because i cant not...

Weigh in on the imus chozerai.

first of all, in today's times, harvey fierstein, in a great op-ed about the totality of of this country's prejudice, makes a great (im pressed for adjectives) pt for which i can actually reference an earlier post of mine (YES!); namely, "if a Pentagon general [peter pace], his salary paid with my tax dollars, can label homosexual acts as 'immoral' without a call for his dismissal, who are the moral high and mighty kidding?"

indeed, as a country, proven by the imus ordeal, we have displayed a disturbing penchant for misprioritizing who we call out and who we dont. for most intents and purposes (btw, i think that's how that expression should be worded, with 'most' instead of 'all,' because 'most' is usually more accurate), imus is a pion compared to the highest ranking official in the military, whose salary, like fierstein says, is paid for by everyone's taxes. fierstein, a gay man, has to foot pace's bill by law. no one is forced to chip in for imus.

along those lines of misprioritization, jason whitlock -- a black man who's one of my favorite sportswriters and is an always good go-to for insights on race and culture -- makes excellent (if not original) pts in his imus column (im actually just copying most of the piece, since i think it's the most articulate, smartly-written one ive read on the subject so far--maybe cuz i agree with it, but so what? it's my blog!):

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

...Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

...I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

i couldnt agree more.

here's my bottom line: im not saying imus should not have been canned. he's a hateable SOB who seemed to regard having a morning radio show as a right, not a privilege, and he's legitimately crossed the line too many times for anyone to wholeheartedly defend him as an individual who should be allowed to keep his job.

but the firestorm that has erupted over this? when there are so many other race issues of much more significance--many of which fed imus? it's INSANE. it's misplaced. it's disingenuous.

if this incident becomes a launching pad for real race discussions and in turn, more mutual understanding and tolerance, then the firestorm will have been worth it.

if not, it will only serve to burn away the sanctimonious facade of our society, revealing a hypocritical core.

or, as fierstein deftly puts it: America, I tell you that it doesn’t matter how many times you brush your teeth. If your insides are rotting your breath will stink.

btw, obv i cant resist: look to the cookie.