Posted by
G-Stan on Thursday, April 12, 2007 3:04:16 PM
The United States has quite a number of serious problems which need to be addressed. Despite the fact that Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would like us to believe that it is, (because it keeps them from slipping into the abyss of irrelevance), rampant racism is NOT one of them. I consider myself someone who has been called and genetically hardwired to participate in the mechanisms through which solutions to large problems get debated (sometimes ad nauseum) and subsequently implemented. As such, I find myself with an ever-growing appetite for radio, television and internet news and opinion programs. That appetite has been ruined this week by the shameless left-leaning pandering to the Church of Racial Victimhood by every major and minor media outlet in the country, including much of talk-radio's vast rightwing conspiracy.
IT WAS A JOKE!!!
I have read and heard responses to Imus's comments as rascist, outrageous, despicable, disgusting, deplorable, slanderous, evil, et. al.; these terms have also been used to decribe Don Imus as a man. I'm no fan of Imus, his politics, or his show, however, are you freakin' kidding me with this manure?! IT WAS A JOKE! That is what he does; and what he has been doing for the last 30 years. Was it a funny joke? Some people laughed at it, yes, even black people. Some people didn't. But it was still JUST A JOKE! He is an entertainer. He just gives opinions, sometimes in an effort to be informative, sometimes in an effort to be funny; and as is the case with all entertainers, sometimes the audience boos. He is not a journalist. It is not as if he is Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News stating "We have breaking news in the world of sports today; NBC News has discovered that the NCAA Women's Final Four team members from Rutgers University are not actually college basketball players, but instead they are a group of nappy-headed ho's. We will have more on this story later tonight on Dateline."
Reasonable people would give credence and weight to that statement and be outraged by it because Brian Williams is a journalist who reads news. No reasonable person who listens to the Imus program (does one exist anymore?) could think that Imus actually believed that the team was a bunch of nappy-headed ho's and was actually promoting that. It is not as though he was promoting a thoroughly researched essay or book in which the primary premise was that RU Basketball players are nappy-headed ho's. IT WAS A JOKE! Not a particularly nice one, but one that any reasonable person, white, black or otherwise, could recognize as an attempt at humor and not a statement of Imus's deep emotional disdain for black people or women or both. An unreasonable person, however, would not see it as a joke; enter Reverend Al Sharpton.
If Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, I think he would be ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Dr. King and so many others struggled. I don't know what Jesse and Al are doing. Imagine a time-transcendental conversation between these two and Dr. King at the end of a long day:
Jesse: Hey Dr. King, how was your day?
MLK: Not too good Jesse. I was on my way to vote, and I realized I had forgotten my wallet, I needed it to pay my poll tax. I had to go back home and get my wallet and since I was running late, I rode the bus. The only open seat was in the front next to a white girl, so I took it. The cops pulled me off the bus, beat the crap out of me, soaked me with firehoses and let a bunch of police dogs gnaw on my extremities. When I finally got away from the melee, I noticed my friend Joe hanging dead from a tree above a burning cross. Luckily I was able to sneak away before the dudes with the white sheets on their heads saw me. But, you know, just a typical southern 1960's kinda day. How bout you Al?
Sharpton: Well, I started a campaign to oust a radio host who called some black women "nappy-headed hos"
MLK: Wow, that sounds serious, so he's really a racist huh?
Sharpton: Not exactly, he was just making a joke, but I can get a lot more publicity for "the cause" if I subtly ignore that fact. Jesse, tell us about your day.
Jesse: Well I went down to Durham, NC, you know that's in the South where there are lots of racists, more specifically Duke University, where there are bound to be lots of rich racists.
MLK: What were you doing down there?
Jesse: A bunch of rich white kids from the Duke lacrosse team raped a virtually defenseless black woman.
MLK: Oh dear Lord, that's terrible! What is to become of the case?
Jesse: Nothing actually. It turns out that the woman was lying. All charges have been dropped against all of the boys, but it sure was fun whipping people up into a frenzy over it!
MLK: Are you two guys s***ting me with this stuff? Am I on candid camera? Didn't you hear how my day went, and THIS is what you are working on? What year is it where you guys are?
Sharpton: Its 2007. And because of your wonderful work Dr. King, and the work of others who truly suffered for equal rights, you can hardly ever find racism in America anymore; at least not any that is worth getting excited about. So when you do find even the possibility of a tiny shred of it, you really have to overplay your hand to garner as much attention as possible on this rampant problem.
Jesse: Yeah, its almost like real work. With one hand we have to fan the flames of racism and hatred, and we have to carry water to put out the fire with the other hand, while trying to look good on TV telling everyone that we are the only ones qualified to put out the fire.
MLK: Why the hell don't you just let the fire burn itself out, stomp on it, END RACISM instead of perpetuating it?
Sharpton and Jesse: looking at each other very confusedly
Jesse: But how will I extort, er, raise funds for the Rainbow Push?
Sharpton: How will I ever get to be on TV anymore?
Jesse: No one will care about my opinions anymore.
Sharpton: I will have to get a real job and live in the real world.
MLK: ...Yup. That pretty much covers it.
This blog entry is getting too long but I'm not done venting. To be continued tomorrow...