Townhall.com, Where Your Opinion Counts
Talk Radio:   Bill Bennett   Mike Gallagher   Dennis Prager   Michael Medved   Hugh Hewitt   
BREAKING NEWS  LeftArrow - Townhall.com : Conservative, Political, Republican   RightArrow - Townhall.com : Conservative, Political, Republican  
Columns, funnies & more in your inbox!
Login | What's Hot
  • Check the boxes and send us your email address to receveive your free newsletter
  • Your daily must-read of conservative columns, cartoons and news. Coulter, Sowell, Krauthammer and more.
  • Townhall.com’s weekly inside scoop on what’s happening behind the scenes in the world of politics. When news breaks, we report.
  • Signup to receive the latest daily Townhall cartoons
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Michelle Malkin :: Townhall.com Columnist
The Culture of "Bitches, Hos, and Niggas"
by Michelle Malkin
Forward Print Share Single Page
Vote on It:
Average Vote:
[+] Text [-]
 
 
Poll
Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


Let's stipulate: I have no love for Don Imus, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. A pox on all their race-baiting houses.

Let's also stipulate: The Rutgers women's basketball team didn't deserve to be disrespected as "nappy-headed hos." No woman deserves that. I agree with the athletes that Imus's misogynist mockery was "deplorable, despicable and unconscionable." And as I noted on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" this week, I believe top public officials and journalists who have appeared on Imus's show should take responsibility for enabling Imus -- and should disavow his longstanding invective.

But let's take a breath now and look around. Is the Sharpton & Jackson Circus truly committed to cleaning up cultural pollution that demeans women and perpetuates racial epithets? Have you seen the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart this week?

The No. 1 rap track is by a new sensation who goes by the name of "Mims." The "song" is "This Is Why I'm Hot." It has topped the charts for the last 15 weeks. Here's a taste of the lyrics that young men and women are cranking up in their cars:

This is why I'm hot
Catch me on the block
Every other day
Another bitch another drop
16 bars, 24 pop
44 songs, nigga gimme what you got . . .
. . . We into big spinners
See my pimping never dragged
Find me wit' different women that you niggas never had
For those who say they know me know I'm focused on ma cream
Player you come between you'd better focus on the beam
I keep it so mean the way you see me lean
And when I say I'm hot my nigga dis is what I mean

Let's move down the Billboard list, shall we? The No. 2 rap track in the nation this week is by rappers Bow Wow and R. Kelly (yes, the same R. Kelly who was indicted five years ago on a raft of child-porn charges and is still awaiting trial). The "song" is called "I'm a Flirt," and it's been on the charts for 12 weeks:

Ima b pimpin
I don't be slippin
When it come down to these hos
I don't love em
We don't cuff em
Man that's just the way it goes
I pull up in the Phantom
All the ladies think handsome
Jewelry shining, I stay stuntin'
That's why these niggas can't stand em
Ima chick mag-a-net
And anything fine I'm bag-gin it
And if she got a man, I don't care
10 toes and I wanna be, cause I gotta have it
 The final line:

Now the moral of the story is cuff yo chick, 'cause hey,
I'm black, fresh, and I rap, plus I'm rich, and I'm a flirt.

Al Sharpton, I am sure, is ready to call a press conference with the National Organization for Women to jointly protest this garbage and the radio stations and big pimpin' music companies behind it.

Or perhaps the New Civility Squad is not convinced yet that the Billboard chart toppers I've highlighted are representative? Let's proceed to No. 3 on the Billboard rap charts this week (and on the charts for the past 13 weeks): "Go Getta" by a rapper named "Young Jeezy" with a special appearance by R. Kelly (again!). Here's the "chorus":

You know we trap all day
Play all night
Dis Is Da Life Of A Go Getta (Ey) Go Getta (Ey) Go Getta (Yea)
U In Da Club
U C A Bad Bitch
Point Her Out (Oh)
Yea U Damn Right Ima (Ey)
You Damn Right Ima Go Getta (Ey) Go Getta (Ey) Go Getta (Yea)

The No. 4 song on the Billboard Rap Tracks charts is "Throw Some D's" by "Rich Boy featuring Polow Da Don." (It's been on the charts for 18 weeks.) Here's the chorus:

Rich Boy sellin' crack
F--k niggas wanna jack
Sh-t tight no slack
Just bought a Cadillac (Throw some D's on that bitch!)
Just bought a Cadillac (Throw some D's on that bitch!)

