Obsidian Potency 3.0
The Firing Line
posted Friday, 13 April 2007
Okay, so now I'm much more mad about the Don Imus thing I wrote about. You know why?
Because the man shouldn't have been fired.
Yes, you read that right. He should've been forced to carry the burden of his words on every show. Of course, the fact that we ever talked about this for so long is ridiculous.
Nothing he said was particularly shocking. In fact, the only surprising thing was that he uttered the words himself. This good take points out that Imus usually leaves the really dirty material to others.
What's sad is that the dialogue ends once he is fired. He never has to face the people he wronged in that medium again, and we stop talking abotu him the same way we barely ever mention Jimmy the Greek anymore. That's why we shouldn't just assassinate the careers of everyone who speaks out of turn.
Whitlock feels much the same way that Michelle Malkin does, although he articulates his points much more effectively. But he goes a bit too far. It's not the same when a white man makes comments like this as it is when a black man does. A Jewish person can say whatever he/she wants about Jews, but you can't expect a non-Jew to get the same leeway. It's also not the same when a black person (a member of a group that lies at or near the bottom of America's social and economic structure) makes a joke about white people (the group at the top). I'm NOT leaping from there to the absurd notion that black people can't be racist. But there is a different standard applied when it comes to comments and jokes - and I don't have a problem with that. That's why the comparison of Don Imus to, say, Mystikal is intellectually dishonest on a certain level.
The bottom line is, we shouldn't have kept talking about this story anyway. I mentioned it earlier in the week: we are paying way too much attention to this whole episode. Is this how much we rely on football - that when the season ends, the national sports media will latch on to any story? Is the sports media so desperate for some fire right now that they'll chase any gossip? Couldn't we discuss someting else, like the latest hottie Tom Brady has impregnated? Anything?
I suppose it's too late to ask.
Because the man shouldn't have been fired.
Yes, you read that right. He should've been forced to carry the burden of his words on every show. Of course, the fact that we ever talked about this for so long is ridiculous.
Nothing he said was particularly shocking. In fact, the only surprising thing was that he uttered the words himself. This good take points out that Imus usually leaves the really dirty material to others.
What's sad is that the dialogue ends once he is fired. He never has to face the people he wronged in that medium again, and we stop talking abotu him the same way we barely ever mention Jimmy the Greek anymore. That's why we shouldn't just assassinate the careers of everyone who speaks out of turn.
Whitlock feels much the same way that Michelle Malkin does, although he articulates his points much more effectively. But he goes a bit too far. It's not the same when a white man makes comments like this as it is when a black man does. A Jewish person can say whatever he/she wants about Jews, but you can't expect a non-Jew to get the same leeway. It's also not the same when a black person (a member of a group that lies at or near the bottom of America's social and economic structure) makes a joke about white people (the group at the top). I'm NOT leaping from there to the absurd notion that black people can't be racist. But there is a different standard applied when it comes to comments and jokes - and I don't have a problem with that. That's why the comparison of Don Imus to, say, Mystikal is intellectually dishonest on a certain level.
The bottom line is, we shouldn't have kept talking about this story anyway. I mentioned it earlier in the week: we are paying way too much attention to this whole episode. Is this how much we rely on football - that when the season ends, the national sports media will latch on to any story? Is the sports media so desperate for some fire right now that they'll chase any gossip? Couldn't we discuss someting else, like the latest hottie Tom Brady has impregnated? Anything?
I suppose it's too late to ask.
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