Imus

It amazes me that in this age of pusillanimous boardrooms, democrats, media whores, demagogues, poverty pimps, and lawyers, a high-profile white male has the sauce to mention anyone in the hyphenated community in terms less than reverent.

But thats what Imus did a couple days ago, and after a good ferment we have a full-baked media frenzy with Katie Couric dishing the story at the top of her broadcast. This little drama replays itself regularly yet such is the hubris of so many media personalities, that they fancy themselves as immune to their own sting as does the scorpion.

Forgive me a little schadenfreude at the expense of Imus, as I have a larger point to make. I'm perfectly certain DI believes himself to be an enlightened, unprejudiced, totally hip dude. It is that conceit which gives him license to speak of his brothers and sisters with a familiarity that lesser white-folk cannot. In his chain of consciousness musings the phrase 'tattooed nappy headed 'hos' no doubt struck him as humorous, and naturally his discerning audience should benefit thus.

In the split second those cogitations took place poor old Don Imus had swapped a microphone for his foot, and the drama begins anew.

Enter the cameras with 'ol Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, in hot pursuit to torment our hapless DJ with liberal doses of hypocritical invective, whilst the I-man performs the requisite mea-culpas and grovelings. Then corporate enters stage right to administer justice; two weeks, no face time. Howls of indignation, wringing of hands, gnashing of teeth... its all in the script. My wife said the only thing missing was Imus entering rehab. Don't speak too soon Mrs. Gnarly.

My opinion is, that society has progressed far enough on the racial front, that these little real-life melodramas are fast becoming anachronistic, they only resonate now because the left has a vested interest in keeping racial wounds open as a means of preserving power, and it is the left which still controls what by-in-large is being said in the media.

People should be free to think and say what they want in this country no matter how stupid, insensitive, or controversial, without cultural inquisitors and the mind police descending on them en masse facilitated by media nabobs. It is for the audience to decide who or what they will listen to. Thats not to say that employers don't have a right to control their content, or discipline staff for policy infractions, but the self-regulating marvel of capitalism, means good businessmen are mindful of their customers first.