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The Super-sational Don Imus uproar - Printable Version

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The Super-sational Don Imus uproar - The Horrible Esthete - 04-12-2007

If, by the title of this thread, you don't know who Don Imus is and what the uproar is all about, then you've done a bang-up job of avoiding the media for the past few days. Google his name and you'll quickly be up-to-speed

The coast-to-coast fervor over this story is ridiculous, but not surprising.

I have heard many say that Imus' remarks reflect the ever-present ignorant and racist attitudes that contaminate our society. I contend that the uproar itself, not the ill-advised attempt at shock-value humor, is what is truly indicative of the continuing racial disharmony in this country.

I'm not going to defend Imus' remarks, because the term "nappy-headed hos" should never be uttered on public airways in reference to a team of collegiate athletes.

But isn't there a boatload of irony in the branding of a white person as 'racist' for using slang that is common and widespread throughout a cross-section of American culture, but one which eminates directly from black culture itself? After all, it's not just that the rap / hip-hop culture uses these terms freely and without castigation; it's that the rap / hip-hop culture is specifically responsible for creating them in the first place.

A societal uproar directed at the shock jock whose hackneyed use of these terms in a attempt at cutting-edge humor seems almost hypocritical, doesn't it?

Does to me.

- VioletlightHeron - 04-12-2007

Equally hypocritical in my mind is the failure of the mainstream media, willful or in fear of attack by upstanding African-American leaders like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, to report on the rap/hip-hop culture that spawns these attitudes towards women and to black culture at large. There is almost nobody of stature in the media industry attacking the likes of Nelly (who swiped a credit card through the buttocks of woman in one of his music videos) or R. Kelly.

- The Horrible Esthete - 04-12-2007

VioletlightHeron Wrote:Equally hypocritical in my mind is the failure of the mainstream media, willful or in fear of attack by upstanding African-American leaders like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, to report on the rap/hip-hop culture that spawns these attitudes towards women and to black culture at large. There is almost nobody of stature in the media industry attacking the likes of Nelly (who swiped a credit card through the buttocks of woman in one of his music videos) or R. Kelly.

Well said.

- thesellout - 04-12-2007

that is a very interesting point - while he shouldnt be defended for what he said, how does something like this fly in comparison to what he said?:


"Bitches Ain't Shit"
(feat. Snoop Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Jewel)

[Snoop] Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks...

[Chorus: Snoop (2X)]

Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks
Lick on deez nutz and suck the dick
Get's the fuck out after you're done
And I hops in my ride to make a quick run...

[Dr. Dre]
I used to know a bitch named Eric Wright
We used to roll around and fuck the hoes at night
Tight than a mutharfucka with the gangsta beats
And we was ballin' on the muthafuckin' Compton streets
Peep, the shit got deep and it was on
Number 1 song after number 1 song
Long as my muthafuckin' pockets was fat
I didn't give a fuck where the bitch was at
But she was hangin' with a white bitch doin' the shit she do
Suckin' on his dick just to get a buck or 2
And the few ends she got didn't mean nothin'
Now she's suing cuz the shit she be doin' ain't shit
Bitch can't hang with the streets, she found herself short
So now she's takin' me to court
It's real conversation for your ass
So recognize and pass to Daz

[Dat Ni**a Daz]
Now as i'm rollin' with my ni**a Dre and Eastwood
Fuckin' hoes, clockin' dough up to no good
We flip flop and serve hoes like flap jacks
(Snoop: But we don't love them hoes) Bitch, and it's like that
This is what you look for in a ho who got cash flow
Ya run up in them hoes and grab the cash
And get your dash on
While you're chillin', with your homies and shit
And how my ni**az kick the anthem like this

[Snoop] BEEEYYAAACHHH!

(Chorus)

[Kurupt]
...To the store, to get me a 4-0
Snoop Doggy Dogg paged, that must mean more hoes
So I head down the street to long beach
Just so i could meet, a freak
To lick me from my head to my feet
And I'm here, now I'm ready to be done up
Nothin' but homies around so I puts my gun up
Bitches on my nuts like clothes
But i'm from the pound and we don't love them hoes
How could you trust a hoe? [Snoop:] Why? [echoed 3X]
Cuz a hoe's a trick
We don't love them tricks [Snoop:] Why? [echoed 3X]
Cuz a trick's a bitch
And my dick's constantly in her mouth
And turnin' them trick ass hoes the fuck out
Now...

[Snoop Doggy Dogg]
I once had a bitch named Mandy May
Used to be up in them guts like everyday
The pussy was the bomb, had a ni**a on sprung
I was in love like a muthafucka lickin' the protung
The homies used to tell me that she wasn't no good
But I'm the maniac in black, Mr. Snoop Eastwood
So I figure ni**az wouldn't trip with mine
Guess what? Got gaffled by one time
I'm back to the muthafuckin' county jail
6 months on my chest, now it's time to bail
I get's released on a hot sunny day
My nigga D.O.C. and my homey Dr Dre
Scooped in a coupe, Snoop we got news
Your girl was trickin' while you was draped in your county blues
I ain't been out a second
And already gotta do some muthafuckin chin checkin
Move up the block as we groove down the block
See my girl's house, Dre, pass the glock
Kick in the do', I look on the flo'
It's my little cousin Daz and he's fuckin' my hoe, yo
(Bitches ain't shit)
I uncocked my shit...I'm heart-broke but I'm still loc'ed
Man, fuck a bitch!

