The Don Imus debacle did not happen by chance;
Media Matters had a staffer whose job was to record Don Imus and listen for gaffes. He found one, alerted the media, and the rest is history. For icing on the cake, the Soros-funded group tried to convince everyone that Imus is a conservative. Imus is to Media Matters’ political right, but then again so is the entire country.
More at Hot Air.
What an outrage!
Ah, the power of the blogosphere. Isn’t that what y’all want?
I personally don’t think he should have been fired, because there are people on the air saying much worse things, but what ultimately doomed Imus was the free market because the sponsors pulled out. He had a mainstream audience that was offended by what they heard (regardless of how they heard it), unlike Michael Savage who spews hatred every day but his audience is just as far out there and knows what it’s going to get.
I do find it amusing that negative references to MMFA often included “Soros-funded” as if that is some kind of pejorative. They never seem to mention which conservative publication or sites are Scaife-funded. They must not like Soros because he’s one of them rich liberal joooooooos.
So enlighten us, won’t you?….but then again, you’re just an ignoramus anyway.
Whether it’s trying to get a progressive champion like June Callwood kicked of a writers award panel because she refused to support granting awards to writers simply for their race or getting her kicked off of Nellies women’s shelter (which she founded) because she treated minority board members with the same piss and vinegar as she treated other board members…
whether its trying to get bloggers kicked out of political parties to which they do not even belong…
whether its disgusting depictions of Joe Lieberman in blackface or calling opposing leaders “Sambo” when they don’t tow the inherited ideological line…
whether its a national all-consuming outrage over one idiot’s single racist and mysoginist comment like Imus…
whether its the extremely boring and too frequently recurring long-winded ever-ongoing navel-gazing discussions and recriminations about who gets to be with the “in crowd” and who gets “banned” from a blog aggregator…
… when did the open-mind of liberalism and progressivism become so obsessed with getting people banned, fired or silenced when they happen to vere away from some sort of ideological purity and dogmatism? Isn’t that what conservatives and religious extremists do?
More than a few here would say that that is inherent in progressivism and political correctness. With examples like this it is sometimes hard to argue with them.
Why on earth do my fellow progressives spend so much time and money worrying and secretly monitoring irrelevant shock-jock former celebrities just to play “gotcha!” How does that really help fight racism or sexism or poverty? Imagine all of that time and effort and money being used to promote action or actually taking action than on surveyance of the next outrage.
More of my rant against “my own” over here.
Ted
Cerberus
Ignoramus- Soros doesn’t fund Media Matters.
Doug: among other things, Scaife has funded NewsMax, the American Enterpirse Institute, the Federalist Society, Judicial Watch, and the Media Research Center (the right wing equivalent to Media Matters) – not to mention the entire Arkansas Project.
Jose: while Soros doesn’t fund them directly, MMFA is affiliated with organizations that are funded by Soros, including the Center for American Progress. In my mind, whoever funds them is totally irrelevant to the discussion, except to inflame people who bristle at the mention of Soros’ name.
Ted: MMFA is not “secretly” monitoring anybody. It is well known that they are a monitoring organization – it’s what they do, just like MRC and others. But I’ll have you know that I agree with your post for the most part (and I have no use for the Jacksons or Sharptons of the world), and I’m glad that there are voices on at least one side of the political fence who recognize that merely trying to score political points isn’t in the best interests of society. I’ll be shocked to see similar self-admonishments on sites like this.
Ah, the feigned outrage at every opportunity.
Are perceived slurs equal from Blacks to Whites as from Whites to Blacks?
We all know the answer to that and why.
It’s time we all grew up. Why anyone with a thought process beyond a turnip could say something so thoughtless and think no one would notice is another story.
Of course all Rubes just HAVE to be Conservative and all Sophisticated Urbanites HAVE to be Liberals. Talk about stereotypes!
There are good and bad examples of both, so there!
Odd how time can change our perspective on those things we think at the moment to be important. Last week the MSM was gleefully crucifying Don Imus. The great satan, bigot, racist,etc. His stupid remake refering to the Rudgers women’s basketball team as nappy-headed hoes was an indication of the great racial divide in the US.
