This is a seminal moment in our country's history. Regardless of the motives of CBS and MSNBC for firing Don Imus in the wake of this scandal, it still gives pause to those who think it is okay to spew hate from their mouths.
For too long people in the broadcasting industry have been too willing to turn a deaf ear to the racist and sexist trash that have come out of the mouths of the likes of Imus and other shock jocks. Then when they go "over the top", they apologize and go right back to doing what they do. Imus had been doing that for over 30 years. The fact that he was paid $10 million to do that is institutionalized racism, pure and simple.
People who are up in arms about his firing are talking about his right to free speech. He absolutely has a right to free speech, but he DOES NOT have a right to a talk show, and CBS and MSNBC also have the right to fire someone they feel will not be profitable--apparently when Proctor and Gamble and Staples pulled out, the networks pulled the rug out from Don Imus. I am not so naive to think it was just because of his words, because if it were, they would have canned him immediately. I do believe there was a profit motive. But it was all connected, and finally people, and companies are beginning to see that they do not want to be associated with someone who makes his living by spewing hate.
There was another very interesting thing that I really didn't notice until it was pointed out to me. I read about it on Jon Landau's blog published in the Huffington Post:
"For some reason, people who make no secret of the fact that they despise Al Sharpton feel that they are doing something meaningful by engaging with him at times of crisis on racial issues. In going to him, they are seeking out someone who they think is disliked by large portions of the white audience, which they think puts them at an advantage. In the long run it doesn't. But instead of this knee jerk move, how about for once agreeing to talk to a professional news person like Tavis Smiley, an exceptional broadcaster, Errol Lewis of the New York Daily News, a terrific writer and broadcaster, the under appreciated Bob Herbert of the New York Times, or for that matter, Clarence Page, who challenged Imus on race many years ago, and was never heard from again on his airwaves. (Tom Oliphant, perhaps Mr. Page was more deserving of your solidarity than Imus is.) The assumption that the only place one has to go to make "media peace" is with Sharpton is in its own way subtly racist. And the MSM (mainstream media) encourages it."
I find this to be the case in every racial issue that comes up. When Michael Richards said the "n-word", he immediately went on to Al Sharpton's show. Why not discuss it with Tavis Smiley? Finally, yesterday on "The Today Show", Tavis Smiley, Clarence Page and several other African-American spokespeople who are not considered as "controversial" were guests on the show and spoke about the Imus issue in ways that made sense and would be extremely difficult to argue against. I wonder if that is why the MSM does not encourage racial offenders to go head to head with people like Tavis Smiley and Clarence Page?
What happened is even though Don Imus was the one who made the offensive and racist comment, it got turned around and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson became the targets. Everywhere I turn I see comments about Al Sharpton's and Jesse Jackson's history. This is NOT about Sharpton and Jackson!!!! So if they hate Sharpton and Jackson so much, then why do they engage with them about racial issues? Go to African-American broadcasters they respect! But they won't do it because the mainstream media itself is playing the "race card".
I really hope this begins a dialogue on what is and is not acceptable on the airwaves. There is no room for hate speech in this country. And I'm all for getting rid of rap music that denigrates women and using the n-word too. It's all bad. It's a new day.
