Don Imus

p.s. I just noticed the forum language filter filters out f*ck but not nigger. Nice.

Because no one expects anyone to be dumb enough to say it.

I take it you've never been called "nigger" out of the blues or had someone tell you "f*ck you, get me a white person." I can go on and on. Shit adds up after a while you know. Emotionally, not everyone is like you. No one should have to put up with that sort of thing.

As for rap it's mostly consumed by white people. People will make whatever sells and white kids sure are buying.

p.s. I just noticed the forum language filter filters out f*ck but not nigger. Nice.

I was watching Inside the Actors Studio with Eddie Murphy yesterday and in a scene from 48 hours they bleeped the "F" word, the "S" word, the "MF" word...but not the "N" word. Weird

Damn now the vbulletin software here is racist?? What's next?

;)

SGG is right, I never expected anyone to use the N word otherwise it would be censored. Would you feel better if it was added to the list Saden? There was no harm meant by not including it, believe me. My ignorance I guess.

I don't get the whole part of how much this has offended them to the point that they say it has (life time of pain). Yes the remarks where bad but how can a college and coach allow this to cause these players this much sorrow. What would have happend if this would have been a week before the playoffs. Would they have just hung their heads and given up. I would be of the mind set that what one person said is not going to bother me and I feel the coach and school have let them down by buying into all this stuff. They say how much this offended them but I bet if we could look at their CD collection we could find much worse degrading of women. This is music that the younger generation is listening to and watching so how are they going to treat women after all of this negative influence. I talked to my daughter about this and she said she sees and hears this stuff all the time.

As for your daughter's comments - were the statements directed at her personally or at a group of her and friends? or at some other group entirely? If directed at her, what was her reaction? If at others, did she take offense?

On the "Scarred for life? Aren't we going a bit too far?" issue, I am with you.

The remarks we wrong and (given Imus' history) clearly part of a larger racist (and sexist) attitude he both holds and condones. He committed a wrong and should (and was) punished.

As to the actual harm caused by the wrong - that is a trickier question in my mind. Granted, I am a white male and have not been the target of either historic systemic racism (given the US's cultural history, a near impossibility) or specific individual racism directed against me either by comment or action (i.e. - comment: "white men can't jump"; action: "We won't hire you b/c ur a white male"). Thus, I have no first hand knowledge of the harm caused by either. Being somewhat educated and well-read, however, I am capable of learning and understanding the emotions and feelings of someone who has been the subject of either systemic or direct racism.

I do have experience, on multiple occasions, of people directing hateful, malicious or otherwise degrading comments at me. In some cases, this was done in a very public manner. For each case (even those I considered slanderous), however, I did not consider myself "scarred". Some hurt more than others, but all were simply words, and, in my mind, words can only have the power we give them (i.e. Lenny Bruce's famous routine "niggernigger niggernigger - I am going to repeat this word until it is robbed of meaning"). To allow Imus to scar you with words is to give him more power over you mentally than he could ever have physically. I think this is especially true when it is universally recognized that the words used were hateful and, as such, universally condemned.

In light of the universal condemnation of the action, I don't understand the "scarring": Were you unaware that racism exists? Did you as a female black athelete believe that someone who knew you would actually give credence to these words? Did you yourself give any credibility to the words? Does the fact that the words have been universally condemned have no meaning to you?

Granted, words can cause harm but,when it comes to mental anguish, to a certain degree, that harm is yours to control. It is as the old adage says "sticks and stones can brake my bones, but words can never hurt me". It is only when people act upon words that you can be harmed in a way you cannot control. The mere utterance of hateful speech does nothing but highlight the hatefulness of the speaker.

Finally, a question meant to provoke discussion and not intended as either snarky or aloof: Is there any generic racial comment about a group of white men or in reference to a white man that would cause a black commentator to be fired or otherwise sanctioned beyond a slap on the wrist?

Damn now the vbulletin software here is racist?? What's next?

;)

SGG is right, I never expected anyone to use the N word otherwise it would be censored. Would you feel better if it was added to the list Saden? There was no harm meant by not including it, believe me. My ignorance I guess.



Trust me, I don't care. If there has been one complaints about me it's that I don't really care about anything but the $$$....hehe. What i'm trying to say is I'm never passionate about a particular subject. I'm not an ideologue.

I'm just pointing out things that are not so obvious to everyone might be to others. Things that don't seem hurtful to some might be to others. A lot of little things add up. The vBulletin filter thing is so very little and it doesn't really matter.