Just bought a Cadillac

The lyrical rap poet known as "Unk" has the No. 5 spot with "2 Step." On the charts for nine weeks, here's a taste of his dope rhyme:

I See You Got It Right
Beat My Wrist Ice
Colder Than A Bud Light
Now I'm a Take My Time
Where The Gangsters At
And You Can Still Post The Wall Nigga Holla Back
Grey Goose And Yak
Blunt Filled With Kush
I'm Getting Jiggy With It
Smoking On That George Bush
Step

And at No. 6 is "Rock Your Hips" by "Crime Mob." Here's the non-obscene part:

She rock her hips
She rock her hips
I like that way
She rock her hips
She rock her hips
I like the way
She rock her hips

But you can't have a hit without the n-word, of course:

Now I got 32 flavors of that bootylicious bubblegum
Raspberry, grape, cherry,
Come and get this honey bun
Yummy-yum baby, not your ordinary lady

Known to drive the niggas crazy

One dumb radio/television shock jock's insult is a drop in the ocean of barbaric filth and anti-female hatred on the radio.

Imus gets a two-week suspension. What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage from young, black rappers and their music industry enablers who have helped turn America into Tourette's Nation?
Share:
Forward Print Single Page
Vote on It:
Average Vote:
 
About The Author

Michelle Malkin makes news and waves with a unique combination of investigative journalism and incisive commentary. She is the author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild .

Be the first to read Michelle Malkin's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com delivered each morning to your inbox.

©Creators Syndicate

Join The Debate!

Post Your Comment
(245 comments so Far)
View in ascending order     View in descending order
Reply # 1
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:20 AM EST
That's the reason...
...I could not read "I Am Charlotte Simmons." The language was exactly that of Mrs. Malkin's examples....
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 2
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:29 AM EST
Imus, Ho's, and Cleaning Women
About twenty years ago I heard the story of a young white man employed as Dean of Student Life at a predominantly black college in the South. Wanting to succeed in his job, he tried to get next to the students. He had observed that they (Should Sharpton raise hell about rap lyrics? I think he should. Perhaps he has. I don't follow his career.)

Young people aren't old enough to remember what the world was like when racial stereotyping and insult were commonplace. Here's one small example. When I was in second grade, that would be 1941, our class was taught, by the teacher, to sing a little song called Ching Chong Chinaman. As we sang it, the teacher showed us how to pull the outer edges of our eyes upward to make our eyes look slanted, and also how to mince along with our feet (I'm not sure what that was about unless maybe the Ching Chong Chinaman had bound feet). As a further extension of our social studies education we also learned a poem that ended with the lines "Little Jap and Portugee/ Don't you wish that you were me?".

Please. The world can do better now.



Flag as Offensive

Reply # 3
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:31 AM EST
Time For A Cultural Epiphany!
Go Michelle!
Wonder if the rappers really think they are tough, or do they just play all the suckers for their money by talking trash, calling it "cultural", selling themselves (hey, isn't that what HO's do?) and the futures of the nations' young people for fixes, fame and Caddies>
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 4
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:33 AM EST
OMG !

You said the enn word !

Stand-by for the Race Lord Sharpton to demand an apology from you !
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 5
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:35 AM EST
Half of My Previous Post Disappeared
Who understands the ways of the townhall server? It ate about 50% of my previous post. The point of my anecdote about the young Southern white man serving as Dean of Student Life at a black college was that after he heard students calling one another N* he tried calling them N*s ("How y'all N*s doin'?!") and met with stony silence. My point was that it's one thing for black rappers to say N* and Ho and quite another thing for a white man to do it because we are still 'way too close to a world where whites said that kind of thing all the time and nothing happened.

And in the Imus case, the white man in question did indeed have a history of making racist remarks, as when he referred to the New York Times reporter assigned to cover the White House (a job of some significance) as "the cleaning woman" because she was a black woman. Or when he spoke of an interracially married government official saying that the music at the couple's wedding would have been "Jungle Fever".
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 6
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:37 AM EST
Seriously
Michelle, great article on the double standard.
Jackson and Sharpton calling for Imus to be fired, but never mind the filth that is on the airways day and night, you sit next to them in traffic while your car lifts several feet off the ground from the boom, boom, boom.

http://peppermintsplace.townhall.com
Chapter 11 of Juliet's diary on my blog
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 7
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:46 AM EST
Good grief
lilly, what kind of school did you go to. I never heard such a thing. Must have been one of the socialist government schools.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 8
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:46 AM EST
Lilly

Jackson and Sharpton don't give a hoot in a hollar that insensitive remarks were made by an idiot who gets paid to be an idiot on the radio.

