Imus's Sin? Bad Joke, Wrong Target

[IronScorpio5]

snip

That is, until nappy-headed ho becomes mainstream slang like "pimp" and "bitch." (Why, why, why didn't he just call those girls bitches? We could have avoided this whole mess.)

There's a good lesson in all of this for many in white America who were unaware: Nappy hair is a racial slur. It's sort of like calling an Arab a rag-head. Except that rag-head is a racial slur that won't get you fired, primarily because Arab Americans don't have a powerful, well-funded special interest group like Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition, which regularly pressures and threatens corporate America. Nor are there any high-profile Arab Americans with radio shows to promote like Al Sharpton. (Who doubts that the reverend bought himself 30 more days with advertisers for his unknown radio program after the high-profile media dustup?)

But really, this feigned outrage by powerful men who flinch at the dishonor brought upon innocent women is repugnant. It's all the more repugnant that the head of MSNBC, who for days on end saw fit to glorify Anna Nicole, the biggest nappy-headed ho of them all, fired one of his employees over observing, tongue-in-cheek, that girls with tattoos might be a little loose.

Malcolm X would be proud, wouldn't he? No matter that Sharpton and Jackson picked the wrong fight by pressuring corporate advertisers to drop an old coot who stopped being influential years ago rather than pressuring corporate advertisers (such as Chrysler) to drop misogynistic rappers who affect young men's perceptions of women.

Perhaps that's because Sharpton and Jackson are running out of fights to pick. After all, at the heart of this discussion is a group of college-educated African American women. A valedictorian. A musical prodigy. A budding young lawyer.

Fight the power? Honey, those women are the power.


(read the whole article....http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301856.html)

[Bluebear]

1. Sharpton really gets in your craw, yes? nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. Republican strategist. Why does this not surprise me? nt

[Bucky]

3. I think too many people are paid to write for a living

The desparation to have something original to say must be pretty dire around the WaPo. Wouldn't this writer do better by leaving the office and finding something importnat to talk about instead of, say, writing about how there is something more important to talk about, but still managing to make it all about Imus and Sharpton?

[NYCGirl]

4. Wow, the Republican strategist who wrote this really hates Jackson and Sharpton.

"Karen Hanretty is a Republican strategist and former communications director for the California Republican Party."

[orpupilofnature57]

5. MSM, Misanthrope -Stir it up- Media , what do you expect?

I'm an ass represents friendly fascism so fuckum.

[Buzz Clik]

6. Imus's sin? Being a consistent racist pile of shit and never learning to STFU.

Has he learned yet? I doubt it.

[Forkboy]

7. Some people are as obvious as a rhino on fire.

[Cha]

14. Or an Elephant taking

a shit.

[orpupilofnature57]

8. Whifffff Whiff,,, do you smell something?

[Bluebear]

15. For days now. nt

[omega minimo]

32. Hold the anchovies

"the head of MSNBC, who for days on end saw fit to glorify Anna Nicole, the biggest nappy-headed ho of them all, fired one of his employees over observing, tongue-in-cheek, that girls with tattoos might be a little loose."? :wtf:

:puke: i.e "not under the control of men" That was THEIR sin, eh?

[Berry Cool]

9. You forgot to reproduce the most telling part of this column:

It's by Karen Hanretty.

Bottom of the column says:

Karen Hanretty is a Republican strategist and former communications director for the California Republican Party.

Tells us a lot about where she is coming from when she defends Anna Nicole Smith against her abuse at the hands of the media, and implies that if Imus's slur had been against white women or Arab-Americans, we wouldn't have heard a peep.

And brings up the old "what about RAP" crap.

And implies that merely because the Rutgers women are smart, accomplished young women who will have college degrees, that they "ARE 'the power.'" Yeah. Sure they are. Wait until they get out in the world and some of them start facing the prejudice they have to face as black women. And some of them have to face it with tattoos.

We'll see how much power they have over white men then.