I take it you've never been called "nigger" out of the blues or had someone tell you "f*ck you, get me a white person." I can go on and on. Shit adds up after a while you know. Emotionally, not everyone is like you. No one should have to put up with that sort of thing.

Yup. I would agree that being the constant target of rascist comments would inevitably anger me to the point of striking back in kind. At some point, regardless of the adage, words do hurt and can cause true anguish.

But that is not what's at work here. Here, hateful comments were made and immediately and universally condemned.

If, when someone called you "nigger" other whites rallied to you and told the ass who said it to f--- off, would that "add up"? If, when someone said, "get me a white person", the nearest white person then said: "Shut the f--- up, he's the best we have. It's him or nobody, and frankly if you choose nobody, we'll be good with that. Have a nice day." would that "add up"?

Doesn't the universal condemnation of the comments say something about a change in the culture of america? Yes, racism exists (it likely always will to some degree) but we do not condone it and, if you try and condone it in a public forum, you will be subject to public scorn.

Trust me, I don't care. If there has been one complaints about me it's that I don't really care about anything but the $$$....hehe. What i'm trying to say is I'm never passionate about a particular subject. I'm not an ideologue.

I'm just pointing out things that are not so obvious to everyone might be to others. Things that don't seem hurtful to some might be to others. A lot of little things add up. The vBulletin filter thing is so very little and it doesn't really matter.

Well, you did make a point. The N word is something I don't didn't even think about when I was adding words to the filter. Partly because I didn't think anyone was dumb enough to use it, and 2nd because it's a word that I don't have to deal with in the manner that you do.

OF CORSE YOU CANT cause your probaly a white guy, and wouldnt understand at all, whether there white girls on the team or not, it wasnt directed toward the white women, ( so dont play retared) he was targeting a race of women not the whole team, but the more I hear these stupid ass, comments about how he isnt racist just stupid, means you have no more sensitivity toward these girls than he do, and you just catgoried you self with him.


how do you know he was only targeting the black girls on the team. during the rutger press conference each player from the team stood at the podium to speek. i do realize that the majority of the girls are black but why then did the white girls also speak during the press conference ? you make it sound as though i'm defending the guy , all i'm saying is his statement seems to be more sexist then racist. are only black girls called hoes, or is it the "nappy headed" part that makes it racist. i've heard white girls be called hoes before and i've never concidered the words nappy head to refer to any specific race. would imus have been talking about the white girls on the team if he would have said "bad haired sluts" people assume he was targetting the blacks because it was a white male talking about a basketball team . people forget that white poeple still play basketball too.

all these over the top reactions to his statement cause a bigger divide between blacks and whites then the actuall statement itself.

Ok so instead of bitching at each other about stupid little points, how about discussing the big issue? Racism is still present in America, how should we deal with it? Honestly how much have accomplished by arguing about the stupid filter.

Perhaps Imus should have lost his job, but he lost it for all the wrong reasons. He lost it because of money and image, rather than people consciously trying to deal with the issue.

Obviously quite a bit of Americans are uneducated and do not have resources to understand the issues, so I personally think we need to do more to educate people all over the US, so there will be less "bigots". To me the alarming thing is people who are racist but have money and are educated. You would think going through education people will not develop racist views, but that isn't true.

Another point that TMC brought up, and that I would like to ask some of the black members at this forum, and that is do you think Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are good leaders of the black community? I know they give back a lot and that is a positive, but as some members mentioned they seem to segregate the community rather than integrate. Personally I feel Bill Cosby would be a better one because he realized that we cannot just keep on self-segregating and the responsibility falls on BOTH sides, white and black.

Any thoughts? And please only response to my post if you want to have a civil discussion.

how do you know he was only targeting the black girls on the team. during the rutger press conference each player from the team stood at the podium to speek. i do realize that the majority of the girls are black but why then did the white girls also speak during the press conference ? you make it sound as though i'm defending the guy , all i'm saying is his statement seems to be more sexist then racist. are only black girls called hoes, or is it the "nappy headed" part that makes it racist. i've heard white girls be called hoes before and i've never concidered the words nappy head to refer to any specific race. would imus have been talking about the white girls on the team if he would have said "bad haired sluts" people assume he was targetting the blacks because it was a white male talking about a basketball team . people forget that white poeple still play basketball too.

all these over the top reactions to his statement cause a bigger divide between blacks and whites then the actuall statement itself.

Do you know any white girls with nappy hair?