sws4420
04-13-2007, 01:45 PM
April 13, 2007 -- SO CBS is dropping Don Imus: Al Sharpton wins.
It's hard to say what's most wrong here.
For starters, Don Imus is a good man.
If you're a soldier wounded in Iraq and stuck in a rotting ward at Walter Reed Hospital, he is the best guy to have on your side.
That goes for a kid of any race or religion with cancer. Or a parent who has lost an infant to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
He's built hospitals and a ranch in New Mexico for kids who face an early death.
If you have a good cause, he is by your side and he puts his money where his mouth is. If you're a phony, this is your time to come out from under your rock and attack.
Imus is wild. He's funny. He's nuts. He's tough and compassionate, impatient and loyal. He's a lot of things - but he is not a racist.
Racists are not the people who say wild, silly, stupid things like Imus did the other day when he called the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho's."
It was an incredibly dumb thing to say - tasteless and cruel. But a real racist would never blurt out something outrageous like that, because a real racist is always on guard.
A lot of forces are telling us that, with this one stupid statement, Imus has ruined the lives of these young women. I have to wonder if any of them have ever heard Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle.
Or to the degrading words gangsta rappers use about black women - disgusting anti-women lyrics far more shocking than Imus' incredibly dumb words.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming these kids for what Imus said - I'm blaming the media that is making this a double-standard world.
Speaking of double standards, I give you Al Sharpton, who threatened to march on WFAN if Imus was not fired.
Al Sharpton - who gave all those shrieking speeches when the Tawana Brawley case attracted national attention back in 1987. Have we forgotten that Sharpton and two cohorts used an unbalanced young girl to boost their profiles - at the expense of a man whose life they virtually ruined for no reason?
The man, Steven Pagones, won a civil judgment. But Sharpton - who claims Imus' apology isn't enough - would neither apologize nor pay out the judgment against him that Pagones won.
Twenty years later, Sharpton yelled for and got Imus' scalp. Too bad CBS caved because the minute the media turned off the cameras, Sharpton would have stopped marching.
I tuned into Imus Wednesday, as I have for the past 30 years. He was sadly subdued. Listening to Don trying to be politically correct reminded me of the story of the centipede that was asked, "How can you walk with all those legs?" The centipede thought about this for a second and then collapsed, unable to walk again.
Don, when he can't be totally spontaneous and wild with material that will offend every group equally, loses that magic that has made him the greatest radio personality in history.
I have a number of clients who advertised on WFAN just to be on Imus' show. Naturally, as a good advertising man, I'll recommend that they go elsewhere until Imus comes back.
And mark my words: He'll be back, and he'll be back with vengeance.
Be afraid, CBS. Be very afraid.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04132007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/imus_in_the_mourning_opedcolumnists_jerry_della_fe mina.htm
It's hard to say what's most wrong here.
For starters, Don Imus is a good man.
If you're a soldier wounded in Iraq and stuck in a rotting ward at Walter Reed Hospital, he is the best guy to have on your side.
That goes for a kid of any race or religion with cancer. Or a parent who has lost an infant to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
He's built hospitals and a ranch in New Mexico for kids who face an early death.
If you have a good cause, he is by your side and he puts his money where his mouth is. If you're a phony, this is your time to come out from under your rock and attack.
Imus is wild. He's funny. He's nuts. He's tough and compassionate, impatient and loyal. He's a lot of things - but he is not a racist.
Racists are not the people who say wild, silly, stupid things like Imus did the other day when he called the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho's."
It was an incredibly dumb thing to say - tasteless and cruel. But a real racist would never blurt out something outrageous like that, because a real racist is always on guard.
A lot of forces are telling us that, with this one stupid statement, Imus has ruined the lives of these young women. I have to wonder if any of them have ever heard Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle.
Or to the degrading words gangsta rappers use about black women - disgusting anti-women lyrics far more shocking than Imus' incredibly dumb words.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming these kids for what Imus said - I'm blaming the media that is making this a double-standard world.
Speaking of double standards, I give you Al Sharpton, who threatened to march on WFAN if Imus was not fired.
Al Sharpton - who gave all those shrieking speeches when the Tawana Brawley case attracted national attention back in 1987. Have we forgotten that Sharpton and two cohorts used an unbalanced young girl to boost their profiles - at the expense of a man whose life they virtually ruined for no reason?
The man, Steven Pagones, won a civil judgment. But Sharpton - who claims Imus' apology isn't enough - would neither apologize nor pay out the judgment against him that Pagones won.
Twenty years later, Sharpton yelled for and got Imus' scalp. Too bad CBS caved because the minute the media turned off the cameras, Sharpton would have stopped marching.
I tuned into Imus Wednesday, as I have for the past 30 years. He was sadly subdued. Listening to Don trying to be politically correct reminded me of the story of the centipede that was asked, "How can you walk with all those legs?" The centipede thought about this for a second and then collapsed, unable to walk again.
Don, when he can't be totally spontaneous and wild with material that will offend every group equally, loses that magic that has made him the greatest radio personality in history.
I have a number of clients who advertised on WFAN just to be on Imus' show. Naturally, as a good advertising man, I'll recommend that they go elsewhere until Imus comes back.
And mark my words: He'll be back, and he'll be back with vengeance.
Be afraid, CBS. Be very afraid.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04132007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/imus_in_the_mourning_opedcolumnists_jerry_della_fe mina.htm