Except that they then are able to stir the racial tension kettle and keep themselves in the Spotlight, and in their minds, be relevant.

As there is no room for racial epithets or insults, there is also no room for hypocritical Race Lords like these two.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 9
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:02 AM EST
The Truth
Great column, Michelle.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 10
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:07 AM EST
Gotta admit
I'm having a blast just sitting back and watching the libs eating their own.

Kind of a Kodak Moment, or Miller Time without having to spring for a brewski.

BTW, check out the pic of Imus with the article.



How long's the guy been dead, anyway?

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 11
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:12 AM EST
Right on Michelle!
Any one who even thinks Rap is music has jelly for a brain! You would think that the filth these Rappers vomit daily would be an embarrassment to all Blacks in general. But you never hear of any Blacks showing outrage for the disgusting performance. The image these Rappers project of the Black community at-large is of the lowest possible slime.

Imus deserves everything he gets. But to watch those two 'Race Baiter's' $harpton and Jack$on, demand his job while never saying a word about the Rappers is sickening in itself. They do nothing to lift the black culture to higher standards!
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 12
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:12 AM EST
Brian

I've seen a five day corpse that looked more lively.

You suppose he is technically dead?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 13
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:20 AM EST
PappyMichael
You are cracking me up tonight.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 14
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:22 AM EST
What is truly
amazing is that Imus has been insulting everyone over everything for years now. Suddenly, we have this outrage?

Like Goshawk, Sharpton and Jackson never miss any opportunity to turn things into a carnival. :-)
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 15
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:22 AM EST
Where have you people been?
Yes Jackson and Sharpton are only in this for the publicity. Big suprise there.

The truth is that every leading black publication in the country has written extensively about and disparagingly of the low standards and mysogyny in rap music. This is in fact a major topic of discussion in the African American community for many years.

The issue here is not Jackson or Sharpton, it is Imus. He and his ilk, Coulter, Maher, etc...have unfortunately succeeded in convincing many that the 1st Amendent was designed to give license to intellectual midgets whose primary tool of discourse is the insult.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 16
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:28 AM EST
Peppermint

I have to admit, I have been having fun dissing Imus.

"Nappy Headed Ho", where do you get such lines?

Oh yeah, he was trying to sound Black, hip, cool, in touch, etc.

Difficult as it is for any white man to sound cool when he is trying to sound black, it is definitely not something a walking corpse should try.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 17
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:29 AM EST
A side remark
According to Billboard magazine the largest consumer of rap music is guess who?

White suburbanites.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 18
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:33 AM EST
PappyMichael
You have provided me with some of the best laughs tonight. And, I needed every one of them.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 19
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:42 AM EST
Peppermint

Glad to be of service !
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 20
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:43 AM EST
Racism Cannot Be Summed Up By Lyrics
I agree that the many, many, many double standards we hold in our society are very unfortunate, Ms. Malkin. However, I do not approve of your combining journalism with straw man fallacies or of your targeting of a specific group when writing a piece on such broad issues as racism and political correctness. People are warned with a parental advisory sticker before they make the decision to download or purchase a music record, a film, or any type of medium that contains vulgarity of any kind. Broadcasts of basketball games do not, however, come with this parental advisory sticker, which is one of the things that puts Imus's racial remarks out of place. (Another thing that puts Imus's racial remarks out of place is political correctness itself and the fact that it is against policy to express racism publicly. And yes, Ms. Malkin, we are aware that different races are "allowed" to "slur themselves." No need to explain that point so extensively, and there was certainly no need to target specific artists when writing a piece about political correctness in a professional setting. Keywords: professional setting.)

The straw man fallacies include your piece using irrelevant media in an attempt to misconstrue rap music as blame for Imus receiving what your piece implies is a heavy and harsh reprimand for his racial slur. My argument here is that you should not compare recorded music to the conduct of an employee in a professional setting.

