Imus deserved his punishment,but the hypocrisy surrounding this flap is amazing. Check that-it's a crying shame !

Well, I do think its slightly disturbing that two antisemitic wingnuts like Jackson and Sharpton appear to be able to destroy the career of anyone they feel like. Don't you?

It's an opening salvo all right: in the Left's assault on talk radio. Ultimate target: Rush Limbaugh

I go for a ritual scapegoating rather a crucifixion.

And with Imus being sent into the desert to rid us of all of our sins.

Makes you realize all over again just how specific to human nature that ritual is.

Benjamin,

I agree it is disturbing that Al Sharpton, at least, but perhaps also Jesse Jackson, could be taken seriously in any such moral or racial controversy. But you know they are not "able to destroy the career of anyone they feel like." Imus handed them the rope.

To me what was distasteful about the Imus comment was not the specific taboo words, although they were what sunk him, it was that he was attacking innocent people who were not making of themselves controversial or public figures suitable for any kind of harsh attack, except perhaps for their basketball playing, if it were lacking. It would also be about as mean (and to me as unacceptable) to refer to the a women's swim team as "ugly skank trailer-trash."

'Antisemitic rhetoric' would logically disqualify if that was targeting someone, considered by them, of equal humanity to the African-American.

DW--
I'm with you that what Imus said was disgusting, but he's basically paid to say disgusting things. I just don't think this is that big a deal. The whole thing strikes me as Bonfire of the Vanities-style pile on. Which doesn't mean that Imus isn't a blowhard and a moron, but I would say that, for instance, Al Sharpton starting an antisemitic riot was a serious instance of racist incitement. This is not. As Paul says, the hypocrisy is thick on the ground on this one.

Al Sharpton's antisemitic rhetoric has gotten people killed (1995, Freddy's Fashion Mart). He first came to prominence, of course, by pimping the fraudulent accusations of Tawana Brawley. His two co-agitators in that character assassination, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason, were later disbarred, and have faded from sight--but Sharpton, being merely a self-ordained self-promoter, has no valid credentials of which he can be stripped, and so continues to pollute public discourse with impunity.

Imus is a crude, loudmouthed fool who made a vulgar, tasteless comment. But that comment, unlike Sharpton's utterances, caused material harm to nobody.

Despite rumors of campaign-finance and other financial irregularities, Sharpton has never yet been indicted, let alone convicted, for a major crime. But if the same standard of consequence for inflammatory speech were applied to Sharpton that he, among others, insisted be applied to Imus, Sharpton would have long ago been consigned to obscurity and ignominy, if not immured in a prison cell.

By the same token, if the same standard of reward that has been applied to Sharpton were applied to Imus, Imus would have received at the very least a nomination for a National Brotherhood Week award.

B"H

As someone who is both African American and Sephardi (mixed) I think the Imus incident brings up a number of issues that I think Americans should have been talking about years ago. I am a firm believer that once people pass a certain age they are supposed to be the elders and the leaders in society. So when I hear grown men make some of the comments that Imus, Jackson, Sharpton, and others have made it this respect it makes me wonder about some of the bigger issues.

I have recently been posting comments on some of the African American blogs that are out there, because in some cases they bring up us Jews. They mention that when something anti-semitic is said or done, the media keeps a spot light on it (as if to say that White American media and American Jews are in sync.) On one blog I recently explained that the only reason the media may keep up with the effects of anti-semitic remarks or actions is because WE the Jewish community keep it in the fore front.

What you have to understand about Jackson and Sharpton is that because certain "black" people in the last 20 years have been made to believe that they are victoms, their has also been the push to find people who have a voice to represent them. When people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were killed there were a number of African Americans who were looking for someone(s) to step into their places. So this is how people like Jackson and Sharpton came into their current position. This is also why any attack on Jackson and Sharpton is seen by SOME Blacks as an attack on all Black people. It is a complicated matter.

Essentially, I think Imus's remarks also speaks to some issues in CERTAIN "Black" communities. (I make a distinction between black and African American for cultural reasons) This is something that is coming out now about how rap/hip hop since the 1990's has used the same language the Imus show used and worse in many cases. I remember when rap/hip hop mostly talked about positive things and when it was un heard of to hear foul language or topics in the music. I also remember that changed when "gangster rap" became popular. I remember how only a few "black" leaders step to the plate to say that it was morally wrong.

I recently wrote an article of how those within and outside of "black" culture can look at the issue. http://hochmaumusar.blogspot.com/