FROM SHOCK JOCK
TO SHOCKED JOCK
Musings On Imus
By Shashoua

Don Imus is just shy of spending 40 years as a radio disc jockey, so it really was about time there was a changing of the guards.  However, getting fired for a casual, albeit racist, sexist and elitist comment did cause a ripple, if not a tidal wave, in the airwaves.   Just so that we are all on the same page here: a shock jock, of which we do have a few, makes his or her living from doing exactly that – lunging below the belt and saying what the meeker of us dare not.  In a sense, it could be argued that calling the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team “nappy headed ho’s”, is a perfect representation of what it means to be a shock jock.  

However, Imus, the I Man got fired.  Even after a pathetic public apology on the very vicious Reverend Al Sharpton’s radio show. For those of you who didn’t see it, the Reverend hurled accusations at Imus and had very obviously decided to nail the top on Imus’s proverbial coffin before listening to the apology.   And although this was not quite like the apology of Socrates, it did have a similar air of injustice to it.  The Reverend Al Sharpton should be proud of himself.  I am sure he got just what he wanted from the Imus interview which was not necessarily about getting Imus fired, but instead about getting good ratings.  

Still you can’t help, or at least I can’t help but ask “Why now?” I mean let’s face it; racial and sexual slurs are used by comedians and rappers as well as shock jocks.   Howard Stern was Imus’s direct competitor until Stern signed with Sirius radio in January 2006.  Stern hurled and hurls racial and sexual insults to Jews, Arabs, Blacks, women, men and everything in between. Imus crossed the boundary, whereas Stern so far has not.

CBS decided to fire Imus, because there was an outpour of opposition and also the pulling of sponsorship from multiple corporate organizations.  The question remains, “why with this particular insult?”  Let’s face it.  Imus’s comments were run of the mill and extremely, yawn, boring.  Maybe we really have leaped into a new era of national self-respect where our voices are finally heard.  If so,  what about all the clever racist humor that teaches us something of our cultural biases?  Does that get the ax too?

Hopefully not, but who knows? There is of course a difference to note between Imus and his peers.  Howard Stern hurls insults at blacks, while at the same time has obvious and utmost respect for his black counterpart ‘Robin’ who he has often touted as his equal.  He also rags on Jews, of which he is one and Arabs, who unfortunately have no voice in the USA.  He hires dwarfs and gives some kind of warped purpose to the mentally challenged and the homeless.  He also hurls insults at himself.  There is something humble about the ‘King of all media” and something in his humor that paints a picture of our own biases.  Imus, on the other hand walks and talks like he is one of the privileged class. His insults maintain a status quo of a culture that needs to evolve, without any identification or understanding of what it is like to feel racially inferior.  His “nappy headed ho” comment was simply pointless, worthless and condescending.  It wasn’t funny, except perhaps for a few good old boys.

But still is that really grounds for being fired? CBS could have been very creative with this one.  They could have fined Imus a million dollars or so and awarded that money to an African American charity or even Rutgers Women’s Basketball.  They could have suspended him and given him an ultimatum that if he does this again, he will be fired.  But they didn’t.

Due to public outcry (supposedly), CBS fired Imus.  But isn’t it funny how public outcry to stop the war in Iraq has had no effect even four years after the war began.  There have been protestors marching against the war and the powers that be have found it very easy to ignore them.  And yet a percentage of the population gets upset over a really bad humorous moment in the life of Imus and he gets lynched without remorse.  

Public outcry?  Nah.  How about corporate outcry?  Major corporations including American Express, Staples, Nextel and Proctor and Gamble pulled away their financial support from CBS after imus’s comment.  That must have hurt.  In this financially driven world in which we live, this must have been the ultimate motivator for CBS to demonstrate so swiftly allegiance to the corporate god and fire Imus.   The poignant truth is not that the people were heard.  It is that our airwaves are more and more controlled by corporations.  Come on CBS; flex that freedom of speech muscle of yours.   If not our entire communications will be leveled to nothingness and become increasingly average.  The spark of genius that rears its head on rare spontaneous moments will forever be suppressed.  We will enter the dark ages of the new millennium where artistic expression will feel the severity of Okham’s razor which really should only be used on scientific theory.

Not to worry Imus, there are other channels for your crass humor; Bill Maher has already been through the silencing process (although not for racial insults).  The much beloved liberal compared the bravery of American politicians with that of al-Qaida: “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away.  That’s cowardly…staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”  This very intelligent statement caused an outcry from the ‘American people’ who just can’t take the truth. Of course after major advertisers pulled their adverts and 17 ABC affiliates dropped the program, Maher, alas was fired by ABC.  But of course he is back on HBO with a healthy guest list and just as many political jokes. Most of the same people watch his show, which implies that at that time, they are not tuned into ABC.

Undoubtedly, the women from Rutgers are icons for this new era.   They strive to overcome the biases that they have been born into.  And it is impossible for them to celebrate fully their personal achievements when there are those, like Imus, whose banter seems to want to keep you where you came from over 200 years ago.  But we are not past it yet.  And firing Imus does not put us past it any more than the acceptance of his public apology and a fine/suspension would have done.

But despite all retribution, America’s wound is still festering.  It is a deep ravine in the flesh of the earth that is black on one side and white on the other.  In order to close this wound there needs to be forgiveness.  And as we can see, by the public outcry for Imus’s demise, we are nowhere near the finish line.