I respect your opinions but disagree with your clear attempt to portray rap music as defamatory, damaging, and racist. True as it may or may not be, it is not your (or anyone's) place in the Imus case to claim that your personal opinions of rap music are so entirely relevant to Americans using (and being punished for using) racial slurs that you feel the need to quote line after line of rap lyrics and portray them in a very narrow-minded light.

I agree that America practices its own version of racism when addressing the issue of racism and its consequences, but you cannot fight the force of cultural racism by slamming groups, like hip hop artists, who are more irrelevant to the Imus case than they are relevant. And, as a side note, do you have the rights to reproduce the lyrics that you did?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 21
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 1:45 AM EST
Peppermint, Lilly
While I didn't learn the Ching Chong Chinaman song or the Little Jap and Portugee poem in school, I'm not the least bit shocked that Lilly did. Go back 50 or 60 years ago, and even earlier, and you'll find that the average person thought nothing of "ethnic slurs". I don't think they even thought of them as such. It was simply the free way that people talked.

I remember grade school girls (including myself) chanting "I live in Chinka China, a China girl I am,...". The corner stores in my city sold penny candy. One favorite was ni**a babies. Little black licorice candies in the shape of a child. As I recall, their consistency was much the same as the sugar-coated green leaves and orange slices on the candy shelves today.

Imagine a young fellow with a limp getting the nickname "Gimpy". And imagine that "Gimpy" was not offended. Lots of young fellows were tagged with nicknames in earlier years. My uncle, eight years older than I, had a friend dubbed "Spook", for example. I have no idea why he was so dubiously honored. Never thougt to ask my uncle.

For many who can't stomach political correctness (include me), they were born too late to relate to times when the very concept did not exist!
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 22
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:02 AM EST
Harmony
Thank you so much for a dose of reality. As recently as 10 years ago I was walking in a white suburb of Detroit. As I was crossing the street in front of a carload of white teenagers, they lurched their car toward me, yelled various epitaphs, including the n word, then as they sped away threw bottles at me.

Thanks to 'political correctness' this was an isolated incident. Without, I suspect it would be far less so.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 23
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:18 AM EST
bryce
Yeah, and when I lived in Denver, 18 black young 'mens' kidnapped my youngest 'chile', put barbeque sauce on her, and ate her for Thanksgiving dinner at Daddy Bruce's Homestyle Barbeque--saying 'white meat taste bess'.

Why, when I read your crap, do I get the feeling it's so much unadulterated bullsh**?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 24
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:24 AM EST
Not ashamed to admit it
Okay, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I couldn't make half sense out of those lyrics. Oh, I could recognize a few vulgarities and improprieties but I certainly did not understand any theme.

What I find particularly unfortunate is that an entire industry is dedicated to pure crap like this. I am certainly aware from other publicized lyrics that rap music is a conduit for hatred, bigotry, violence and prurient sexuality and to the extent that rap music projects these kinds of images then it is certainly a bad influence in my opinion upon the culture. I cannot honestly say whether this is true of all of rap music. I can only say that where this is true it is another tool that can be used for the racial exploitations of men like Sharpton and Jackson who are personally dependent upon the maintenance of a large minority of uncultured and illiterate followers who will continue to do their begging for them. Those who produce the crap should be ashamed. As for the rap music that has socially redeaming lyrics, if it does exist, I'll never find it because I simply cannot stand to listen to it.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 25
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:27 AM EST
P.S. Bryce
I know, I know... whitefolks tole dem too... (It's all our fault, dontcha know.)

I guess once you go black, you DO go back...
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 26
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:36 AM EST
donal
Thanks for emphasizing my point. Thank goodness society has evolved enough to keep you and your kind spewing your venom from computer keyboards instead of on our streets.

By the way, I am African American if your confused ramblings are trying to suggest otherwise.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 27
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:42 AM EST
Good column, Michelle.
Once again you have highlighted the double standards exhibited by Sharpton and Jackson. I have never seen either of them do a public service announcement and tell people that rap music is racist, sexist, and filthy so people should refuse to listen, buy, or dance to it.


Bryce,
You said, "According to Billboard magazine the largest consumer of rap music is guess who?
White suburbanites."

