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Imus - a symptom, not the problem
Never mind that both Jackson and Sharpton themselves have spent many a day with their feet planted firmly in their mouths, they demanded - and got - Imus fired from both MSNBC and CBS for remarks he made about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Make no mistake. This is not a defense of Imus. I'm not a fan, and I've never listened to him on the radio. The few times I've stopped on his show's TV simulcast were because of the guests he was interviewing, not because of the host himself. What he said was indefensible. It was, at best, stupid. At worst, it was racist, sexist, vile, repugnant. Pick the adjective; it'll probably fit. But exorcizing Imus from the airwaves does not solve the problem, despite what Jackson, Sharpton, et. al., might tell you. Imus is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem. The term "nappy headed hos," which he called the Rutgers women, was not dreamed up in the head of a sixty-something white man with a radio show. It originated in black culture. Expecting that the firing of Imus miraculously will correct how we treat women in our society is akin to treating a gunshot wound with Bactine and a Band-Aid. It won't begin to address the real problem, which is that, in many parts of our society, women are objectified and viewed only as objects for sex. The Rutgers women say they were hurt by Imus' comments, and I have no doubt that they were. But I suspect at least one of them, if not all, has an iPod loaded with songs whose lyrics routinely depict women as "hos" and men as violent, gun-toting thugs, lyrics that contain language that should be far more objectionable than anything Imus has said. On the day Imus was fired from MSNBC, a colleague and I spent some time searching the Internet for rap and hiphop lyrics. You'll have to go to Google yourself to find them. Nothing that we found can be reproduced in this newspaper. The lyrics were obscene, the characterizations of women insulting and the suggestions of violence toward women unconscionable. No father would want these things said about their teenage daughter. On TV, MTV airs videos full of sex. Comedian Dave Chappelle was paid millions of dollars to produce a sketch-comedy TV show that routinely made racial jokes about both blacks and whites. Chris Rock calls white people "crackers" in his stand-up routine. But are Jesse and Al demanding that young black rappers be fired? Are they picketing outside the music studios that produce their music? Are they demanding that MTV clean up its act and stop showing their misogynistic videos? Piling on Imus for his insensitive remarks, while giving an apparent free pass to the rest of society, seems not only hypocritical but dangerous. We've reached a sad point in our society where civility is dead and people seem to thrive on seeing how mean-spirited they can be. Imus was listened to each morning by millions of people, and they all knew what they were getting when they tuned in. Same with Howard Stern. There's a reason they are called "shock jocks." Likewise, we don't listen to radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh for objective political discussion; we listen to hear him bash Hillary and the liberals. We don't watch "American Idol" to hear the singers; we watch to hear the snide remarks by Simon and the other judges. Shows like these are designed to push the envelope. The hosts have to draw an audience so they come closer and closer to crossing that proverbial line, even as that line seems more difficult to define. Sometimes a host, like Imus, strays far across the line and, for that, he deserves all of the heat that comes his way. But right is right, and wrong is wrong, whether it's uttered by a 66-yearold white radio host or a 22-year-old black rapper. Only when we decide to fight all instances of racist and sexist comments - no matter who says them - will we make real strides toward equality.
Mitch Clarke is executive editor of The Times in Gainesville, Ga., and a native of Blakely. He can be reached at mclarke@ gainesvilletimes.com.
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