A rant I need to make
Ok, y'all have heard about this Don Imus bullshit, right? Where he referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos"?
Well, I've got a beef with how many members of the media are handling the story.
the raw racism of Don Imus’ hateful characterization
Don Imus' racially charged comments
a racially charged remark radio host Don Imus made
derogatory racial remarks
...anyone else notice a pattern here?
I don't disagree with any of these phrases, and let me be the first to say that Imus or anyone who would spew such disgusting racist bullshit should pay a much higher price than losing a well-paid spot in a public pulpit.
But...why do so many accounts of this and reactions against it focus exclusively or nearly so on the racism, when his comment was equally vile from a perspective of gender? I talked about this today with a white, female journalist, and her response was, "well, I think the race thing kind of trumps it in this case." My sense is that that's where much of the media coverage is coming from.
I gotta say, that baffles me. Why does anything have to/have the right to trump anything else in a case like this? If a person maligns two groups, and one somehow outranks the other, do we not get to call that person out on both counts? WTF? He called a group of outstanding athletes, who are female, "hos". And no one really seems to think that's a problem.
To be fair, some do. Some writers don't seem to think it's that difficult to deride Imus for his "racist and sexist comments" or to point out that Al Sharpton and NOW both want him taken down. But why the fuck are they the exceptions?
Well, I've got a beef with how many members of the media are handling the story.
the raw racism of Don Imus’ hateful characterization
Don Imus' racially charged comments
a racially charged remark radio host Don Imus made
derogatory racial remarks
...anyone else notice a pattern here?
I don't disagree with any of these phrases, and let me be the first to say that Imus or anyone who would spew such disgusting racist bullshit should pay a much higher price than losing a well-paid spot in a public pulpit.
But...why do so many accounts of this and reactions against it focus exclusively or nearly so on the racism, when his comment was equally vile from a perspective of gender? I talked about this today with a white, female journalist, and her response was, "well, I think the race thing kind of trumps it in this case." My sense is that that's where much of the media coverage is coming from.
I gotta say, that baffles me. Why does anything have to/have the right to trump anything else in a case like this? If a person maligns two groups, and one somehow outranks the other, do we not get to call that person out on both counts? WTF? He called a group of outstanding athletes, who are female, "hos". And no one really seems to think that's a problem.
To be fair, some do. Some writers don't seem to think it's that difficult to deride Imus for his "racist and sexist comments" or to point out that Al Sharpton and NOW both want him taken down. But why the fuck are they the exceptions?