunate, because the good senator has done a lot for minorities and women in DC.
I think Imus should have been fired, but what about Rush, Beck, Insannity, Coulter and other pigheaded bigots that spew their garbage 7 days a week for more than 4 hours? What about the religious hatemongers like Falwell and Robertson that spew their hate?
We need to demand accountablity for them and the record companies that put out the hip-hop garbage that has infested the black community.
Until then, nothing will change.
What I also meant to say is that hip hop has infested all communities.
Folks at the end of the day, corporate America has drawn a line in the sand about what it finds acceptable. And that’s a good step. Looking back at the week I saw three steps:
Step 1- Rev Sharpton advocated and the basketball team made a fantastic presentation to raise the issue
Step 2- Corporate America made a MARKETING decision
Step 3- CBS/MSNBC made an ACCOUNTING decision
The media sells audiences to corporations. Sharpton and the team put on a clinic in PR.
The news is reporting the the Rutgers team has accpeted Imus’s apology. Good for them.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18089620/
I don’t think we can fault people like JK and others who were on the show before this incident, and now there will be no show. It’s a moot point. Imus did provide a platform for Dem politicians.
As Alrudder said above corporate media has drawn a line in the sand, now hopefully they will stick to their guns and start cleaning house of the other offenders.
Pam,
Imus provided a platform for many politicians for both party but for years has been a sexist, racist pig.
This is not his first foray into insulting folks like this.
It will not be the last from this cretin.
The point is other then Obama, who has called him out?
I wish JK would say someting as he has professed friendship for Imus.
Imus was on our selection of channels and unless he had someone I was interested in, I never watched.
That is not good enough. I don’t want censorship but we are responsible for what comes into our homes. We are responsible for telling media suppliers that we will not watch their programs or buy their sponsor’s products unless they change. If enough folks protest and revunue goes down for the advertisors then changes are made.
Imus got a break for too many years.
So has Stern.
battlebob writes: “Imus got a break for too many years. So has Stern.”
Of course, Stern is now on satellite, where pretty much anything goes since satellite airwarves aren’t public airwaves and listening is by subscription only. One would expect Imus to be back on the air in no time, I’m sure.
I have more up at AoF, but if we’re really going to have a “national conversation” about this, we need to addresss racism, misogyny and homophobia amongst *all* aspects and demographics in society. Limiting our “outrage” to just Imus misses the point. He is/was just the tip of the iceberg.
Todd,
So true but you have control over what you see.
You can block out what you don’t want your kids to see.
You can notify the sender why you are not watching.
I am sure the right will counter with demands that shows with Colbert, Stewart and Olbermann get pulled.
They have been pushing this for years.
Battlebob
It’s my understanding JK gave a quote to some reporters before Imus was fired.
I haven’t had much time to follow this whole mess honestly because I’ve got a lot on my plate right now with my daughter needing to choose which college she will attend and other personal and business priorities.
I don’t like what Imus said. But there was a bit of a “pile-on” effect of all of this. Imus wasn’t that right-wing, he supported Kerry in 2004, he opposed the Iraq war and tried to talk “hip-hop” more than really believing that the basketball players were prostitutes.
He should have been fined and placed on probation. He probably should have been forced to cough up a couple of million for the basketball team. That would have been more helpful than his exile.
Reminds me too much of the pile-on after Kerry when he mis-spoke, the pile-on after Durbin when he said the treatment at Guantanamo was like Nazis. Nobody is stopping Rush. Nobody is after Glenn Beck, or O’Reilly. Just Imus.
Even Sharpton and Jackson have a bit of explaining to do about their past.
Mark my words, nothing good will come of this. Imus wasn’t as bad as he is made out to be. Had a filthy mouth and said outrageous stuff, but he raised money for many good charities. What has Rush done?
Anybody getting him off the air?
Todd
Just read through your posts on this – all great. This one especially – http://articleofaith.blogspot.com/2007/04/urban-plantation.html
Rap talk has permeated the dialogue among all kids out here, even the well to do white kids. We live in a free society and these days it seems that “free society” means say anything no matter how crass and get away with it. Look at the language used on the blogosphere and the disagreements over whether bloggers should tone it down.
Honestly I caught Imus by video if JK was on because I don’t have cable. Why don’t I have cable — because there is bunch of junk on it in my opinion. I gave up watching TV years ago and I don’t miss it one bit. So the who said what on what show is moot to me. I choose not to watch the BS that pervades the airwaves.
Maybe if more people chose not to watch the trash on TV we would have this kind of crap happening. But I doubt that will ever happen.
Robert Freedland
I felt that whole ordeal reminded a lot of the other pile on episodes including JK’s botched joke.
