Thursday, April 12, 2007

Give me a break!!


This man is an idiot. But did he deserve all he the trouble he has come in to...no!!! What in the world happened to free speech. The man said something that was awful and should have been punished. But to fire the man for a radio show that has had much worse come out of it is not right. Here is the story http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_ylt=ApBjultA1lGrUiLOyI5Ufco5nYcB?slug=ap-imusprotests&prov=ap&type=lgns if you want the full scope.
I may have a different perspective on this because I have seen racisim...ON BOTH SIDES. I grew up in Florida and played on a football team where I was called "cracker" by the team I was on and "n*#*@ lover" by the teams we played against. I have used awful words to describe people of color that I am not proud of. I am definitely not saying he should be completely let off the hook for what he said. But the punishment for this is worse than when he goes off about everything else.
To live in a culture where it is great to call out "upright, narrow minded christians" and be forced into rehab for calling someone a "fag" is not a place I want to be. Sure it is wrong to say "faggot" to refer to a homosexual or "n###" to refer to a person of color. And our country will make sure that is dealt with, but what about people that make fun of other areas. What about the use of the word "cracker". If that were as bad we'd be arresting Chris Rock as we speak. Or what about rap videos that call black women much worse than "nappy headed ho's". What about people calling out the president as an idiot, or racist man?
Is it just me or is anyone else tired of all the political correctness??

11 comments:

Roxy Wishum said...

Even beyond the political correctness issue is the absurd idea that has been accepted by most of our society that "mob rule acceptance" can redefine words. The very idea that major news outlets will carry vile, obscene comments toward Don Imus by "Snoop Dog" (whose name is a result of a long degrading thought process concerning sexual promiscuity) is very sad. Let me be clear; I think Don Imus is a trashy shock jock and I do not feel sorry for him at all. But for all the talking heads that pretend to be neutral to cast stones at him and allow hip-hop "artists" and "comedians" to slide is blatant hyprocrisy--and Al Sharpton is their king. Montgomery has invited Ludacris (again think about the etymology of the name) to our "family-friendly downtown street party". Just Google his name and check the lyrics to the song "Ho". Most of the vile is like this line; "but hos don't feel so sad and blue, cuz most of us niggaz is hos too." But Snoop explained that it is different because he has "experienced it and it comes from his heart". Yeah, Snoop that makes the words mean something entirely different. And your legal problems are just because the man is trying to keep you down. Pass it on.

Luke Dockery said...

It’s amazing that our society as a whole can forgive almost anything that a person can DO (think of Marv Albert, Bill Clinton, Hurricane Carter and tons of others), but not what a person can SAY (like Imus, the Kramer guy from Seinfeld, or Mel Gibson).

Whatever happened to "actions speak louder than words?"

Kat Simpson said...

Preach it, Son and well said, Roxy. Sharpton has already said publically that this is 'just the beginning'. Can you say "Lynch mob mentality"? and why, son, can you type the word faggot but not nigger? Love, Mom

Kat Simpson said...

Oh, and son, if you are looking for a Mother's Day gift - look here:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q='nappy-headed+ho%22+t-shirt&hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

I want the green T-shirt as my protest for free speech. Kat

Kenny Simpson said...

Roxy: Good points. Of course I agree.

Mom: I guess I feel one word is a little worse than the other?

Luke: Another good point.

Kat Simpson said...

careful, son. . . . a derogatory word is a derogatory word . . . slippery slope, eh?

Mom

Kat Simpson said...

interesting turn of events:

After Imus, DeLay Calls for Rosie to Be Fired
Wants Conservatives to Lead Anti-O'Donnell Push
AOL

She criticized and ridiculed Chinese-Americans, she accused the president of being responsible for 9/11. Let's now start calling for her resignation

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/after-imus-delay-calls-for-rosie-to-be/20070413103809990001

THE MOM

Lerra said...

Kenny's mom: you're crackin' me up. Love the t-shirt gift idea. :-)

Unknown said...

Everyone is too scared to call blacks on offensive language because they don't want to be tagged as a racist or biggot. Get over it already.. You, you being sharpton, can't argue this violates law. We have the first ammendment to say what we want. Now if you want to look at it as a violation of corporate policy then yes he violated it and should pay the price - fired, perhaps not, suspension sure.

Anonymous said...

I used to listen to Imus regularly when he was on here in Little Rock (1995 until maybe 99 or so). I liked the show quite a bit - lots of good guests, often political figures and authors.

However, they crossed lines on a regular basis. They were equal opportunity offenders. Nobody was spared. They did tons of Clinton material during that time, as I'm sure they've done a lot of Bush stuff more recently. And, they regularly had "Al Sharpton" on - or rather their resident impressionist saying all sorts of outrageous things in Sharpton's voice.

This is not really an isolated, slip-of-the-tongue incident. He probably could have been fired many times in the past. I've heard some compare him to Bob Knight. It took a particular incident to be the final straw, but it was something that could have been done many times before. Since their targets are normally professionals of some type (politicians, entertainers, pro athletes), they've gotten away with it most of the time. Targeting college girls, and minority girls on top of that, may have been what fueled this current fire.

I won't defend what Imus said - it was stupid, offensive and not funny. But I also don't like the "we'll litter in our neighborhood, but you'd better not" attitude of certain black leaders, who seem to ignore those already mentioned (rappers, comedians) who use the same language. It's all bad, and should be condemned no matter who says it.

These people have the right to say such things in this country. Imus can say what he said, Snoop & Co. can say what they say, etc. But there may be ramifications to doing so. MSNBC & CBS had every right to dismiss Imus if they so wished, and of course they did.

I think Sharpton is somewhat of a joke, but I'm not sure he's significantly different from most leaders/politcian type folks. They generally take a stand where it benefits them the most. (I'll be anxious to hear Sharptons apology to the Duke Lax players for his condemnation of them, which I can only assume is forthcoming.) And like most of these type folks, he does some good, but too often he just comes off looking a lot like the people he's condemning.

I guess I'm not easily offended, so I don't fully understand how such things are so hurtful to the targets. And, even more so, I'm not a minority, so I can't begin to understand the lives that they live in a predominately white society. Perhaps I'm too cynical in questioning the sincerity of some involved (Sharpton, Rutgers coach) and whether they're really as offended as they appear or if they're just using this for their own gain. But regardless, I want to be wary of my own speech, and take into account what might be offensive to others, even if it may not seem that way to me. Hopefully, that's something everyone can consider when such events occur.

Kenny Simpson said...

Greg: Good comments. I agree with most of them. I think most that have commented share some of the same feelings. Imus always does this...why now does it seem so bad?