A Little Known White Conservative Male Replaces Imus

After he retired my father, who had been very successful in the production end of the newspaper business, became addicted to Fox News and talk radio. Except for playing golf with his cronies, all he did was listen to cable news and Rush Limbaugh. Each day my mother would flee to her church work or hide in her art studio. All dad could do was rail against liberals and all they stood for. An hour or so of Fox News and his blood pressure would rise. He would become belligerent and he would say the most outrageous things. It became painful for me to visit him. I just couldn't stand the harangues against this group or that policy. His anger would flow over to me and anyone else in the room. Occasionally we were able to turn off the television. After a while he would return to his normal caring self, but when he turned on Fox News, I knew it was time to leave.

I kept trying to tell him that cable news and talk radio were not real. They were just entertainment. I told him he should know better. He had spent a career in the newspaper business. He knew all about the entertainment value of the news. He knew media companies were all about making money.

It didn't matter. He was addicted. He took everything they said as truth. Since they were all just like him they told him and each other exactly what white male conservative Republicans always yearn to hear--white male conservative Republicans rule the world and all the rest are of a lesser species.

That pattern continues to this day. Except for CNN's Solidad O'Brien and a few others, the big players on Cable Television and Talk Radio are all white men. Nearly all of them are conservative Republicans. Nearly every word that is uttered on Fox News and the other Cable Networks and on Talk Radio affirms the ascendancy of white Republican conservative men. What passes for news on those channels is aimed directly at entertaining white Republican conservative men. There aren't that many white Republican conservative men, but the people who make the scheduling decisions on all the cable networks and on talk radio (generally middle aged white conservative Republican men) do so to please members of a powerful demographic--their bosses, who, with a couple of notable exceptions, are all old white conservative Republican men. Men just like my father. Men who like to play golf and rail against liberals, women and minorities.

Recently, Don Imus, an old white conservative Republican male was fired for publicly saying the kind of stuff old white conservative Republican lords of the universe find amusing.

That left MSNBC in a quandary. What to do? What to do? They could market to the 95% of the population who are not old white conservative men, a market currently not being well served by cable news. That might do well in the ratings. It might serve MSNBC well to have a morning counter point to Countdown. The nation is running not walking away from the hard conservatism of Fox News. What to do? What to do? Bold action?

After much deliberation, MSNBC has announced its solution. MSNBC is going to simulcast the radio show of Michael Smerconish, a member of a woefully under represented group on both Cable Television and talk radio-a white conservative Republican male. Bold move.

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Is Limbaugh Next?

Apparently the privileged Fat White Guys (tm) on the right are trying to make sense out of the Imus firing in the only way they know how. Instead of self-reflection leading to higher standards of performance, they are trying to invent a way to blame the "liberals." According to the conservative "Free Congress Foundation," Don Imus is just the first casualty in a liberal war to restore the "fairness doctrine."

Message to Dick Morris. Dick, Imus was fired because we in civilized society have decided that we will no longer tolerate making fun of women, especially young black women, by calling them degrading names. Advertisers heard the indignation from rank and file Americans loud and clear. No matter how much CBS Radio and MSNBC point to dissension within their respective networks, the truth is Imus was fired only after advertisers realized their brands could be damaged by associating with the Imus brand. Advertisers found out what people were thinking because Americans found new ways to voice their disgust, ways the Fat White Guys were unable to out shout. Email, blogs, YouTube and a range of Internet tools gave voice to the disgust average Americans felt when they watched Imus and his Fat White Guy enabler take their cheap shots at the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team. A voice that couldn't be ignored.

It is true the demise of the "fairness doctrine" allowed for the rise of Right Wing, Shock Jock, Hate Radio. Rush Limbaugh's success wouldn't exist without it. That as largely because the demise of the "fairness doctrine" allowed the Fat White Guys like Limbaugh and Morris (and their Fat White Guy enablers) to monopolize daily public discourse. Fortunately the rise of the Internet has rendered restoration of the fairness doctrine largely unnecessary. The Internet has stripped the Fat White Guys of their stranglehold on American discourse.

The Rush Limbaughs of the world would do well to cleanup their own acts. Treat everyone, not just Fat White Guys, with respect, and you will survive. As Imus found out grade school level name calling just isn't funny to anyone except Fat White Guys and isn't going to be tolerated.

My guess is Limbaugh will survive for a while. The next group to be spanked will be the Fat Black Guys profiting from misogynistic "Hip Hop."

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NBC Fires Imus!

On NBC Evening News with Brian Williams, they just read a statement that Don Imus will no longer be simulcast on MSNBC - effective immediately.

That's thanks to the advertisers who pulled out and not to genuine outrage at his racism but, at this point, I'll take what I can get.

UPDATE: Don't want to miss that PedMeds Express was a sponsor that also pulled out.

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Imus: Missing the Point

As a general rule, I try to stay focused on Florida and its politics when I write here but I am astounded that so many people are getting caught up in looking only at one line of Imus' racist comments that I have to say something.

From Media Matters (who posted the entire transcript of the exchange), here's the only part getting publicity:

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --
McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there.

On the face of it, this is racist. It's not just some outrageous, off-color comment. It. Is. Racist.

But, Imus didn't stop there and this is why he MUST go. The next sentence he utters is this:

I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from
Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

Like straight hair in their 3 star players (2 black, one white).

And then McGuirk makes the comparison that should get him fired and Imus goes right along:

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.
IMUS: Yeah.
McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

While he doesn't come right out and say it, McGuirk infers a comparison of the Rutgers team to jigaboos.

Answers.com says this:

jigaboo ( ) n. Offensive Slang. Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.
[Origin unknown.]

American Heritage Dictionary says this:

NOUN: Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.

Here are some more definitions.

The totality of these comments is racist. Period. Imus started a conversation that was racist and enticed others to join in to a racist, bashing conversation about african-american women who don't look white. This is the cancer that racism is.

My word: the whole show should be gone - all of them.

If you stand in the face of racism and do nothing when it rears its head, you are complicit in the event. That means you, CBS and MSNBC, as well as the advertisers who haven't bowed out.

To Proctor & Gamble, Bigelow Teas, Staples, General Motors and Sprint Nextel: Thank you for taking a stand.

Update: Atrios says AmEx, Ditech (a GMAC company) and GlaxoSmithKline have all bailed.

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