Imus Still in Hot Water

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I hope he keeps his show, I enjoy it.

I hope he keeps his show, too.

This comment wasn't as extreme as some people are trying to make it. I see more sexist overtones than racial undertones. I find it interesting that most of the "boycotters" are only picking up on the assumed racial thing. Imus and his colleagues make a ton of controversial statements that have nothing to do with race. Offended people should voice their opinions but understand that there are different levels of offense.

[shinerbock]

I was about to comment on the sexist theme too. What seemed like praise for the UT team (which I assume has several black players) indicated more of an assumption for how women should look than a statement about race, at least to me.

My personal belief is that there isn't much reason for black people to be outraged. Of course, this is my personal belief and I'm not black so I have no idea what sparks true emotion and what doesn't. My problem is not with people being upset, its with these demands that he be fired. I don't like that the media has to cater to such strong lobbies, either meeting their demands or facing their wrath. I know this happens in other contexts too (Disney boycott, for example), but race is such a volatile issue that there is leverage in situations like this that extends beyond simple financial motivations. People can speak with their wallets or their patronage, and that doesn't bother me. I get concerned more so when people threaten to blanketly ruin an entity's reputation and goodwill if demands aren't met, whether they're reasonable or not.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

My personal belief is that there isn't much reason for black people to be outraged. Of course, this is my personal belief and I'm not black so I have no idea what sparks true emotion and what doesn't.

You don't have to be black to know what sparks true emotion or to be compassionate over racial issues. Blacks are people () so we have individual opinions on what's offensive. The only time I dismiss my individual opinion for a racial group-centered one is when I see the incident as indicative of a larger climate. I don't see that here at all.

No one call tell people what to be outraged about. So I won't tell black people, women, or whomever that they shouldn't offended as long as they don't tell me I SHOULD be offended.

I find Imus' comment unnecessarily stupid but I don't believe he or his comment are racist. He feels humiliated and has apologized. A lesson has been learned. People need a metric of offense so that everything that raises an eyebrow doesn't get the treatment of more serious things. Voicing a complaint about something like this should result in an on aire apology for the first offense (since folks aren't counting all the controversial comments he's made for years).