In Support of an Idiot

I am a die hard left wing commie liberal. I have said that over and over again and I vote my beliefs. I am also a big believer in our personal freedoms. One of my biggest personal crusades is freedom of speech. It is the right of every American to say what ever the hell they want. No matter how ugly, insensitive or stupid.

All this is why I actually find myself in light support of Don Imus. While I condone everything he said and find him to be an over the hill ignorant moron, I don’t feel he should have lost his job. If people really found his show that offensive, then they would not have listed, his ratings would have gone down and he would have been let go. Instead his bosses buckled to advertisement and political pressure.

When advertisers start dictating creative programming we have a problem. I can understand major corporations not wanting to be associated with Imus. But, then I have to ask why where they sponsoring his show before he made his latest comments? It is not like this is the first time he has said something stupid. Simply put, this time he pissed off the wrong people and they took it upon themselves to be the moral police for all of us.

When Imus made homophobic or chauvinistic statements he got a pass and hardly anyone raised an eyebrow. Basically, what this tells me is that it is okay to slur gays and women but once you target African Americans you go over the line. Prejudice against anyone based on religion, skin color, sex, or sexual preference is wrong.

Like anyone with half a brain, I too find what Imus said repulsive. But, I also find the censoring of him to be misguided. Sadly, we have given up so many of our freedoms that no one raises an eyebrow any more when our civil liberties get trampled. Imus, as sad as this is has an audience. Granted, that audience is about as sharp as a butter knife but, when he was fired his show on MSNBC was their top rated program.

Imus, will land on his feet you mark my words. Once everything blows over he will end up with another radio gig, be it on terrestrial or satellite. I hope that things will change, but I know that they won’t. Freedom of speech is important. Saying unpopular things is important. As much as I hate Ann Coulter and the hate she spews, she has every right under the constitution to say what is on her feeble mind.

I guess my main point to all of this is that, it is up to each individual person to agree or disagree with what another person says. In the end what Imus said did not hurt anyone. We have become so scarred and we over react to everything that these stories tend to take on a life of their own. I disagree, strongly with what Imus said. I thought it was mean, racist, and offensive not only to blacks but to women. Still, I will defend that assholes right to say it and that is the great thing about living in America. If I don’t like what they guy says I don’t have to listen to or watch his show.