Imus, Imus, Imus...

The recent controversial comments by syndicated radio host Don Imus have been the talk of countless media outlets for the past week. What did Imus say that was so wrong? Imus referred to the Rutgers Women Basketball team as a bunch of “nappy headed hos.” Today the team spoke out against Imus, telling everyone that Imus’ remarks took away from their moment in the sun, as they made it to the women’s final four. Others like Jesse Jackson have called for Imus to be fired, but firing the man is going a bit too far.

I concur with most that Imus’ comments can be considered slanderous filth that does not belong on the airwaves. But as usual, it is obvious that the media has once again blown another simple comment out of proportion. Imus should be the first to know that the NAACP, the ACLU, and other various interest groups pay people to sit around and listen to and watch “entertainment” with political themes. An interest group or Jesse Jackson will do anything to get into the news in order to push their agenda on the public; Imus just helped them out.

I believe that Imus simply had a minor slip up. He was a tad over zealous in his bid to make a joke and a majority of the people out there took his comment too seriously. Was it unfair that he had fun at the expense of a women’s basketball team? Yes it was; but life is tough and people are going to formulate their opinions from people like Imus or other sources that have an under riding message. Insensitive comments are made everyday on the radio; we just do not hear them because most shows are not nationally syndicated.

Most people in the world believe that those of us in America are progressive in our respective in our ideologies. But I have noticed that America in general is sensitive to comments that push us outside of the box, whether we call ourselves liberal or conservative. News outlets and ideologues (purists) are going to pick up on rogue comments more so than the average American. Even a majority of those that listen to Imus were probably not startled by his comments. The point is that when the news hawks on a story because someone political did something wrong, there is a good chance that they are doing it because people love to buy news that is full of controversy. Bill Clinton ring a bell?