Good for Cal Ripken
By: Lowell
Published On: 4/11/2007 8:06:36 AM
Baltimore Orioles' legend (and personal hero) Cal Ripken, Jr. has canceled his scheduled appearance yesterday on foul-mouthed, "shock jock" Don Imus' radio show. Good for Cal, and I hope everyone else follows suit. As the Washington Post's Michael Wilbon writes this morning:
...there's nothing rare about Imus's vile attacks. This is what he does as a matter of course. Imus and his studio cohorts have painted black people as convicts and muggers and worst of all, apes. Not only do they find it funny, they expect everybody else will as well.
Why does anyone listen to Don Imus, that's what I want to know. And what does it say about his listeners, guests, advertisers, etc? Fortunately, Cal Ripken got it right. Now, all everyone else has to do is follow Cal's example.
Comments
Why does anyone listen to Don Imus? (Josh - 4/11/2007 10:36:04 AM)
Why does anyone listen to Rush or Ann Coulter or Hannity or Fox or read the White Supremacist Washington Times?
Because the politics of hate have always been present in America and they have been fanned by the ignorant, fearful and greedy for political reasons.
Imus is atrocious, but he's the least of them. If Imus needs to go, he needs to take the rest of these cancerous pollups with him.
Good question. (Lowell - 4/11/2007 11:03:50 AM)
I used to listen to "The Greaseman" when I was in grad school, but I haven't listened to stuff like that since I was about 25 years old. I believe it's called "growing up."
I don't understand... (Tom Joad (Kevin) - 4/11/2007 11:35:33 AM)
why people listen to him racism aside. It is frickin' boring to listen to his mechanical voice drone on about his camp for children and politics. He has no radio presence and the only reason he is still on the air is because of his "mystique" on WNBC back in the '80s.
Here in DC, I listen to 106.7 WJFK. Good mix of talk, sports, and politics...
Why the backlash against Imus (mkfox - 4/11/2007 1:08:05 PM)
compared to Coulter, Limbaugh or the Faux News gang whenever they do something like this? Imus is anti-Bush so it's much easier for conservatives to come out of the walls and criticize him for his Rutgers outburst. The best way to respond to Imus is for companies and firms to cut off their endorsements and commercials on his shows.
Imus (Neal2028 - 4/11/2007 3:07:17 PM)
I've always kind of liked Imus. I'll watch him on MSNBC in the morning when I'm getting ready. I didn't actually get to see "the comment." But he's said he's sorry, he seems more sincere than anybody else who's been in trouble for racist comments.
I think a 2-week suspension is reasonable (although I do wonder why they're waiting til Monday to start it...). He's an entertainer, and we shouldn't forget that. If I'm not mistaken, up until a few years ago, he and Howard Stern were on the same channel, and we're advertised together. He was a classic "Shock Jock" (not as much as Stern, though). He did go too far this particular time, but it's really wrong for AL Sharpton to focus all his attention on him. Rappers, comedians (Larry the Cable Guy), and others make racist comments, too. They don't picket them.
Rutgers players (Susan P. - 4/11/2007 3:28:36 PM)
I saw the Rutgers players on t.v. and they really put Imus in his place. I think since the "Macaca eruptions" last summer everybody realizes that the rules have changed. Well, the rules actually changed a long, long time ago, but certain people are now being forced to realize it. It seems that the next one to go has to be Rush Limbaugh. Michael J. Fox was just the tip of the iceberg -- Limbaugh makes racist and sexist comments all the time. Who's going to take him on? Who are his advertisers?
More from Americablog on Imus (PM - 4/11/2007 4:55:01 PM)
http://americablog.b...
This link to Americablog above contains some of the slurs from Imus' show circa 2000. Never really having listened to him for more than a few seconds, I didn't really know what his show was all about.
Yuck.