4/16 Just a quick question for those who aren't upset about Imus being
fired...If the two reverends who had gotten Imus fired were Robertson
and Fallwell, and talked about "cleaning up the airwaves", would you be
upset? -emarkp
\_ this isn't about "cleaning up the airwaves". imus has said many
horribly offensive things in the past. so have many other radio
hosts. he got fired because this time the story grew legs. the
same reverends you are so upset about have complained about him
before, but it never led to his firing. the story got legs, the
advertisers got worried, they pulled their support, he got fired.
now, if you want to examine why it got legs this time around, that
may be an interesting topic. but tom's right. this is a red
herring. --scotsman
\_ Rather a red herring, don't you think, considering those are both
bigoted assholes who would never call on anyone to be fired for
racist remaks against blacks.
If Imus had instead called the University of Utah basketball
team a bunch of "Mormon white boys screwing their own sisters,"
I think he should have been fired for that, too. -tom
\_ I don't think those two got him fired. I think advertisers
threatening to not advertise with CBS anymore got him fired.
I am curious, do you listen to Imus' show? Are you really
going to defend someone who hired someone just to
write nigger jokes? I had more respect than that for you.
\_ Sharpton and Jackson were in on the board meeting of CBS
before he got fired. They also were publicly calling for
pressure on his advertising. From that I conclude that they
were involved. -emarkp
\_ See tom I see the problem as anyone being able to point at
someone and get him fired. Imus has been making nasty comments
for decades, but this time the Reverends pointed their fingers
and he was gone. I would think that would raise eyebrows here
considering how much antipathy there is on motd for organized
religion. -emarkp
\_ Imus has gotten fired numerous times without Jackson and
Sharpton being involved. And frankly, it is sad that he
wasn't fired immediately by CBS and that it took community
pressure. -tom
\_ He wasn't fired by CBS immediately because he was making
money for them. And has been for years. I've never listened
to him and given his history I wouldn't ever listen to him.
However, I *also* wouldn't call for him to be fired.
-emarkp
\_ Really? Why not? There's nothing stopping him from
spewing his shit somewhere else. If he is going to
to be a well paid moron, he should be tough enough to
face hard economic consequences.
\_ I think freedom is very important, especially
freedom of speech. For instance, I hate smoking but
voted against the massive taxes on smoking (prop 10)
and outlawing it in all buildings. I could never
vote for McCain because of his assault on 1st
amendment (campaign finance). -emarkp
\_ Imus makes money for CBS, therefore it's OK
for him to say what he wants--is that your
position? Well, I think it's also freedom of
speech for the people affected by his bigoted
speech to use *their* free speech rights to
call CBS's advertisers (the ones paying Imus)
and tell them to fire the guy. -tom
\_ No, it's for CBS to decide if he should be
fired. I just wonder why people aren't pointing
out that it's clergy that are calling for the
air to be cleaned up. And as for others using
their speech, I think it would be better for
others to respond to it and stop listening if
they're offended. Wasn't that what people were
saying when Janet Jackson flashed her boob?
-emarkp
\_ Of course when Janet Jackon showed her
boobies THE GOVERNMENT (FCC) was involved
in punitive actions. Do you see the
difference between government action
and private citizens taking action?
Imus managed to fly under most people's
for a long time, went way over the line
and suddenly people noticed "hey, what is
this asshole doing this schtick that makes
CBS many millions a year?" and found
a way to make it clear to CBS that hey,
if they wanted to keep him around it was
going to cost them via private economic
boycotts.
\_ People *are* pointing out it's clergy. You
are. It's completely irrelevant, which is
why no one else is. And are you really
trying to equate insulting people based on
their race, with flashing a nipple? Who
did Janet injure? -tom
\_ My children were injured. Tom, if you
injure my children, I WILL GET YOU. |