Spurious idea
Today the radio guy, Imus, was fired from his very important radio job of thinking of hurtful and insulting things to say on the radio so his companies and he could make lots of money. Today, the people who listen to mean-spirited, insulting, derogatory, radio shows will have to find another place on the dial to tune to. I am absolutely
gob-smacked that this kind of commentary passes for humor. This is the guy who goes to a social event and tells the woman with the strawberry birthmark that it looks like the continent of Africa in a loud voice and thinks it's funny. When did we start to say that was a good thing? Imus got fired because the networks were afraid of losing money. They'll be filling that slot with someone else who can craft clever insults I'm sure because there seems to be an audience of mean-spirited, insulting people out there who want to hear that kind of talk. Imus didn't go down because he's a racist pig; he went down because there are enough Black people in the economy and other people who don't think it's funny- who hate this behaviour- that it became a money game. I think it would have been equally bad if he'd called a college team of white girls from BYU "bumbling milkmaids playing basketball because they were too tall to do anything else". This stuff is cruel. And not funny. There's a whole other question about where he got his sense of permission to do 'gangsta street talk' and who's responsible for that. But humor at the expense of others is the sign of a small mind and small spirit. Let us not mistake his departure for a new sense of morality in the mainstream media. Nor an abhorrence of racism. It's about money.
gob-smacked that this kind of commentary passes for humor. This is the guy who goes to a social event and tells the woman with the strawberry birthmark that it looks like the continent of Africa in a loud voice and thinks it's funny. When did we start to say that was a good thing? Imus got fired because the networks were afraid of losing money. They'll be filling that slot with someone else who can craft clever insults I'm sure because there seems to be an audience of mean-spirited, insulting people out there who want to hear that kind of talk. Imus didn't go down because he's a racist pig; he went down because there are enough Black people in the economy and other people who don't think it's funny- who hate this behaviour- that it became a money game. I think it would have been equally bad if he'd called a college team of white girls from BYU "bumbling milkmaids playing basketball because they were too tall to do anything else". This stuff is cruel. And not funny. There's a whole other question about where he got his sense of permission to do 'gangsta street talk' and who's responsible for that. But humor at the expense of others is the sign of a small mind and small spirit. Let us not mistake his departure for a new sense of morality in the mainstream media. Nor an abhorrence of racism. It's about money.
Comments