Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (1950)	4/12/2007 12:54:13 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 149317

Here's a new Alec Baldwin column and some Huff post reader comments: huffingtonpost.com What Imus Really Did Wrong By Alec Baldwin 04.12.2007 I'm sorry to hear that Don Imus is being drummed off the air. I think that what he said was dull and insensitive, but he should not have lost his job. I was on Conan O'Brien once and we did a sketch that was a rant against conservatives out to get Clinton during his impeachment. I said that Henry Hyde should be stoned to death for his role in the impeachment. It was a joke. I had never advocated any such thing before that or since. But right-wing talk-radio types went to town. Larry Elder. Hannity. All of those geniuses. They really poured it on. Even that free-thinker and Democratic insider Jack Valenti chimed in to condemn me. I sent a letter of apology to Hyde. Told him that if the joke was in poor taste, I was sorry. But no actual harm was meant. I never heard back from him. I read people on the internet who seriously called me to task for that perceived threat to a member of Congress for years to come. Imus is an entertainer. He is not Tim Russert. In order to appeal to a crowd that is a notch or two above Hannity's, however, he must combine a bit of Russert to his persona. He must walk a line between informed, reliable broadcaster and witty madman. Jon Stewart walks that line effectively, or one similar to it. Letterman walks it better than anyone. Intelligent, yet free. Sometimes even loopy, but always in a controlled way. Imus said something that sounded racist without really being a racist. His only crime was that he didn't walk that line very carefully. And that's his job. Don't fire Imus because he's racially insensitive. His employers should have let his audience decide that. But, perhaps, fire him because his talent is diminishing. Imus was once one of the smartest guys in radio. Maybe he's just another radio host now. Like when the Jayson Blair scandal made people realize that the New York Times had, basically, become just another newspaper. Imus isn't a bad guy. He's just not the old Imus anymore. He's no longer that guy who always keeps that line in the corner of his eye. _________________________________________________ Imus and Dubya share a common disability. They both surround themselves with a posse of "yes-men" who tell them how great they are. This echo chamber separates them from the real world, prohibits honest feedback, and causes them both to grow in arrogance. No wonder Imus can't tell where the line is anymore. (Bush can't either) ________________________________________________ As Olbermann pointed out yesterday on the radio show he does with Dan Patrick, your freedom of speech cannot be limited by the government. That's what the Constitution covers, the government. Imus can say any damn fool thing he likes and the government can't do anything about it. His employer, on the other hand, absolutely can set restrictions on what Don Imus can and can't say on the airwaves where he is not only representing himself but also the organization he works for. If his employers feel that they've had enough with his racist, sexist, homophobic comments, that they're tired of the lessons that don't stick, the PR hassles, that they don't want the public to get the impression that they condone such language, that's absolutely their right. ___________________________________________________ "Rush Limbaugh called Barack Obama a "halfrican american". Why isn't he fired? What about Michael Savage who on a daily basis refers to illegal imigrants as "vermin of the earth" and makes anti-gay slurs on the hour?" ---------- As Olbermann pointed out with Dan Patrick, people like this work for right-wing media outlets, where such language is more tolerated, where the audience expects and wants such language. Imus was canceled by MSNBC, which tries to position itself as a more mainstream, middle-of-the-road, objective news outlet. Limbaugh and Savage wouldn't be allowed on MSNBC either. ___________________________________________________ Imus didn't make a mistake. He and his staff and his show have exhibited a pattern of bigoted behavior over many years and it finally caught up with him. Are there others who should also go? Sure, but that doesn't mean Imus didn't dig his own grave with over a decade of hateful speech. Imus also hasn't been fired yet. He's still just on suspension with his primary sources of income, the FAN and CBS Radio. MSNBC just canceled a show they were simulcasting. But Imus gets paid to generate ad revenues for these people. Dozens of sponsors have canceled their spots. I don't see how depriving his employers of that ad revenue doesn't justify terminating his contract, beyond the issue of whether or not a broadcaster wishes to take a chance that this time, after all these times, Imus will really clean it up. He never has before. And, yes, "nappy-headed ho" is racist.