Who Will Forgive Imus?

Why is this national news?! Why are politicians like Obama “supposed” to issue statements, addressing it (or more accurately, pressured to condemn it and call for the firing of Imus- who I could care less about)? Why?!

Why are members of the Rutger basketball teams making ridiculous comments like “This has scarred me for life”? Good grief and for goodness sakes! Grow some thicker skin!!!

I thought John McWhorter’s comments on last night’s Dennis Miller Show was pretty astute:

McW: “It was a very tacky thing to say; but the idea that somehow this was a major event in the progress of American society is absolutely ridiculous. I, as a black person, really don’t care what that man said on his radio show for a few seconds, sometime; and the reason I don’t care is because I like myself and he can’t hurt my feelings and I’m busy; and as far as I’m concerned that’s how any black person should feel; and any black person who doesn’t feel that way, frankly, should…and there are so many real problems in the black community, that for the big deal- for the big news cycle- to be some colorful thing that some radio host- even a popular radio host- said, shows that people are more interested in a show than in doing hard work.

DM: Yeah, you know John, my only feeling on this is, that I’m a believer that the law of turns in history are long runs for people brought into this country as slaves I do think it’s a…I don’t think it’s a forever turn, but I think it’s a pretty long turn and I think one of the things that might be the hardest to master is a certain insouciance about something that stupid; do you concur with that, that there might be members of the community that are just still gob-smacked that somebody could utter something that primitive?

McW: That is a very good way of putting it. What people don’t realize is that there are different ways of having dignity. And say 40 years ago, there was something very dignified about standing down the kinds of people who would say or do really tacky things; and when you did that, what you were doing was standing down 350 years of bs. But now that it’s a completely different place, now that anything anybody says or along the lines of what Imus now kind of said as a joke- you’re almost basically making fun of the idea that anybody would actually say it by saying it- now that we’ve gotten to that point, dignity is being able to take a joke; it’s being able to be yourself whether or not something somebody said was…offensive or whether it was the best way that they could have put it, because: Life is never perfect! Basically, I have been saying that we see one of these things lately- especially with YouTube…and broadband…

DM: Yes, monthly!

McW: and it never changes; it’s not as if all the noise we’re gonna make now is going to stop somebody six weeks from now from saying something else that’s a little bit tacky, and then we’re just going to do the same thing. I think it’s time to get over the fact that life isn’t perfect.

DM: Yes, I look sometimes at the feminist movement and I see these women who are still, like, living in a Virginia Slims magazine ad from Look Magazine or something and I want to say, “You know, the next step here, honey, is the reaqcuisition of the humor gene”, and I really think that, uh, if the black community now wants to have this quintessential revenge on somebody like Don Imus, that if you want to think about it that hard, I would recommend a “big-yawn-I’m-so-bored-with-guys-like-you-excuse-me-if-I-don’t-care”.

McW: That is exactly it. It’s interesting- if I had a daughter- you know it’s not only a black thing; there’s also a feminist insult involved in “nappy-headed hos”- if I had a daughter who’s playing on a basketball team….in a way, I would almost want her to confront the fact that there are always going to be people saying things like that, on the radio or in real life. Because it would show her that, “Yeah, somebody’s going to say something like that; and the world will keep spinning, and you are the same person that you are; and that there are real problems in your life and the world that deserves your attention, other than the way somebody put something for a few seconds, sometime.

Sticks and stones….