CBS HAS FIRED DON IMUS!
(Click on image if it is not sufficiently offensive to you.)
Unfortunately, the I-Fans who were regular viewers get no say in the decision to dump his show. While there are a lot of folks who have been calling for his ouster, most of them never watch the show. They received all their input second hand.
It's always troubling when large corporations cave at the first sign of conflict. An important and, yes, diverse platform has been ripped from our screens, viewers be damned.
Of course many of the voices and sentiments expressed here and thereabouts concerning the firing would only seem to reinforce the opinion among those unfamiliar with the program. Those who would try to be heard along with or over the cacophonous din of the preacher-organized protestors, must first realize that a chorus of angry redneck bigots would most likely serve to convince the powers-that-be that their instincts for dumping Imus were correct.
So here we are again, staking out territory, black and white, all in the name of redressing a stupid, joking slur... THAT's STUPID!
You can take this to the bank, people - this is precedent-setting stuff. Don't think there won't be a widespread PC crackdown - if not gummint censorship - on the heels of all the pressure that has been exerted. When the enforcement begins the focus may be on the wingnuts, Limbo, Glen Beck, Savage-Wiener, et al. If I had to bet, I would look for black artists, hip-hop and rap artists, comedians and script writers to be targeted, and not in a smiling, motherly Tipper Gore way...
It's no great leap - if " 'ho's" is racist and sexist and unacceptable, than that's what it is. If there are to be consequences for free speech - loose, intemperate speech - then BRING 'EM ON!
QUOTE/UNQUOTE
"Don Imus - the man who says whatever hideous things that pop into his head. Morning radio just doesn't get any better than this!"
(Don Imus was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989.)