[omega minimo]

34. Well put

:applause:

[EST]

10. Forest and trees.

That is not his sin, only the visible evidence of it.
Part of this sin is allowing himself to get so puffed up by the automatic worship of his insightful wit that he could say anything, insult anybody, using the nastiest language he could come up with, and get away with it.

The thing he didn't realize was that people were really sick and tired of his cretinous behavior and no longer was he going to get a pass.
If he were broadcasting only to the "bushies," no doubt he could have skated. That wasn't the case.

The sort of shit he did cannot be allowed to pass because it only encourages other troglodytes to copy him.

[BlueManDude]

11. Republicans love Al Sharpton

his presence allows them to ignore legitimate instances of bigotry and move on to a discussion of his sordid career. This is why his 2004 pres campaign was mostly funded by Republicans.

[orpupilofnature57]

12. Good Point!

[Captain Hilts]

13. BINGO. nt

[riverdeep]

16. This article seems more oppurtunistic then revealing.

Anna Nicole was the biggest nappy headed ho of all time? What does that even mean? Fox news was covering her too, and continued to cover long after everyone else stopped, to avoid the scandals in the white house.

[erpowers]

17. Sharpton and Jackson Did What He Asked

It should be pointed out, once again, that Sharpton and Jackson have gone after the rap industry. However, the media does not seem interested in following Sharpton and Jackson to the meetings in which they push corporate leaders to stop producing rap music that degrades women, especially black women.

In addition, I tend to think girls who go to a top ranked college should not be considered loose just because they have tattoos. Furthermore, even though NBC and other major news organizations spent too much time talking about Anna Nicole Smith I do not think any of them tried to glorify her.

Also, I think this guy failed to remember the people who have seen their careers crash as a result of using the term rag-head or saying Arab people have diapers on their heads. I for one remember the Louisiana Congressman whose career plummetted after he made a comment in which he claimed Arabs have diapers on their heads. Before that comment the Congressman was suspposed to be the leading candidate against Mary Landrieu for her Senate seat. After that comment the Congressman, as far as I know, was barely able to mount a campaign against Landrieu. That comment is part of the reason Landrieu faced Suzy Terrell instead of the Congressman. I am quite certain there have been other people who have either lost their career or had their career damaged as a result of insulting Arabs.

It is amazing that this guy barely took on the issue that really upset black people. I think it is clear that if Imus had only said the girls were nappy headed very few black people, if any, would have called for his firing. The real issue was that nappy headed was followed by hos, which I would think most people would think/know is an insult toward women.

This guy is really a piece of work. I did not think anyone would try to do something like this guy did. I am shocked that someone would say that black people would have been happy if he had just called the girls bitches instead of hos when I think just about everybody in the black community and the world community think the words mean just about the same thing. I think black people would have been angrier if Imus had used the word bitches.

[katsy]

18. I wouldn't abuse by behind by using this article as toilet paper.

And for that matter, who the fugg is this calling Anna Nicole Smith a nappy headed ho?

The wapo and all the rw rags, pundits and elected officials are the whores that plunged this country into despair.

Not Anna Nicole. Not Al Sharpton. Not Jesse Jackson. Not the Rutgers Team. Not the DC Madames. Uh uh. I respect my fellow human beings and have never (EVER) looked upon a woman as a ho. I respect everyone except the corrupt "HOS" that have run this country into the immoral piece of shit it is today. The only hoes in my book are the peddlers of death that live in that white house.

Rappers? Don't make me laugh. Rappers are a reflection of a culture. A symptom. So is mcdonalds, conglomerates and the shit they sell for cereal and gmo food, the "free" market that markets toy guns to our boys and "plastic" dolls to our girls (whom by the way, can never attain those kind of physical characteristics), privateers who want to dismantle the educational system so they can make a buck... understand? You think the fix is censorship? Why censor a diagnoses of the disease that is affecting black and white youth alike? The disease is the kleptocracy we wallow in. A theft of children's dreams of a better future. This government has stolen the hopes and dreams of its people in order to enrich the chosen few.

