Thursday, April 12, 2007

"The Fall of Imus"

I haven't checked out the other Blogs lately, but I just heard that CBS fired Don Imus.

Now, I heard the comments that he made last week that lead to this decision, and I can honestly say that I have mixed feelings about it.

I'm a member of various "Left-Wing" groups on the Internets (which are like a series of tubes, by the way), and I got so many requests to sign petitions and speak out on the subject, but I declined them all.

Did he deserve to get fired? Yeah. But I would posit the idea that you should be fired for not being funny or entertaining on a "Fun and Entertaining look at the news"-themed radio show, which Imus has hosted for many moons, and was rarely funny or entertaining.

It was like The Daily Show to me, except without the intelligence, wit or good writers... you know, like The O'Reilly Factor; a spectacle or dull-witted, flailing stupidity by a man with less talent than a pile of toenail clippings.

"Those are some nappy-headed Ho's..." was the quote that brought this man low.

Is that all it takes?

So what about all the Conservative talk-show hosts who say some of the most denigrating comments about Gays, Women, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Muslims in General and Arabs? Sure, Imus made two out of three, but what about the other guys?

I think that Imus was stupid when it came to apologizing for what he said... and do you know why?

All the other guys that say that kind of shit on a regular basis all jump on the Constitution like a Frat boy on his roommates naked ass when he's passed out from drinking Jager Bombs to defend their position on the controversy that attracted the attention of people that never listen to them.

I'm not apologizing for Imus, I think he's been a talentless hack for years now, but there are much bigger targets out there. Like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Shaun Hannity and Glenn Beck... where's the indignant cries for justice when these guys let fly with the verbal diarhea, huh?!

And anyone that's even thinking about quoting "Free Speech" to me is gonna get a digital foot up their ass... where were people like that when Lenny Bruce had trumped up charges of "Profanity" or "Public Indecency" lobbed at him over and over in the 60's?!

Here's the thing... if you want to say whatever stupid, ignorant crap floats around in your head, and it doesn't have a meaningful or benevolent purpose? Prepare to pay for it with your job.

If you were caught saying something like what Imus said at any other job in this country, you'd have been shit-canned so fast that you'd think you were yanked outside by the very sidewalk.

So keep your "Free Speech" platitudes for someone who cares... the rest of us live in the real world, and we know that we'll be held accountable for what we do.

You know, this reminds me of what a friend's Dad told me a long time ago, "Whenever you speak, no matter where you are, treat it like you're performing in front of a crowd, and you'll be good for the rest of your life."

Good advice, and maybe when Imus gets hired by another media conglomerate, he'll keep this one fact in mind: PEOPLE ARE LISTENING, JACKASS!