Posted on 04/11/2007 9:25:52 AM PDT by bocopar
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big too ignore…
(Record scratch)
(Start bed of Ludacris’ “You's A Ho” instrumental)
So what the hell happened?
I’m sure many of you have heard about the whole Don Imus insulting the Rutgers Women’s basketball team thing. In case some of you are waking up from under the rock, here’s what went down last a week ago Wednesday on his radio show between Imus and his sidekicks Sid Rosenberg and Bernard McGiurk who really set the tone….
DON IMUS: So I watched the basketball game last night between a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women’s final.
SID ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night, seventh championship for Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by thirteen points.
DON IMUS: Some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they’ve got tattoos and –
BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hardcore hos.
DON IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there, I’m going to tell you that. Man, that’s some — ooh! And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so — like kind of like a — I don’t know.
BERNARD McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.
DON IMUS: Yeah.
BERNARD McGUIRK: The Jigaboos versus the Wannabes –
DON IMUS: Yeah.
BERNARD McGUIRK: That movie that he had?
DON IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough –
CHARLES McCORD: Do the Right Thing.
BERNARD McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DON IMUS: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not. But they did, right?
SID ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.
DON IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah.
LOU RUFFINO: Only tougher.
So, of course this gave Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the National Organization of Women an opportunity to portray the Rutgers Basketball women as victims of an old man who effectively dusted off the word “jigaboo” and sent the world into a tizzy.
Now while I’d consider this a “sticks and stones” moment, the whole issue seems to be about a stranger saying something bad that hurt someone else’s feelings. What ever happened to…?
I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman!
(Continue Ludacris music bed)
If these Rutgers basketball players can’t take the ravings of an old fool nobody listens to, what’s gonna happen should any one of them go pro and they have to hear the critiques and taunts of the press and fans after a bad game? Sure, it should never get racial, but if you don’t like it, change the First Amendment.
The big complaint is that an evil corporation let Imus work in the first place. With that, I’d love to get a chance to hear what music is on any one of these women’s iPods, or what kind of music plays at their parties.
Where’s Jesse and Al complaining about so-called rap artists like 50-Cent, Akon, or Ludacris, whose song “You’s A Ho” is the instrumental music bed you’re listening to right now?
Should Imus be fired? That’s not for me to say as Al and Jesse have said a lot worse and are still working. But part of growing up is that not everyone is going to love you. People will say bad things but part of being strong… is not acting helpless.
The Spike Lee movie they were quoting from was actually “School Daze”, not “Do the Right Thing”.
Good article!
People should know when to holdum and when to foldum...
Don... it's time to foldum!
I’m starting to believe that “Don Imus” should be renamed “I Dumass”.
Right on.
I am personally shocked that anyone is shocked that a shock jock said something shocking. I thought he was supposed to do that.
“Sure, it should never get racial, but if you don’t like it, change the First Amendment.”
What do you think PC is all about?!
“...an old fool nobody listens to...”
He may be an old fool, but he wouldn’t have a radio show if nobody listened. Isn’t he nationally syndicated? This sounds more like wishful thinking.
well, if he is gonna be shocking, he shouldn’t apologize all the time like some crybaby Brit sailor or girlie man...
“... but what I am bothered about his how Howard Stern the King of Shock Jocks is largely ignored by the same critics of Imus - yet he has done and said much worse on his show.”
Well, Stern is now on XM, a pay for service. Also, Imus is on tv, (if you consider MSNBC to be tv). But most importantly, Stern would fight tooth and nail, and use his position to seriously damage those who attacked him. Imus is rolling over big time.
Not for nothing, but Harry S. Truman punched a guy in the nose for less than this.
The whole tizzy about racism is silly. To be more effective, the girls should have countered with Imus as being just plain rude. While we all make comments about the unattractive amongst us privately, it is just rude to tell someone that they are ugly. Something that those who are ugly, are acutely aware of. Same thing applies in this case. The girls from Rutgers, are not playboy models, they play hoops. That they look tougher than the Toronto Raptors is more of a jab at the Raptors, but just the same it is reminding these women that they look more like men, instead of women.
Again, to address these women as jiggaboo’s is just plain rude. Why attribute to racism, what is generally accepted as uncouth behavior.
Do I think Don Imus is a racist? No, not in general. Do I think Imus is an uncouth idiot? An irrefutable fact that Imus demonstrates on a daily basis.
Should Imus be fired? Over being a jerk, no. For being a loser with a crappy show that is impossible to listen to? Absolutely.
The serial race-baiters and professional poverty pimps Jesse “Hymie-town” Jackson and Al “Bloodsucking Jews” Sharpton are in no position to criticize anyone.
Hmmmm. I’m not so sure that women who have tattoos aren’t.
Hmmmm. I’m not so sure that women who have tattoos aren’t (what they said)
70 million listeners are nobody?
In general, you raise some good points, but, in this specific case, you need to remember some things that are important. First, the young women on the Rutgers team are not public figures with frequent access to cameras and microphones. Second, those young women and their coach have shown themselves to be one smart and classy bunch. And third, does a broadcast license give a mean-spirited radio jock the authority to hurl lies and racial insults at such women, effectively demeaning their considerable achievements?
“Well, Stern is now on XM, a pay for service...”
Stern in fact is on Sirius, not XM.
“Stern in fact is on Sirius, not XM.”
Ok, if you say so. Good to know someone keeps track of insignificant points.
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