The team will meet with Imus in private.

Consider it the Intervention of the Century.

A radio point man, with some cred for his ability to see the Iraq war for what it is, needs to understand that he and his cronies are carrying on what they deem an “acceptable war” of misogyny and racial denigration EVERY DAY.

Perhaps his soul on some level is just begging to experience some major shift in his world view.

Having seen the temerity and character of this Rutgers team (respectful UCONN fan here) he’s about to get exactly what he bargained for. Maybe more.

Behold, world. A minority-led, minority-majority team, issuing forth from the 8th oldest university in this country — It’s about to get as REAL as you can handle.

I don’t give a crap about Imus’ right to free speech. The same people who think this is just dandy went psycho insane over a 1 second titty shot. Screw Don Gregory and anyone else who thinks it is cute to demean college athletes. Or to make racist remarks and call it a joke.

This is a shameful way to treat a group of college athletes who have worked very hard and made it to the top of their game.

He did not go “a little too far” in being “funny”, what he said was mean and hateful and racist and it is not funny by any measure. He pretends that he is sorry, but throws in all kinds of caveats about how he was “just kidding”. Everyone is just too sensitive. He should be fired. So should Bernard McGuirk who apparently made the “jiggaboo” comment. It is wrong and there is no excuse for it.

Both of these guys make nasty hateful remarks all the time and if they apologize, everyone should just brush their should off and let it go. There comes a point when they must lose their platform.

Never been able to listen to Imus. For the brief time that Providence had an AAR affiliate, they still played Imus in the morning. Less than useless. Two minutes was enough for me.

An opinion held by many. Too sexist for me. He’s never been able to employ a female longer that two weeks regardless of race or ethnicity. Not sure I agree with Sharpton about FCC overly regulating speech. After all Chris Rock, Carlos Mencia, Paul Rodriquez and many more take pot shots at whites and women. In fact most comedians, regardless of race, take pot shots at women, some are down right vile. Bad taste is not illegal and do we really want to start down this slippery slope. Better to boycott the show and its advertisers than to give the Administration any more power than it’s already grabbing. I found the headline below disturbing, and yet it doesn’t get any coverage. The year is 2007 and in the state of Georgia, this is a first. Pathetic.

Ga. Senior Class to Try Integrated Prom

I am at work right now, and the guys in the cubicle across the way just got back from their coffee break, where they happened to see the Rutgers basketball team on TV expressing their hurt. Now these guys are actually making fun of these girls for being hurt, using many of the same terms Imus did.

How on earth can anyone think a group of college girls playing basketball deserve to be insulted in the worst way by a major media personality on national TV?

I’m disgusted, but unfortunately not surprised. I recently moved to Florida and have been amazed at the blatant racism I hear expressed every single day. It is almost without exception the right wingers who talk this way. I have said many times that you could lay an overlay map of ‘red’ voting over an overlay map of racist attitudes and they would match up perfectly.

This is about so much more than Don Imus.

Prairie Sunshine @
6

. . .Imus says what he said was stupid, he makes no excuses, he vows to do better. . .

I’ll be there to watch.

i won’t. he promised clarence page, in
a widely-reported pledge some years back,
that he understood the issues surrounding
racist rhetoric. that pledge was false,
apparently. . . stick a fork in him. he’s done.

now, the pledge sprang from one of his
earlier incidents — referring to gwen ifill as a
“cleaning lady”. — right.

it is time that he (and c.b.s.) recognize
that a national audience is a gift,
and a privilege — not a property right.

now, i’m all for letting him “help him-
self” restart his life in [new] media, by
letting him try to re-build an audience,
using a narrow-cast/podcast/webcast/
internet radio whatever model, on his own
estimable dime, and time. . .

i am not in favor of the leased public
broadcast bandwidth being his to use,
any longer, through c.b.s. and the like. . .

so. . . gate — meet imus.

imus — meet gate.

So when do you get your own show on Air America? That segment was too short.raven @
169

azureblue @ 167

Well if Imus needs to explain himself to the BB players, then maybe Stevie Wonder should, to,, since he used the word Nappy in a song he wrote. And maybe Al Sharpton should explain his racist comments to the Jews of Crown Heights and the white people he tarred in the Tawana Brawley hoax. And maybe a thousand rappers need to explain to all women why they use these words and worse in their raps. Tell me, why are they not being brought to task?

I don’t defend Imus, but if he is going to be attacked for using these these words, then anyone who uses these words should also be attacked. or else we are nothing more than hypocritical apologists.

Colin Cowerd is pointing out that the use of “Queer” has the same history, bad for some to say ok for others.

Yes, that is correct. Priviledge, whether it is white, straight, male or any other form, is about power and how it is used over those who have less power.

That is why it is more ok for those of us in the GLBT community to use “queer” where it might (sometimes and under certain conditions) be not ok for someone not of our community to use it.

Why? Because there is always an underlying threat behind some words. Words, by themselves are of course, just sounds. But they can carry a veiled threat when used by some people and less of one when used by others.

Using the “N” word has a whole different meaning if shouted by a policeman towards some young kid than it does when a hip-hop rapper casually blurts it during a performance.

These issues and the controversies they generate are about power, they are always about power, who has it and how they wield it. And when they are not about power, they are still about power.

I am old enough to remember when Jim Crow was still defended in the media and in normal everyday conversation. I am also old enough to remember when it was a woman’s place to grow up and get married, with perhaps an interlude to go to college and maybe work for a couple of years as a nurse or a teacher or a secretary.

I also remember when there were no women’s sport’s leagues. It was really not so long ago.

Just because the laws have changed doesn’t mean that the attitudes which informed the existence of racist and sexist policy have.

Christie, I’m so disappointed that I missed your appearance today (I’ll get the technical glitches ironed out for next time!), but glad to hear that you’re all doing better. Take good care of yourself.