Billboard magazine is only one source. Of course it is based on "consumers" which are people who actually buy the music to begin with, yes? As for your earlier post about the black community being up in arms over rap music....I don't believe it. Bill Cosby was raked over the coals when he criticized the black community for things such as rap, unwed mothers, fathers impregnating and leaving the same unwed mothers, lack of values, lack of education or desire to be educated, etc. Even Oprah echoed his sentiments when she built her private academy in South Africa, where the African kids actually appreciate and value the opportunity to go to school. If I recall there was not a lot of press as to WHY she chose Africa over the United States.

Anybody wondering when Rosie is going to weigh in on the Imus issue?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 28
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:56 AM EST
not ashamed to be right
Believe it or not there is a large contingent in the African American community strongly opposed to rap lyrics.

If you go to the archives of any of the leading Afr Amer magazines...those not in the business of promoting rap...you will find many, many articles and editorials on the subject. Natiionally syndicated columnists such as Leonard Pitts, Tom Joyner, Nikki Giovanni and a host of others have written extensively on the subject.

It is a regular topic of Sunday sermons, barbershop talkathons, and I recently attended a conferrence on the subject at our local university.

In closing, anyone in the music industry will tell you that Billboard is THE source for industry sales figures and demograghics.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 29
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 2:58 AM EST
Bryce

You still live in Detroit?

Me, I'd get the heck out of any place like that.

No denying there is still racists alive and well, at least in Detroit and Imusville.

It doesn't help the Black Community to have Jackson and Sharpton sticking their nose into other people's business.

Do you think the Rutgers team needs help from those two old fools?

I think those young ladies and their coach handled the situation just fine, without any input from either "reverend".
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 30
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 3:04 AM EST
Bryce
I was QUITE sure you were African-American... no fear there I didn't know that...

Yeah, I'M the one that underlines your point instead of your sniveling, made-up, confabulation of self-congratulatory self-pity. Stop being so over-emotional and self-involved.

I object to what Imus said, totally. However, that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you come in here, make up some story that tries to make a racist point, play the race and then blame ME for the state of things--and play your victim politics without comment.

I am sick to death of your cult of being a professional victim. You made the same point you claim I made by saying 'you and you people'. You have NO idea who I am, or that I'm not black myself--I just don't appreciate your deliberate lies and saying so (or pointing them up as ridiculous) is not being racist.

P.S. I guess I should've said 'n**** holla', 'bootylicious', and 'stunting' instead of 'chile', 'bess', and 'tole'. You're right; you all would've looked like Einstein, then.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 31
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 3:10 AM EST
Um Brycie....
I hate to point out Math 101, but of course white people are going to buy more music (of any variety) than black people in America. YOU'RE 12% of the population, WE'RE not (and Hispanics aften get counted as white, too.)

I could also point out that there are more white people in college in the United States than there are African Americans, using your logic, but that would hardly prove white people were smarter than blacks... right?

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 32
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 3:20 AM EST
Imus Takes the Rap
Don Imus, our California raisin wannabe, has been punished for only one sin of his millions. The Rutgers' debacle is hardly major enough in the scheme of things to warrant so much media attention---I'd rather hear about a kitten up a tree, a much more interesting story. Rutgers and the MSM have overreacted and tripped over themselves so they can line up and kiss the feet of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Deeply hurt my foot. Give me a break. Haven't many thousands of people over the decades been 'deeply hurt' by the Imus foul mouth?

Imus has been insulting people for years, especially Republicans, Conservatives, and other sane people---such as his poor neighbor in Southport, CT [he never met her, but he found time to denigrate her on his show.] At times, he can be vicious and demeaning, and if the truth be told, he probably should apologize to thousands of people. But he won't. However, the powers-that-be have cowed him into this current apology, an overblown situation if I ever saw one. Certainly, he egregious insult of the basketball team should be covered, but not anymore than his insults of the President of the United States and other high officials. His claim of humor and satire is specious.

As far as I'm concerned, both Imus and Howard Stern [who have the Katzenjammer Kids' mentality] should be removed from the radio air waves for a lifetime of disgusting behavior---but I'm not in charge of free speech, so it'll never happen.

I can't help but hear rap 'music' in the community. Too many drivers turn their car radios full blast [especially vile when they have poor acoustics] and attack my ear drums. I guess it's a macho thing to have full blast noise emanating from your car and pretend not to be concerned. Didn't you ever hear the tinny bass while a car stops near you? It's enough to bounce you on the sidewalk. I hope rap goes far and disappears over the horizon. I see no redeeming quality in it. It's prison gangster and foul mouthed pseudo-poetry-lyrics from note one. Hopefully, it will only be a minor blot on the eternal timeline of music.