Given the fact that Imus did provide a platform for Dems, was against the war and did bash BushCo on occassion, I think we could have found a better target to get off the air. Fine Imus… make him donate to the team, make him raise money for scholarships for black women, get him on the airwaves with a hearty discussion on racism and sexism… any number of good things might have come from his flap.
Maybe something still will. I’m honestly tired of the mob mentality that is so prevelent these days. The internet is the great Roman forum of our times.
I have two specific peeves with all of this:
1. As a member of the gay miniority community, I continue to wonder why gays remain the last group politically correct to hate? The rappers down “faggots” just as much in their excuse for music as they do “ho’s”. However I have heard no mention of this. Ann Coulter’s crude comment about fags did not cause nearly this much uproar. Michale Savage, Rush, etc. disparage gays on almost every broadcast and no one blinks and eye. Govenor Arnold S. of California refers to gays as “girly men” and people just laugh.
Is it any wonder that suicide is the leading cause of death among gay teenagers. We need to stop the practice of selective civil rights!!
2. Reverend Sharpton and Reverend Jackson were quick to degrade the Duke student, wrongfully accused of rapeing a black female stripper. Now the three have been totally cleared of all rape charges. This was a 13 month ordeal for the young men and their families. Their reputations were stained by this rush to judgement. It was evident at their news conference that they have suffered tremendous psychological stress. So, why aren’t the Reverends traveling to Duke to issue public apologies for their false accusations? I am not holding my breath waiting for this to happen. It seems evident that these male atheletes have suffered as much, if not more, than the Rutgers team. Those who champion civil rights should be blind to color, gender, or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, it appears that the Sharpton/Jackson concept of civil rights is too frequently a one way street.
Buzz
Some very good ppoints here. I’ve mulled around also what the outcry would have been if the team who white with blonde hair and Imus used the sterotypical “blonde bimbo” line?
Pam,
You can be sure that Sharpton would never have said a word; ditto Jesse or Roper…
In defense of Sharpton, Jackson, Gloria Alred et al…
They are publicity agents, not leaders per se.
When you open the business section of the paper, every article about a merger or product launch had a PR agency behind it.
In the main section, every story about politicians had press involved.
in the entertainment section, all celebrity gossip has publicists planting it.
But there is no PR agency for a social cause. The role of these icons is not to set policy, but to get the grievances of the downtrodden in the public discourse.
A successful week for them!
Initially I put this Imus thing in the same catagory as the Teri Shivo and Anna Nicole media extravaganza’s, but you’ve all brought up some very interesting and pertinent points.
We need to emphasize that Imus’s targets were a bunch of kids. They were not politicians or actors or someone in the public eye a lot. These were teenage kids and Imus called them a bunch of whores. They and their families must have loved hearing that!
I remember when the Clintons came into the WH and their daughter Chelsea was a gawky teenage kid. Some cartoonists drew some horrible pictures of her that really accented her looks. I read the Clinton family was really upset. A member of the MSM actually told the rest of the media to leave her alone. It was the last time the press showed any honor.
Imus is a scum bag and he is not alone. He normally targets adults. Our kids our off limits to all media members who chose to make them the objects of some sick humor rant. What he did was disgusting by itself but was magnified because he targeted kids.
For that alone he should be fired.
Battlebob
Part and parcel with this issue is the language Imus used is rapper talk and it’s commonly used with inner city kids as I mentioned above. They think nothing of it, when speaking to each other, “ho” and “pimp” is used in abundance by kids in LA and I am sure in other areas of the country as well.
It doesn’t excuse what Imus said. The bigger question is how did we as a society let this kind of language permeate the minds of our kids and build it’s way into the dialogue of “talk show” hosts?
The man made a mistake and like he has apologized and his apology has been accpeted by those he hurt. His show is done, I personally am not one for skewering anyone who makes a mistake. Like Robert Freedland said above in some ways this is like what happened with JK.
Remember Imus has also done a lot of good for kids and his wife is environmentalist who has develeoped a great line of environmentally friendly cleaning products that used in schools and medical facilities across the country. As a mother of teenage daughter I’d be willing to move on if it was my kid. The problem is much larger than Don Imus. Better at this point to go after the real problem.
Imus got exactly what he deserved. He should have been long gone and so should rush, glen beck, ann coulter.
All the politician’s where slow to respond. It took Obama several days to respond which was a crying shame.
As for those who decry sharpton and jesse.
Look there are many in the black community who don’t consider either of these men our premiere black leaders. It is politicians, the media and others who take them as the premiere black leaders.
