Imus, Public Enemy #1!
Ok, ok, so Imus said something insensitive. So, what’s new? Isn’t that part of his schtick? I really don’t get what all the uproar is about, personally.
He used the term “nappy-headed ho’s” when talking about the Rutgers women’s basketball team the other day, and at this point you’d think he’d lined them all up and raped them one by one or something. Honestly, what’s the big deal, here?
If this had been an out-of-the-blue statement I could understand all the outrage, but come on, folks, tell me you’ve not heard the same terms spoken by myriads of actors/comics/rappers many, many times before. Go ahead, lie to me. You can’t watch a TV show, movie, comedy routine, or listen to what passes for music these days without hearing those terms applied to blacks, whites, chicanos, orientals, you name it. It’s part of the new generation’s lexicon, every day terms used as easily as dude, chick, wasted, thrashed, and bro. So, why can everyone in the world use these terms but Imus?
Let me make one thing clear, here. I can’t stand the term “ho” used in place of girls, women, girlfriend, best friend, or whatever. I think it’s demeaning to women and I wish it had never been made part of the language, but it has, and you hear people of every age, every color, every race, and socio-economic background using the term every day, which is why I’m mystified as to why having Imus say it is somehow so horribly wrong. Women today are ho’s, like it or not, and they call each other that. I have a feeling the ladies on the Rutgers team have been heard uttering the words to and about each other and/or their friends before, too. It’s just part of the language now, especially among the younger set.
As for “nappy-headed”, heck, I say that about myself, my children, and my grandkids all the time. It’s simply used nowadays to refer to messy hair, whether attributable to “bedhead”, failure to brush your hair, or being caught in heavy winds. Again, you hear it everywhere, as in “Get your nappy-headed a** out of bed!” being used on a TV show or a movie, or “I’m gonna knock your nappy-headed self clear into next week!” on the same things. It’s used all the time, with no uproar being made about it whatsoever.
Look, when you have Rush Limbaugh making the comments he constantly makes about people of color, i.e.: Obama being a “half-rican American”, or mocking the way famous African-Americans such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and others speak, how on earth can these people be making such a fuss over Imus trying to be funny and cool at the same time? I mean, Dimbulb does it to mock and ridicule African-Americans he disagrees with politically, yet there are no calls for him to be fired. Imus tried to make a joke in the style people he considers hip which was totally inappropriate and they want nothing less than his head on a platter. Why? What’s the difference? Why is Imus’ stupid bad joke so much worse than Dimbulbs deliberately racist digs at his opponents?
I know there will be people who think I’m being racist and insensitive, but let me assure you that’s not the case. I, too, think what he said was wrong, and he needed to apologize to these women, which he did. I do not, however, think that it rises to the level of costing him his career and ending his ability to do all the good, decent things he does with the proceeds of his show, most of which actually help the very people he is being castigated by for his mental fart. And I certainly don’t think his slip anywhere equals the vile, racist, and intentionally insulting diatribes Rush Limbaugh spews out on a daily basis on his show, with no reprisals whatsoever. Where’s the equity there, folks?