[Chorus]

[Jewell]
(Dr. Dre in background "Bitches ain't shit")
I don't give a fuck about a bitch
But i and her know that they can't fade this
Cause i'm doin my own thingdown with the swang
I'm hangin' with Death Row like it ain't no thing
I say you know can't deal
Cuz I'm a btich that's real
Motherfucker need to step back, hell yeah
They need to chill
Because I don't give a fuck
And I don't give a fuck [x3]

And now I gotta do some...
And now I gotta do some shit that's clean
But when I'm on a dick, hell yeah, I get real mean
Like a washing machine
I can wash the clothes
All the hoes knows
That i'm on the flo' ho
But they can't hang with my type on swang
I ain't tryin' to say I suck every ding-a-lang
But just the juicy ones
Witht he tip of the tongue
And then their sprung
With the nuts hung
[Dr. Dre:] Bitches ain't shit

- sean.bonner - 04-12-2007

It seems that every 6 months, the media picks up on somebody saying something and dragging them through the dirt.

Right now its Don Imus.
Before Imus, it was Michael Richards. And preceeding Richards was Mel Gibson... and I'm sure we can trace this back even further.

I won't defend Richards of Gibson, and I don't think what Imus said was right.
But give me a break. This is being blown up way to much.

That is just my quick, uneducated two cents.

- Jenna_Bird - 04-12-2007

thesellout Wrote:that is a very interesting point - while he shouldnt be defended for what he said, how does something like this fly in comparison to what he said?:

"Bitches Ain't Shit"
(feat. Snoop Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Jewel)

This particular example really highlights the essential problem and underlying argument. How is ok for men in the black community to use derading language and have it not braded as sexism at the very least? Why does it become more offensive when the terms are utter by a white man? Is it becaue there is a dual layer of ignorance at work, both based on sex and race?

Ben Folds covered "Bitches Ain't Shit" on his last tour a number of times. In doing so, he acknowledges the aburdity of *off limits* slang/vernacular. There are few artists who are as obviously and unbashedly white as Mr. Folds. In my opinion, he uses this detail to its fullest advantage to acknowledge such flawed logic [/end sidenote].

-Jenna

- tigerthelion - 04-12-2007

Perhaps somebody in the media could bring up Jesse Jackson's remarks in 1984 where he called New York City "Hymie Town". It seems like Jesse Jackson is the last person who should be condemning racist remarks. :rambo:

- NegPhil - 04-12-2007

Don Imus is fired. This "scandal" stinks to high heaven. Imus is a racist jerk shock jock and has been for thirty years. Why now? Why him? Why do Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, John Stossel, Dr.Laura etc. broadcast hate and racist garbage on every network every day?

- tigerthelion - 04-12-2007

NegPhil Wrote:Don Imus is fired. This "scandal" stinks to high heaven. Imus is a racist jerk shock jock and has been for thirty years. Why now? Why him? Why do Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, John Stossel, Dr.Laura etc. broadcast hate and racist garbage on every network every day?

In fact, why are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson allowed to spew racism every day without harm?

- The Horrible Esthete - 04-12-2007

tigerthelion Wrote:
NegPhil Wrote:Don Imus is fired. This "scandal" stinks to high heaven. Imus is a racist jerk shock jock and has been for thirty years. Why now? Why him? Why do Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, John Stossel, Dr.Laura etc. broadcast hate and racist garbage on every network every day?

In fact, why are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson allowed to spew racism every day without harm?

Apparently, because they aren't conservatives. :roll:

- skippy the wonder dog - 04-12-2007

The last time I looked, Sharpton and Jackson were no longer looked upon as credible, so I don't think you really can say that they haven't suffered harm. They blew out their credibility years ago.

Re Imus, it's all about context. We expect different standards of behaviour from rap stars, activist lawyers, and broadcast personalities.

Rappers and activist lawyers are self-employed and are understood to appeal only to their own limited audience. Broadcasters are expected to maintain a higher standard of behaviour. And then American race politics enters the scene -- yes, if a white broadcaster says the same thing about black women that a black rapper does, he'll catch hell. That's because he's a white man talking about black women.

Whether that's fair, well, life's not fair, as conservative radio personalities are fond of pointing out. That's how it is.

- VioletlightHeron - 04-12-2007

Skippy, while you and I may deem Sharpton and Jackson to be not credible, the fact that the mass media presents their opinions and demands without subjecting them to questions about their credibility with regards to race demonstrates their ability to be presented as credible to the general public.

- skippy the wonder dog - 04-12-2007

I don't think it does, VLH. The mass media presents all kinds of crackpots to the general public without critiquing their credibility. That's a consequence of the myth of objectivity taught in j-schools: if you question someone's credibility, then you'd by-gosh be taking sides!

I think the majority of people view Sharpton in particular as something of a goof. Sharpton does maintain a following, but how large is it, really? Imus maintains a following, too.

Folks pointing at Sharpton, rappers, etc. will have to decide what they're upset about. Are pointing out the idiotic state of American race politics? Critiquing hip-hop culture? Or defending Imus by deflecting the issue?

If Sharpton can get away with it and Imus can't, that's about American race politics in general. It's about who's black and who's white, not about who's a conservative and who's a liberal.

- joshwayy - 04-12-2007

3 words for you..."Slow News Week"

Unfortunately for Don.

Ironic how the day after the Duke Lacross players have all the charges dropped, Sharpton (who wanted to railroad those boys) found a new way to get on TV.

- emperor penguin - 04-12-2007

I agree that it's really ironic and stupid that the hip/hop community can get away with demeaning women because they are of the same race, BUT, Imus is still a jackass and his comments were still really fuckin stupid. The fact that he's even trying to justify his comments by saying that rappers say the same thing without consequence is absolutely ridiculous.