That being said sharpton has decried the hip hop lyrics for a long time and he had a point you shouldn’t be able to use the public airways to spout sexist/racist views.
Obama and the other younger black leaders wrung their hands in the days after Imus’s rant and that’s why the older generation of black leaders once again step up to the plate and does something.
Imus may have done good things but Ted bundy probably gave to a charity to.
Imus did no crime? He committed defamation against the Rutgers team.
He and his side kick called a team of majority black teenage women whores on the national radio. He didn’t know these young women and after starting at a 2-4 season they did what few teams have done gone to the national championship. They played their heart out in a basket ball game and because they had a few tattoos and didn’t have straight hair they were ridiculed by 2 men sitting in their cushy jobs with not a care in the world.
Now these young ladies are getting hate mail, and that name they were called will be forever associated with them and their team.
That is the reason Imus angered so many blacks and women. He attacked kids and to say he has said stuff in the past is no excuse.
As for helping the dems perhaps the democrat party needs to take a look at themselves to see why they needed Imus as a platform anyway.
And yes, as a supporter of Kerry’s I am disappointed that he has so little to say.
To see hillary all of a sudden take Rutgers up on its invitation to speak there from a while back on monday pisses me off and a lot of other black folks that I know. Political opportunistic is the clinton’s game.
I don’t expect Kerry to go all out and say he was wrong to go on the show. But the silence is noticeable.
I understand Kerry has been on Imus show before and no I don’t think the folks who have gone on his show are racist or the folks who listen to him are. The piling on Kerry, which as anyone who knows I’ve disowned the dems for doesn’t mean that Imus should be given a slap on the wrist.
I understand Imus and his wife are featured in the Kerry’s book but that is no reason to remain on the fence. Deidre Imus has done some cool things in the environment field and she should be commended but her husband being a good man no I don’t think so.
If Imus was a good man he wouldn’t have humiliated, and crudely cut someone else’s kid to the core.
Kerry has 2 daughters how can he or any other political defend Imus?
Personally I think there will be little soul searching done by this nation just like after katrina. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and Stern, rush and the other will get theirs to.
One thing about hip-hop: Many in the black community have long been sick of the hateful lyrics and bikini clad women shown in videos. Most black I know old and young alike don’t buy the rap stuff. When rap first arrive on the scene they told stories of what it was like on the street and in the communities. Then somewhere in the late 90’s onward it became coarser and now it’s a majority of pimps.
It’s been reported that the majority of consumers who by rap music are not black.
The leaders of the corporations who put this music out could cut it off tomorrow and not promote it, distribute it but they won’t. Why? Money.
Parent’s need to let their kids know no matter who says’ this stuff it’s unacceptable.
Artist and pundits need to realize freedom of speech doesn’t give them the right to tarnish the names of the innocent, politicians need to take a stand and stop going on show’s that have this corrosive atmosphere.
People who defend Imus need to realize rap lyrics didn’t make him do this something deep in him made him trash these kids.
The young women of Rutgers ultimately sealed Imus fate when they spoke of how he hurt them and showed that they weren’t whores they were accomplished young women who are 17 to 20 year old trying to accomplish what adults say they should a college education. The head honchos of CBS and NBC knew then that they either let him go or pay a heavy price and Imus wasn’t worth their jobs or the low morale that their feet dragging was causing some of their employees.
How little did the Rutgers ladies know that championship game and an education would have such a price? And that’s the tragedy of what Imus said.
Pen
Here in L.A. I am astounded to see who listens to rap. You see white guys in their 30’s driving mercedes and bmw’s listening to it. I can’t fathom it. The closest thing to rap I ever listen to is the couple of songs on Santana’s last 3 cd’s that have a rap vibe.
I think it’s time for another round of Congressional hearing on it. We need to do something, because I honestly I don’t see that parental guidance is enough.
I look at Imus as being a symptom of the larger problem. I don’t know why JK hasn’t said more other than he’s caught up in his book tour with THK and pressing for an end to Iraq.
So I guess the logic is if kids call each others whores then it is ok for an elderly white guy to call kids he knows nothing about whores.
Bad logic.
Imus is not part of that culture and he doesn’t know anything about those kids.
If he called Hillary or Oprah whores then there would be revulsion but HC and oprah can take care of themselves and respond.
I bet the kids friends and families really enjoyed the name calling.
Battlebob
Maybe you are reading into what I said because and forming the “bad logic” analogy but I’m not excusing what Imus said and I have been clear about that.
Honestly, it’s not okay for anyone to do it. It happens. The issue is how do we stop it, in all walks of life?
The young ladies involved in this handled themselves just fine with the help of their coach and enough public outcry.