The foul language and mysogynistic lyrics of rap are worthy of nothing. Pay a penny a song and you're overpaying for trash. Send these so-called 'musicians' on their way, and make room for the new, innovative composers of tomorrow today.

Beware the Jabberwock my friends.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 33
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 3:35 AM EST
donal
The story I told is true. I told it to illustrate a point.

There was a time in the not too distant past when most Americans saw all black women as 'nappy-headed hos'. It was not just a jibe from some talk show host. It meant that you were considered sub-human, and lived with in a society whose government codified that 'less than' status in law.

When I refer to your kind, I mean those who would even consider a malignant post like yours of 2:18 and 2:27.

In case I have not made myself clear, you are obviously a racist, and an ignorant one at that.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 34
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 3:40 AM EST
To all
Regarding Jackson and Sharpton, you are preaching to the choir. But they are not the point here. Imus is.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 35
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 5:19 AM EST
Misplaced Outrage
Thank you so much for nailing this issue. I'm am just off the wall pissed about this jihad against Imus, not that I'm fan, but because of the hypocrisy and misplaced outrage against him. You have been saying what I have been thinking. I keep thinking, 'Who,in the larger scheme of things is going to or has been hurt by Imus? Zip, zero, nobody. Unless I suspect they are some sort of mindless liberal. The simple fact is though, that this rap garbage is destroying more and more lives every day. I wonder when a change is going to come in our society where we get our priorities straight and take it to the real criminals in our society who perpetrate and distribute this garbage. Thanks again Michelle
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 36
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 5:45 AM EST
Did you forget?
Conveniently, Michelle forgot to mention all the trash-mouth, right-wing freaks on AM talk radio, who bash women (and other minorities) on a daily basis.

There is plenty of blame to go around.

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 37
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 6:56 AM EST
Trash-mouth right-wing freaks???
Just exactly who and what are you talking about???
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 38
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:00 AM EST
Rap, Sharpton, women etc..
Is what we hear in modern rap that much different from what was sung about in the early days of the blues? Probably not, it's just a more extreme version of the things that the early blues pioneers sung about. An awful lot of music has come out of what we might call the poorer elements of society; if that's what life is like then that's what they're going to sing or rap about. I'm not excusing it or endorsing it, that's just the way it is. What do people want them to rap about? Doing their homework? Music at its most raw can be very powerful and authentic - take that away and you're left with some sugar-coated fantasy that has no basis in real life. Would Richard Pryor have been funny if he has talked about life in middle class white suburbs? Probably not.
That said, Al Sharpton has at least called for a radio ban on rappers who use violence to settle disputes. To me that sounds like too little too late but it is at least a step in the right direction, and to criticise him for not doing anything is a little unfair.
I don't know if anyone else has made this point but it's also a little late for Malkin to jump on this defending women deal. I didn't notice her having much to say when Coulter said that women shouldn't be allowed to vote...
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 39
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:25 AM EST
To Elizabeth
Name ONE!

Most conservative talk show hosts do a 'number' on what Rush calls "Feminazis" - is that what you are referring to?? That does NOT encompass ALL women - just those feminists with a chip on their shoulder that you really WANT to knock off.

All the conservatives that I have EVER HEARD are more "gentlemanly" than any dem I have ever heard. Course dems don't think you HAVE to be nice to women, just because they are women.

PS if you don't know the meaning of the word above, (as I suspect you don't)look it up.
Sorry Rush, had to defend you here. I know you are just waking up.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 40
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:29 AM EST
Michelle's Column
I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone has commented on the crime so prevalent in Black communities in cities across America. Has anyone mentioned the number of unwed mothers in the same communities? Problems so wide in scope and so hopeless by their nature they should be the No. 1 topic.
Ah, but I forgot, who cares about these destructive matters? Let's talk 24-7 on every major news outlet in the country about some stupid remark by some stupid Shock Jock!
Yeah, that's the ticket! Right up there with the Playmate Girl! The War on Terror? The plight of poor people right here in the richest country on the face of the earth? No! None of that. Let's keep with the real, big news-Don Imus and Anna Nicole Smith.

You can't make it up! