You know, Mark, that the left is going to use this as ammo for their attempt to get the "Fairness" Doctrine enacted again. They want to squelch conservative talk radio, and they'll use Imus, hardly a conservative, to add fuel to the fire.

Anyone who ascribes to Jackson's and Sharpton's bull is a fool. These two poverty pimps are in it for the money...

Mark I must disagree.
We VN Vets were spit on by hippie COWARDS, called murderers, baby killers, and maurding outlaws reminicient of ghengus kahn and what???????
CRICKETS chirping = tough S#!T.NO ONE CARED!
So we moved on and none of us is the worse off from the lies and name calling.

OHHHHH
but now, attack a SPECIALLY PROTECTED group and BAM youre fired, maligned, castrated and thrown on to the rock pile of history because .........AL sharpton or Je$$e J was offended. Because the best these women's appearance could be described is as nappy headed HO's.
This is sooooo terrible, NO- rude, but not earthshakingly bad.
We are doomed either to have a repeat performance of the civil war or just collapse within because we are so soft even the slightst "insult" is to be considered a TRAGEDY.

PS

If you are a republican or the President, then your Hitler, a killer a terrorist or the devil, so get over it.

I agree Keefer, the "fairness Doctrine" will come back again thanks to this. Though it never really went away they've just been trying to figure out how to slip it in while no one is looking. :(

Gozer, we on the right are always being accused of wanting to suppress free speech, when the opposite is true. McCain/Feingold was just the beginning, and it's going to get worse. The only way the left can win in the arena of ideas is to eliminate the other side's ideas...

A flippant comment, to be sure.

But to have to pay a lifetime for it?

Meanwhile, OJ is still playing golf.

Anyone who ascribes to Jackson's and Sharpton's bull is a fool. These two poverty pimps are in it for the money...

I actually believe they (at least Jackson, anyways) are doing it because they think it's the right thing to do. I just think that their actions are completely antiproductive. They alienate anybody not firmly on their side, plus they end up perpetuating the victim mindset and thus end up working against the racial equality that they want.

Mark: Apologizing sometimes isn't enough. In this case, I think the reaction was way overblown (thanks to blustery Sharpton + friends), but hey: "Shock jock says something offensive and gets canned." Not really that big a deal. I wish Sharpton + friends would take a broader view of things, though. Will the Imus Ranch be able to keep running with Imus not on the air? Maybe getting the guy fired for saying a stupid thing is fair game, but it maybe the kids with cancer with see it differently...

I think that Sharpton took the nappy headed comment personally as he possesses some of the nappiest hair Ive ever seen.

rng,

Well, the amount of filth pouring from radio, TV, movies and music these days puts Imus' transgression on the preschool level...and, of course, everyone who is guilty of rudeness and bad behaviour should apologise...but we'd have to listen for a year or two just to get the apology from the rap music business.

I don't know Imus from a hole in the ground...as I said, I was aware he was a radio host, and I had listened to him very briefly ages ago, but I'm entirely unconcerned with his show...off the air or on the air it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference in my life...but what does make a difference in my life is the amount of mercilessness in our society, and I'd like to see that curbed.

The man said a stupid statement, and unless all those complaining are certain they've never said anything stupid, then they should just accept this man's apology and get over it.

Well, looks like the markets took care of this one. When Sharpton complained to MSNBC and CBS, the advertisers got nervous and started pulling out, and poof- Imus was gone. To be honest, I never thought his shock jock show was appropriate for TV, but he seemed to be an equal opportunity blowhard.

Mark, this is wonderful! You are finally rejoining the human race. Being merciless to people is wrong, especially for a Christian. It is nice to see that you do not fault Imus for being a Liberal, and are willing to see that EVERYONE is entitled to their opinion. Imus said something stupid, but he should be forgiven for it. Much, much worse things have been said in rap music against blacks BY blacks. Imus didn't "cap someone" with his "nine" because he didn't like them. He just made a stupid comment and should be given a second chance. It is wonderful to see that you are willing to defend a more "Liberal" person for his errors as well as Conservatives. Party affiliations should not matter on this one. There is hope for you yet, Mark...

How about a little perspective on this. I wont forgive Imus because I dont need to forgive him, in fact I dont think the basketball team needs to forgive him either, same for Sharpton or Jackson or any black American.

Are those girls lives so shallow, so devoid of self-respect and esteem that they would let one bigot's words affect them so severely? If so then they are not ready for the real world because disrespect is everywhere.

Imus was just one guy, one person who most people have never heard of; to let his words depress them signals a real need on their part to get a life. Forgiveness gives Imus's words more respect than they are worth.

This whole thing strikes me as more evidence of the "whine-ification" of our culture: we have our eyes peeled for any offense which might be given, and when we find it, we fly into hysterics ... "How dare so & so give offense to me!!!!"

What (pray tell) if the reactions of the Rutgers team had been ...

"Imus doesn't know any of us; he's never spoken to us, we've never spoken to him - we barely knew who in the h*** he was prior to him spouting off."

"What he said was both stupid and untrue. We know who we are; we know what we've accomplished; we know our family, friends and acquaintances know better than to believe Imus's idiotic statement. All Imus has done is show how ignorant he is. That's his cross to bear, not ours."

"As far as being 'offended' is concerned, we choose not to take offense - Imus isn't worth it."

I know, it's a pipe dream - but if it became our national norm, grievance-mongers like Sharpton, Jackson, CAIR, et al. would be out of business.

FmrMarine,

As well as someone who was 10 when Vietnam ended can, I understand what you are saying...and that was just another example of the mercilessness which has come to pervade our society. Perhaps there was a legitimate point to demanding an American withdrawal from Vietnam - but holding that position didn't require the extra step of slandering and insulting the men who served there...that poison you experienced is still working its way through our body politic, the latest victim just happens to be Imus.

I'm just not going to play that game any more - I'm going to fight stoutly for what I believe, but I will not answer hate for hate; I forgive them all.

Robert,

There is hope for us all - God's mercy is infinite, after all.

I've been turning over a lot of new leaves lately...but, just as an aside, I'm tending to even stronger conservatism on the social issues side as I walk further down the road of a Christian.

As a Christian, I believe in forgiveness (we ALL need forgiveness). As an American, I believe in free speech. Imus said a horrible thing. He asked for forgiveness. Imus should be forgiven.

Paraphrased, "I may virulently disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Don't Americans believe in this anymore? Where are the free speech hawks out there??

A really good article about all this;

Time for Jackson and Sharpton to Step Down by Jason Whitlock

Don't Americans believe in this anymore? Where are the free speech hawks out there??

Not on the left...

Hey keefer,

Now that was funny--"poverty pimps"! They never met a race issue they didn't want to exploit and make money off of. It's what they do best-along with extorting monies from corporations with a little of the race issue as blackmail. good one keefer and so very true. These hustlers are all of a sudden the "moral authority"...God help us all.

Lew, how right you were. That was a great article
by Jason Whitlock-he tells it like it really is.
Of course we know what happened to Bill Cosby, when he tried to 'tell it like it is'. In this case, I think this article was spot on-Perfect.
thanks for the recommendation-everyone should go to the site to read it. Jo