The monsters who gave us Abu Gharaib, Gitmo and New Orleans, the ones who killed 500K+ Iraqis... now they are hoes. The rest of us are just trying to survive their madness.

[Bluebear]

19. 'Karen Hanretty is a Republican strategist'...why is this being posted here? nt

[IronScorpio5]

20. My apologies...didnt see that....

although she does bring up some interesting points that have been brought up before.

[Bluebear]

23. Brought up before by who, you?

:hi:

[Cha]

30. By

some people. :)

[Bluebear]

35. Yeppers

[pop goes the weasel]

21. what the?

I'd have been just as offended if Imus had gratuitously referred to the Rutgers team as bitches. After all, there was no reason for his attack other than his personal misogyny and racism, and his assumption that his listeners share his small-mindedness. I remember growing up and hearing men make vile comments about women, then attack the women who were offended by such comments by saying that they were humorless. Yeah, I have no sense of humor about verbal attacks disguised as jokes but meant to intimidate. The scoundrels who are defending Imus feel the heat on their heels now. About time.

[marylanddem]

22. It is amazing to me

how much pointless bullshit writing - like Hanratty's piece - the Imus situation inspired. And the explosion of idiotic hot air from the likes of Craig Crawford - who, until now, I thought was intelligent, but now appears to be, like Tom Oliphant, really disappointed that the on-air white boys' clubhouse of the Imus show has closed up shop. Seems to be bringing all kinds of ugly stuff to the surface.

[riverdeep]

25. Saw Craig on Scarborough last night

he's on Keith's show, and I always kind of liked him. Then he called this an over the top witch-hunt. Like there was no merit to this at all.

[Berry Cool]

29. Same here.

I was as disappointed by Craig Crawford's reaction to all this as I was to see David Gregory shuckin' and jivin' to Karl Rove's rap.

I really thought he was better than that. Even if he does sound exactly like Pat Robertson when he talks.

[roguevalley]

24. until white privileged men are attacked in the same way that women,

regardless of color are, no one will get it. I am SICK to HERE with this shit. His crime is that he's a no-talent redneck with a microphone. He says the same thing that limpballs says but I doubt that anyone on this board will mitigate what he says/does. until men can be powerless in the same way that women can be, they won't get it.

[marylanddem]

26. Yes, the Imus Show was a White Boys Journalism Club playhouse

and the fact that the clubhouse has been torn down has shocked them - "but, but, but, he is so GENEROUS, so NICE underneath that
RACIST-SEXIST exterior, and let us feel SO IMPORTANT" - ugh, the underbelly exposed.

[KharmaTrain]

27. How Did Imus Learn This Expression?

He sure used it with "authority"...as if this was something that was common language around the office. Somehow in his scrambled brain, he felt this insult was either "cute" or acceptable...and that he was "hip" by using it. Even worse what when he went on with Sharpton and used the word "jive"...it just wasn't something a 66 year-old white man would usually say and surely wasn't one I heard Imus use regularly in the years I've listened to and watched him.

It's regretable Sharpton and Jackson grabbed the spotlight...almost moving on cue from the corporate networks to be the "official blacks" in deciding if Imus had insulted blacks and if his apologies were sufficient. Stiffled were other black voices that weren't as corporate media saavy...and enabling the media and the right wing to turn Jackson and Sharpton as targets rather than the slander that came out of Imus' piehole...and the overal mean-spirited nature of talk radio today.

[Skidmore]

28. Imus has been making these types of bigoted statements for years;

this was not the first time. It was not a gaffe, but part of a pattern of bigotry for him. Treating it any other way discounts these womens and others he has slandered.

[CatWoman]

31. I suppose there is some sort of point the poster is "trying" to make

tho, it's escaping the shit out of me right now :shrug:

[Rex]

33. Oh please, the idiot opened his mouth and inserted his foot.

And the corporation he was working for fired him! That is IT folks. If I CALLED someone a 'nappy ho' at work, would I be fired? You betcha.

I can't believe this is still news. No wait, I can.