Don Imus is out, crucified on the cross of hypocrisy. While I don’t defend what he said, I am disgusted by NBC’s response. I watched him every morning without ever agreeing with his perspectives, or caring that I disagreed. I think it was Voltaire who said “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
After three or four major sponsors pulled out of MSNBC, Steve Capus went on the air and attributed the firing of Imus to the pleas of NBS employees to preserve the quality of “news.” This is the same station that, for the past week, has toggled back and forth from the Imus story to the Anna Nicole Smith story.
Few of its employees really have the right to call what they do “news.” We all know that 24-hour cable isn’t “news.” It’s manufactured news; enough to fill the time slots and attract the sponsors. It’s Keith Olbermann’s anger, Scarborough Country’s celebrity coverage and Chris Matthews’ political commentary.
And CNN isn’t any better, nor is Fox. Imus has been scapegoated, but he’s not the only offender. On the misogyny side, try almost any rap artist. On the racism side, try most anti-immigration fanatics.
Our country is profoundly hypocritical about both race and religion. Will this lead to a deeper discourse? I hope so, but I think perhaps not.
I’m going to brush my teeth and try to get this bad taste out of my mouth.
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Hear! Hear! In Don Imus’ world of macho men his remarks could even have been his way of praising those hard-playing, scrappy, underdog Rutgers players, but thank God we don’t all live in his world.