Ignor--IMUS

All the News That Gives You Fits! First, let me start off by saying that I am not a FAN of Talk Radio, whether it be WFAN or anything else. I have always found what these "Hosts" say to be annoying at the least and offensive at the usual, and egregious at the most. Imus's latest faux pas falls into the last category.

Whether it be Howard Stern dissing Howard K. Stern and Anna Nicole, or Opie and Anthony pranking sex in St. Pat's as funny, I just don't get it. Therefore in this country of free speech I choose not to listen to that drivel. We all have that choice. Since Howard Stern has been deemed "NOT so ready for prime time" and escaped to Satellite Radio, those who want to pay to listen to his "offbeat" comments actually pay money to do so. That's one of the things that makes free speech in America such a precious commodity, despite what Bush and his henchman, Gonzales profess.

However, those who engage in free speech over the public airwaves have a responsibility for the things they utter and there needs to be a cause and effect relationship between their freedom of speech, and the consequences it has on innocent people. Unfortunately, in this country and The UK, public figures do not have the right to privacy that we private citizens enjoy. If you are a celebrity, these shock jocks can take continual pot shots at you unless they really go over the line, like that shock jock who threatened to kidnap a fellow shock jock's child. Even the most bigoted listener agreed that this was too much.

Many have said that Imus is just the latest scapegoat in a country that condones offensive and misogynistic language in music sub cultures labeled "hip-hop" and "rap." It is true that this offensive and misogynistic language is prevalent here as well as in many violent video games. Imus is just the tip of the iceberg. All of these offensive offenses need not only to be addressed in a public forum, but also resolved nationally by all American citizens. No one should be given a literal "get out of jail free card" because the offensive language that they are using denigrates the race, sex or nationality of which they are a member. Bad is bad, period.

Some have said that if one were to check the music in the iPods that the Rutgers Women's basketball team possesses, one would find a plethora of these very words which have cost Imus his reputation and his job. (Don't worry you Imus fans out there! Imus will soon be on Satellite Radio where he can continue to say whatever ignorant thing that pops into his mind. As long as we as a nation are willing to pay for this egregious behavior, you can bet your bottom dollar that some greedy enterpriser will market it.) Sure it is a tad hypocritical for them to be offended on a personal(microcosmic) level, but on a public (macrocosmic) level they were indeed violated.

Until recently (thanks to Gonzales's rabid uber-enforcement of Bush's Orwellian labeled Patriot Act) we Americans had a sense of personal privacy. What these women listened to in the privacy of their own personal ear buds, offensive as it may be to our culture, is permissible because the only harm that was done, was to themselves and their own self-images. What Imus said over a public air wave was in a sense, an emotional rape of their gender and race. Those emotionally charged trigger words, which I won't mention here because the media has already Anna-Nicole-Smithed them ad nauseum, cut through the airwaves like an emotionally and racially charged knife of female circumcision.

Certainly, these innocent ladies deserved better than Imus's weak and self serving apology. Should he have been fired? My philosophy has always been "one is responsible for what one puts out into the world." In essence--Karma.

The sad thing is that Imus will find another venue for his vitriol and those of his ilk will pay extra money to suck the milk of his bigoted teats and grovel at his feet asking for more. His firing will not change the moral fiber of our once great nation one iota.

Many pundits have jumped on the race band wagon and have made sundry spurious correlations to the alleged Duke rape case. How convenient that these two travesties of justice should be the breaking news at the same time. Does the exoneration bring back the 395 days of agony that these families went through? We live in a country where many say one thing and practice the opposite. I guess you can say we model ourselves after our leaders. If you laugh at a racist or sexist or nationality degrading joke, you are part of the problem. It is as Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac once asked, "It's not that funny, is it?"

Only when we as a nation cover the embers of differences with the phoenix of acceptance, will we be free of the shackles of prejudice and bigotry. Crosby. Stills, Nash, and Young had it right when they said, "Teach your Children well." Bigotry is not nature; it's nurture. I would hope that I am able to see a truly United States of America in my lifetime, but occurrences like these and poor leadership from our government, makes me a bit doubtful. However, there's still a shot for our children and our children's children. If each of us can truly stop being racist and sexist in our daily practice, then we have a chance. If practicing what we preach is not possible today, then at least we can start thinking right thoughts, and then and only then, might we be able to stop encouraging, promoting, and financially supporting those who make their livings by denigrating others. It's time to ignore the ignoramuses (and Imuses) everywhere.

That's the news and my skewed views. What are your views?