Imus, Cherry and living your own life.
So, there's this Don Imus situation. If you've been living under a rock (or maybe if you live somewhere other than the United States and just don't pay the news a whole lot of attention) you know that dude went on his national radio/TV show last week and referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos". He has apparently lost his TV gig over it, at least, and he's been pretty universally slagged for his remarks.
I heard something different about this last night: Stephen Brunt, a (white) Toronto/Hamilton sportswriter whose work I really admire suggested that in his own, clumsy, totally insensitive way, Imus was trying more to make fun of hip-hop culture, and the way it refers to women. Brunt said he thought that Imus might've been aiming at that more than (or instead of) trying to attack people who are black, or women, or both. A black columnist from a Kansas City paper was also part of the discussion, and he agreed saying that while there's no excuse for what Imus said, people shouldn't be surprised by it if they've ever seen a mainstream rap music video.
I'm not someone who has much experience watching or listening to Imus, but I have seen the clip and I could definitely see that as a possibility. I'm not defending him - what he said was sexist, racist and indefensible, but I don't know that his intent was purely to attack the women.
While we're on the subject of Imus, though, am I the only one whose skin crawls when I see this guy on television and hear his voice? He is so creepy! He actually reminds me just a little bit of Kurt Russell's Grindhouse character.
Americans, you all might have a better handle on this than I do: What's Imus' appeal? Who is listening to/watching him? And why do legitimate newsmakers appear on his program?
One other thing I might mention about this is that I never cease to be amazed by Bill O'Reilly's capacity to be a dick. Yesterday he compared what Imus said to what Rosie O'Donnell recently said about the British/Iranian conflict which ended last week. He claimed that on the scale of things people shouldn't say on national television, what she said was just as bad. So, apparently being a conspiracy theorist is as bad as putting people down because of their sex or race, now.
***
This morning in the office, we had a conversation about societal expectations. The women were saying that marriage and childbearing expectations are much heavier on women than on men. I have no issue with that, although I did say that those expectations are not limited to women. I've heard it from some people before, about how I don't plan to have children. Members of my extended family have definitely given me a bit of a talk before about that, and they get a pass from me on it. However, certain friends of my parents have also gotten their shots in, and I've just found it incredibly rude every time.
When I first had my tongue pierced, I also had a few people offer to me unsolicited negative opinions.
First, what makes people like that think they have the right? And second, what sorts of lifestyle choices have you made that people have questioned you about, in uninvited and/or rude ways?
***
Last night, I watched the Senators beat up pretty decently on the Penguins. The first intermission of course belonged to Don Cherry, and for the last minute or two of his segment, they just showed pictures of Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan recently while he read off their names. The last one was a photo of a soldier and his dog. Cherry almost totally lost it. And it was pretty sad.
My question, to any of you who've watched much of Hockey Night this season: Has he been doing this all along - like since we've been in Afghanistan? I've watched some of his segments before and he's done similar things, but is he doing this for every soldier that dies? Or just randomly and occasionally? Also, I know it's not at all his intention, but it almost comes off like an anti-war thing, like what they did on Nightline once or twice, or what George Stephanopoulos does on his show still, I think.
I heard something different about this last night: Stephen Brunt, a (white) Toronto/Hamilton sportswriter whose work I really admire suggested that in his own, clumsy, totally insensitive way, Imus was trying more to make fun of hip-hop culture, and the way it refers to women. Brunt said he thought that Imus might've been aiming at that more than (or instead of) trying to attack people who are black, or women, or both. A black columnist from a Kansas City paper was also part of the discussion, and he agreed saying that while there's no excuse for what Imus said, people shouldn't be surprised by it if they've ever seen a mainstream rap music video.
I'm not someone who has much experience watching or listening to Imus, but I have seen the clip and I could definitely see that as a possibility. I'm not defending him - what he said was sexist, racist and indefensible, but I don't know that his intent was purely to attack the women.
While we're on the subject of Imus, though, am I the only one whose skin crawls when I see this guy on television and hear his voice? He is so creepy! He actually reminds me just a little bit of Kurt Russell's Grindhouse character.
Americans, you all might have a better handle on this than I do: What's Imus' appeal? Who is listening to/watching him? And why do legitimate newsmakers appear on his program?
One other thing I might mention about this is that I never cease to be amazed by Bill O'Reilly's capacity to be a dick. Yesterday he compared what Imus said to what Rosie O'Donnell recently said about the British/Iranian conflict which ended last week. He claimed that on the scale of things people shouldn't say on national television, what she said was just as bad. So, apparently being a conspiracy theorist is as bad as putting people down because of their sex or race, now.
***
This morning in the office, we had a conversation about societal expectations. The women were saying that marriage and childbearing expectations are much heavier on women than on men. I have no issue with that, although I did say that those expectations are not limited to women. I've heard it from some people before, about how I don't plan to have children. Members of my extended family have definitely given me a bit of a talk before about that, and they get a pass from me on it. However, certain friends of my parents have also gotten their shots in, and I've just found it incredibly rude every time.
When I first had my tongue pierced, I also had a few people offer to me unsolicited negative opinions.
First, what makes people like that think they have the right? And second, what sorts of lifestyle choices have you made that people have questioned you about, in uninvited and/or rude ways?
***
Last night, I watched the Senators beat up pretty decently on the Penguins. The first intermission of course belonged to Don Cherry, and for the last minute or two of his segment, they just showed pictures of Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan recently while he read off their names. The last one was a photo of a soldier and his dog. Cherry almost totally lost it. And it was pretty sad.
My question, to any of you who've watched much of Hockey Night this season: Has he been doing this all along - like since we've been in Afghanistan? I've watched some of his segments before and he's done similar things, but is he doing this for every soldier that dies? Or just randomly and occasionally? Also, I know it's not at all his intention, but it almost comes off like an anti-war thing, like what they did on Nightline once or twice, or what George Stephanopoulos does on his show still, I think.