Goodbye, Radio Legend

Quote of the day:
"The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness."
--Michel de Montaigne

The Don Imus bonfire has about burned out, but I want to poke around a bit in the smoldering ashes.

A good thing to come out of this is the attention we have paid this week to the level of crude and rude coarseness that many of us have come to accept as “just one of those things.” There have also been constructive discussions about freedom of expression, where the line is drawn between art and journalism and what should be allowed on the public airwaves.

I wonder if it ever would’ve crossed Don Imus’ consciousness to say something outrageous, demeaning and insulting about a men’s college basketball team whose players were black? I doubt it. I’m not even sure the language exists to be equally insulting to men.

His comment was certainly racist, but it is even more sexist. And it certainly gives me pause that a broadcaster of Imus’ stature, in a moment of grasping for an audience-provoking and outrageous thing to say, would so easily let this specific statement fall out of his mouth.

It’s true that some hip-hop songs have used this language, and worse. But no one is forced to buy or listen to music that offends them. There is an issue here of freedom of expression--as long as it’s not inflicted on anyone.

But Imus was speaking to the public on the open airwaves, just like shouting it from a few hundred thousand street corners simultaneously. It’s insulting, demeaning and personal.