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Imus and Liberal Hypocrisy Barrett Kalellis The sight of a bewildered, geriatric Don Imus being ushered into Al Sharpton's lair to make yet another white guilt apology for his "nappy-headed hos" remark over the air was akin to watching a dog owner grab his mutt by the collar and forcibly rub his nose into a pile of feces, untimely deposited on the rug. It made you cringe. Don Imus, a man with little or no real talent — but lots of bile and attitude — has made a 30-year career on radio by commenting on current events and interviewing certain guest celebrities. Assisted by a crew of sycophants and comic impersonators, "Imus in the Morning" is a brew of male frat house and locker room humor that leans heavily on cynical wisecracks and generally insulting personal attacks on public figures or anyone that Imus personally dislikes. This is leavened by occasional high-minded political talk, sports commentary, and frequent tedious announcements and solicitations for various Imus business ventures and charity involvement. It is peculiar fare for a peculiar audience. Over the years, Imus has given a lot of airtime to interviewing his favorite politicians, liberal columnists, and authors. After cable TV network MSNBC began simulcasting his daily radio show for two hours, a rotating roster of NBC reporters do phone interviews during each show to add some news heft and to schmooze with Imus. Does anyone remember Imus' disastrous speech at the Radio/TV Correspondents Association in March 1996, where he ridiculed TV anchors, the Clintons, and every politician he could think of? The weird, inappropriate, mean-spirited thing never got off the ground and, with a nervous smile, Imus went into hyper-flop-sweat mode until it was gratefully over. But ridiculing the way people look and act is the kind of personal invective that Imus has been practicing his entire career. Story Continues Below
Why single him out for chastisement, when Howard Stern's humor never seems to rise above his private, as they say, parts? Ah, but Imus treaded into the perilous arena of racial humor, the stock-in-trade of countless nightclub comedians for generations. And as is the case with a lot of race-based humor, much of it is tasteless, and this is apparently the kind Imus likes. But this time, Imus stepped far over the line that political correctness allows. So professional race hustlers lying in the weeds like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson — who have been the butt of Imus jokes in the past — decided to nail him on it, and make his life miserable by calling his comments "racist" and demanding that he be taken off the air. Now Sharpton and Jackson's complaints should really be taken with a seven-pound grain of salt, since both these guys have a rap sheet as long as your arm: Sharpton's false charges in the Tawana Brawley matter, for example, and his incitement to violence in Brooklyn in the 1990s that led to the death of a Korean grocery store owner. Entire books have been written about Jesse Jackson's various scams and corruptions, including his long history of corporate shakedowns, using threats of racial strife to line his pockets and those of his relatives and friends. Given that Sharpton and Jackson have never used their bully pulpits to rally the masses against the sea of degrading and violent rap and hip-hop messages in the music industry aimed at youth, their condemnation of Imus' ill-conceived remark seems both out of proportion and hypocritical. Who would look at these ambulance chasers as moral exemplars anyway? Imus' insult to the Rutgers women's basketball team had no personal effect on any of the players, and it brought a lot of publicity to the school. On the other hand, the constant dribble of filthy language, sex, drugs, and violence by hip-hop recording "artists" and producers has besmirched and infected U.S. culture for decades, deadening the souls and warping the minds of innocent children who are constantly exposed to it. The primitive and degrading language and ideas that form the backbone of hip-hop culture does not help to advance blacks in America, but rather makes it more difficult. It has, sadly, permeated other cultural venues such as movies and TV, as well as corporate advertising, where companies like Daimler-Chrysler and Pepsico have contracted vulgar rap musicians just to sell their products in certain segments. It has even enabled aging shock jocks like Don Imus, by providing him with ready-made, automatic characterizations of black women as "nappy-headed hos," and his cynical impulse to repeat them, given the unfortunate absence of societal norms and mores that previously would find this language unacceptable in any public forum. The rats are already fleeing Imus' leaky vessel — advertisers have canceled, MSNBC has dropped his show completely, and CBS Radio is taking a long, hard look after a two-week suspension. How many of his liberal "friends" will rally to save his job, now that he has broken their taboo once too often?
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