Imus's remark, which was more silliness than anything else, has resulted (oh, joy) in the coining of a new media phrase: Diversity fatigue. Whatever the hell that is.

Back when I worked in radio, I was, for about a year, a local affiliate producer for the Imus program. I listened to Imus every morning for a year, and even talked to him on his program three or four times. I'd upload the one conversation with him that I saved on tape, but I don't know where it is. Anyway, that's my full disclosure. I sorta kinda used to work for Imus.

I'll also disclose that I enjoyed his program back then, and although I haven't heard much of it in the last ten or twelve years, I'm sure I'd still enjoy it. Don Imus invented the "Shock Jock" thing. He's been doing it for forty years, since Howard Stern was still messing in his diapers. What's more, Imus does the "Shock Jock" thing better than anyone else, in my opinion. His remarks are frequently off-color and in bad taste, but with regard to content, his program gives listeners more to actually think about than any of the other similar programs. Imus is rude and crass and idiotic, but he's not dumb, if you catch my drift.

Of course, since Imus's Rutgers remark, there's been a chorus from the left to the effect that he should be taken off the air. For all their talk about free speech, the leftists sure do want to censor anyone they don't agree with. But, then, what should anyone expect from the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? Those two idiots have made careers out of perpetuating the myth of current-day black victimhood. If they don't act like Imus's remark was the modern equivalent of a lynching, people might get the idea that it was just (gasp!) an inconsequential, stupid remark. God forbid!

Having said all that, I'll also say that I'm disgusted with Imus because of one single aspect of this whole debacle: Imus actually apologized to Al Sharpton on Sharpton's radio program.


Nobody who wants to be taken seriously should ever apologize for anything to scum like Al Sharpton. Here are a few reasons why:

• Number One: Big Al rose to fame back in 1987 by charging that New York prosecutor Steve Pagones "on 33 separate occasions" had "kidnapped, raped and abused" Tawana Brawley…. Pagones sued and won a $65,000 judgment for defamation. In 1988, a grand jury concluded Brawley "was not the victim of forcible sexual assault" and the whole thing was a hoax. In 2002, when Sharpton was asked if he'd apologize to Pagones, Sharpton replied: "Apologize for what? For believing a young lady?"


• Number Two: In 1991, a 7-year-old black child was killed in a Crown Heights (Brooklyn) traffic accident when a car driven by a Hasidic Jew went out of control. Sharpton showed up to lead protests, calling Jews "diamond merchants" and saying, "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house."


• Number Three: "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business," Sharpton said in a 1995 Harlem controversy over a Jewish storeowner who had a conflict with a black rival neighbor. A protester in that case eventually shot his way through the store and burned the place down, killing eight people.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.


While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

Labels: Media, News, Politics, You Tube

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 08:15