Imus apologized for the great evil he had committed and the basketball team accepted it although his comments would “mark” them for the rest of their lives. This week we have seen what evil really is and it turned the classrooms at Virgina Tech. in to so many abattiors.
To the ladies on the Rudgers basketball team. You have been unjustly slurred,demeaned, “dissed”,
etc. It hurts to be sure but you will get over it.
On the other hand, the victims at Virginia Tech. can’t get over being dead.
Ted – I fully agree with you (!). Very nice post.
And, how about the G&M poll of today, which asks the question – Are governments going too far when they propose to suspend of expel students for comments posted on private online sites’.
The answers? YES got 10%, while NO got 90%. The ‘no’ side is over 28,000 votes.
Think about it.
This means gov’t imposed censorship. If you, a student, oppose your gov’t (eg, Zimbabwe), you aren’t allowed to express your dissent. If you, a student, oppose some practice, such as affirmative action, such as abortion, such as whatever – you aren’t allowed to post this, because the gov’t could suspend you???
What’s happened to free speech?
Note that the question wasn’t specific. It didn’t say ‘posting demands for killing someone’; it didn’t say ‘exhorting people to murder people’. All it said – is does the gov’t have the right to control free speech?
And despite all the ballyhoo about ‘our glorious charter’ – 90% of the responses affirmed that the gov’t SHOULD have that right!!
Incredible.
Right on Ted
There is a strange neo-puritanism re-emerging on the right along with the more oppressive political correctness on the left, both major threats to free speech and reason. Examples of which are the respective ridiculous reactions to Janet Jackson’s microscopic boob flash on TV and more recently the MSM-frenzied reaction to the otherwise non-event of brain-dead Don Imus.
I take little comfort in the market-based censure from (sponsoring) corporate wimps as 99% of them will cave on anything.
Is Western society so self-absorbed in titillation that no one, or group can judge for themselves what is right or wrong and to be ignored accordingly without calling up institutional inquisitions complete with compliant victimhood. Whatever happened to the thinking embodied in: “who gives a shit”, or “consider the source” or “same to ya F…Head”.
These events are attacks against human capacity to reason and the direction that we are heading will lead to supplanting individual thought and judgement with group-think and censorship.
John, I’m partial to “same to ya F…Head”. And thanks for the reminder of Jackson. My “rant” was focused on a little beating up of my fellow travellers. Didn’t mean to say they are the only self-defeating professional yellers and complainers.
“I’ll be shocked to see similar self-admonishments on sites like this.”
Well you are what you are and that is what you is so you’ll be what you will be!
Hypocritical Ignoramus.
Imus had the unhappy timing for the remark to coincide with a slow news week. Had his remark occurred this week, events at Virginia Tech would have doubtless overshadowed his gaffe, and the end result would be closer to a wrist slap than full dismissal.
Happily, though, the good works of the likes of the “Reverand” Sharpton and Jackson have identified a cancerous element within popular culture, namely the cheapening and degradation of women within common street vernacular. So it’s only a matter of time before they lobby Warner Communications, EMI etc. to commence shutting down rap artists who don’t clean up their lyrics, and to address the improprieties from such black comedians such as Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, etc. etc.
Right?
mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm
ps – ET : I first thought your reference to the G&M poll was a joke, until I surfed the site myself. I cannot believe that only 11% of the respondents thought that government-controlled speech was OK… (!!). Even the semi-worthless Canadian Charter of Rights “guarantees” free speech (well, to a point), notwithstanding the Notwithstanding Clause, perhaps.
Wonder how long it’s gonna take before the government starts to monitor/control blogs like this, or trace the recipients who use them?
I have only one piece of advice for people in this case:
Torpark
OMMAG: I apologize for being present at the same site as you. I’m obviously not qualified to be in your presence, since I have never been blessed with the knowledge of what it’s like to never be wrong.
The Globe poll has to be seen in context. They’ve been running a series of stories about student bullying and cyberbullying and online intimidation. The proposed rule changes at schools relates to cyberbullying.
Rumor going around is that Imus was canned due to his threats to do a Rosie on 911. Probably true. Imus did his thing for years and never had a problem. He was the original shock jock and this was easy to use against him by anybody that would want to silence him.
Ted – that G&M poll did not define the context. I do not read the G&M, except online; I was allowed to vote in that poll.
Therefore, how many of the votes in that poll were from people like me, who did not apply the question to ‘the context’ – because they knew nothing of the context and simply answered the question, as it was asked?
If the G&M question was about cyberbullying by students, then, that’s what it ought to have asked.
Ted
thanks for the note; that’s somewhat more favorable than how it read at first glance.
Want to bet the libs were scratching their heads trying to figure out how to shutdown captainsquartersblog.com when all the Adscam details surfaced on a daily basis?
ET:
There is a note, directly under the poll question, that says: “Related story: Ontario wants cyber-bullies punished”.
The Globe poll has to be seen in context….The proposed rule changes at schools relates to cyberbullying.
And who gets to decide what is bullying? Aside from the other issues of free speech and privacy, I would think that is a pretty slippery slope, empowering the nanny state to play mommy.
If one is physically threatened or stalked, there are legal authorities one should contact just like you would if you received a threatening phone call. That’s not enough? For God’s sake, authorizing the state to monitor personal sites, draft more vague and misapplied hate laws, it’s amazing how many sheeple willingly surrender their integrity and autonomy to the state. Even more amusing is that it’s the same lefty sheeple that go to pieces over the legitmate right of gov’t to monitor terrorist sites and phone calls with the Patriot Act, worried sick enough safeguards aren’t in place, that would cheer gov’t monitoring My Space and campus emails.
So, Ted, for those that can’t handle verbal bullying, mom isn’t available, I guess the nanny state is the next best line of defense. Most of us were empowered to cope on our own once we left the playground.
Penny, we’re getting off Kate’s topic on this thread but I am not taking a position on this proposed anti-cyberbullying law/rule or the G&M poll. I was merely pointing out a possible explanation for why respondents on this extremely scientific study of citizen opinions support censorship 90:10.
Ted – I certainly didn’t see that note when I first logged in to the G&M. Was it added?
And penny – I agree with you. Who decides what is bullying?
penny….well said. When I went to scholl we simply toke care of bully’s by 4 or more of us beating the crap out of them after school. No principals,no advisors,just a few PO’ed kids at what was being done to them by one bully. Sometimes we took them on one-to-one. Funny. The one who’s clock I was lucky enough to cream became a fine, outstanding family man, and one of my best adult friends. Now why can’t socialists figure this out?
Ignoramous .. you are almost correct!
I’m not never wrong! Just seldom!
Been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again.
But not today.
Justthinkin’ I’m with you on that. I remember in the ’50’s taking some A-Hole out and making him eat dog
S..t because he was such a jerk.
From what I can determine today, he’s a successful
insurance broker doing the right thing, with a wife and family.
He just needed a little attitude adjustment, was all.
My mom emailed me from Russia asking about certain Don Imus, who was, according to her information, fired for a threat to reveal truth about 9/11 on radio… I almost swallowed my chewing gum.
Liz J
“Of course all Rubes just HAVE to be Conservative and all Sophisticated Urbanites HAVE to be Liberals. Talk about stereotypes! ”
From personal experience, I have been banned elsewhere for talking about that particular stereotype.
Imus got punished for that performance at the dinner for Clinton at the time he was president.
As far as can be found out, those basketball ladies never heard and would have never heard what Imus said. It was brought to their attention by the organization that closely watches what people they don’t like say and then they go for the kill.
It’s too bad that sometime this kind of insult happens. It would have been better to let the ladies tell the guy what they think of him. Hopefully, headshrinkers will not get hold of them, if so, they will ruin their lives.
Freedom of speech must go on unaffected, even though there will be cry to check it. Sadly the US is the only monument to free speech. Unfortunately we here, have limits, more so as time goes by.
Real Conservative,
Rumor going around is that Imus was canned due to his threats to do a Rosie on 911.
Nice to see that you read Pravda. They have good alien coverage too!
AL SHARPTON and the LIBERALS real praciouners of tolerence SCREW THEM ALL