IMUS at it again

[Zoots]

There are real and devastating crime issues in the black community, as crime stats show, but he shouldn't be touching them with a ten foot pole, let alone glibly. Leave that to others like Cosby, whose intentions won't be questioned.

There are appalling stats, I mean, look at these, but Imus ain't the one to be pointing them out, and certainly not making a joke about them.

http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=4393

The paper, appearing this week in the American Sociological Review, estimates that 20 percent of all black men born from 1965 through 1969 had served time in prison by the time they reached their early 30s. By comparison, less than 3 percent of white males born in the same time period had been in prison.

Equally startling, the risks of prison incarceration rose steeply with lower levels of education. Among blacks, 30.2 percent of those who didn't attend college had gone to prison by 1999 and 58.9 percent of black high school dropouts born from 1965 through 1969 had served time in state or federal prison by their early 30s.

[Ben Pepper]

Hate it or like it, the man has a right to free speech. But what comes with free speech are the consequences that result from what is said.

The sponsors of Imus's show know what they're getting into when they sign up for the show. They shouldn't be surprised when he says something derogatory like that.

Was it a stupid thing to say? Of course. But I believe he still has the right to say it.

By the way, who the hell still listens to Imus anyways?

[Neurotic Guy]

There are two wars going on and people starving to death. If IMUS is our biggest problem we should be so lucky. Just change the channel and let the free market decide. It'll work itself out.

While I do share your perspective that there are more important issues than Imus' comments, I respect both those who 'change the channel' and those who choose to speak out.  One of the great societal changes in my lifetime is that there are now social consequences for making racially or ethnically biased statements.  It was not that long ago that baltant slurs were used without folks thinking for a minute that someone might call them out on it.  People can still choose to make comments that may offend (the right to free speech), but they should be aware that nowadays someone may call them out on it.  Sometimes reactions to questionable comments go too far in terms of sensitivity, but I personally believe that going too far for the time being is how society eventually adjusts the balance.  I generally like political correctness since I much prefer it to the world where no one questioned stereotypic comments or the biases (and at times oppressive conditions) that were perpetuated by such sentiments. 

In response to Zoots who cites the disproportionality of blacks v. whites in prison, it is clearly fa act that proportionally far more black men than white men are imprisoned, however, 3 factors need be mentioned whenever such a point is made, 1) blacks are more frequently and more heavily sentenced for same/similar crimes than whites 2) blacks are more likely to be racially profiled than whites -- meaning more likely to  be arrested, and 3) there are factors, like poverty, education level, and family history that have more relational factors to commiting crimes than does race.  

[Roy Hobbs]

No politics.  That means no discussion of the war, no discussion of crime statistics, etc.  They're all interesting topics, but unless and until the rules are changed, they're off-limits. -R.H.

[Zoots]

Sorry Roy.  I didn't know crime stats constituted politics.  My bad.

[Bahku]

Imus, Imus, Imus ... the truly astounding question here that's just screaming to be asked, is how can a seemingly intelligent human being keep going to such lengths to repeatedly prove to the rest of the world how incredibly ignorant, narrow-minded, and prejudiced he is, and actually expect someone to keep paying him big money to do it?!? "Hello ... McFLy ... anybody home?"

Because things aren't always as they seem?

Very true, Chris ... which just goes to show, "intelligence" is far more subjective than many think it is, and there's far more to civility and wisdom than just intelligence. (TP)

[TradeProposalDude]

Is this sort of discussion even allowed on Celticsblog?

Anyway, I was definitely shocked to hear Imus make those remarks, after all the criticism he received after the massive amount of drama that proceeded the comments made on the airwaves about the Rutger's women's basketball team being labeled "nappy headed hoes."

What shocks me is that he made those comments seemingly with full knowledge regarding the repercussions he would later have to face and endure. The stigma of being labeled a "racist" in this country is like no other. He will never be able to rid himself of that perception, even if his "true intentions" weren't all that bad.

For the record, I believe that Imus isn't a racist. I think he is an attention wh-re who feeds off of being a prime subject of criticism in his profession and in pop culture. I don't know if he's a racist, but I doubt it. But that's really not the point. People have to stop taking this idiot seriously. If our own president supported institutional racism, you'd have something to worry about, and the buzz that would follow it would be just from the citizens. But we're talking about a guy who is definitely not of any threat or real influence to our daily lives. They should can his butt not so much because his comments were racial, but because he's an idiot who should know better than to flap his mouth like that on the radio where thousands of people are listening to him.

[Sweet17]

This whole thread is politics. Once again I am mystified by the "no politics" rule on this blog. It's more like Politics is okay if we like what your saying.. <g> Probably the 'crime statistics" could be seen as negative towards african americans so it's not okay. But bagging on Imus IS okay because its the right kind of politics, no? And BTW I am okay with bashing the guy..

Pete

[Bahku]

This whole thread is politics. Once again I am mystified by the "no politics" rule on this blog. It's more like Politics is okay if we like what your saying.. <g> Probably the 'crime statistics" could be seen as negative towards african americans so it's not okay. But bagging on Imus IS okay because its the right kind of politics, no? And BTW I am okay with bashing the guy..

Pete

Actually, I think discussing Imus and his poor lack of judgement can be done without getting overly political, and most bloggers here are very aware of the guidelines put forth and are pretty consistent when trying to adhere to them. I agree that's it's obviously more difficult with this kind of topic than it is with others, but the majority of the replies below were made with very little political reference.

[Kuberski33]

When I first heard the story I was ticked off because I thought the first Imus go-round was case of corporate America caving in to Al Sharpton, who's nothing more than a self serving fraud.  Then I heard the clip and to me it really is bad.

I would ask the question of whether all the coke Imus did over the years fried his brain because that's what it sounds like. He's up there in years so I think the question needs to be asked.

Of course Pacman Jones realy IS a thug and probably shouldn't be playing in the NFL but that's another matter for another day.

[screwedupmaniac]

imus is a nut job. the stuff that comes out of his mouth would have been just fine back when he was a child...in the 1800's.

i mean seriously, how old is this guy??? 

[slamdunk]

I don't see what the big deal is. There have been worse things said and he has his freedom of speech. The worse part is when he explained that he meant the people picked on Pacman because they were racist. Apparantly Imus has the disease known as white guiltitis.

[Roy Hobbs]

Thanks, Bahku.  Well said.  The "no politics" line is a tricky one, and any time things such as race, gender, free speech, or any of that comes into play, we're touching on potentially political subjects.  The staff uses its discretion in the best way it can to allow for discussion of topics like this, without crossing into overtly political waters.

[soap07]

I don't see what the big deal is. There have been worse things said and he has his freedom of speech. The worse part is when he explained that he meant the people picked on Pacman because they were racist. Apparantly Imus has the disease known as white guiltitis.


"Freedom of speech" means you are allowed to say what you want without government interference. The government has nothing to do with public outcry. Just like Imus has a right to say offensive things about African-Americans by law, the listening audience has every right to get offended.

[Amonkey]

Like somebody mentioned not too long ago, at first (incident) I was more ticked off at the way things were treated.  I thought that people were blowing things out of proportion.  Not that I was defending the guy, but I thought it was somewhat of the line of "a honest mistake".  That might sound like Im being nicer to the guy that I really mean.  I thought what he said was idiotic and racist, but the likes of Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and our good friend Jemelle Hill were just feeding off of it and so was the media to blow things out of proportion to hike up the ratings a little bit.

With that said, fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  That was just horrible and this guy deserves to be fired and never be allowed on the radio waves.  I just hope that this happens not because some Al Sharpton picket line outside the radio studio, but because we all know its the right thing to do.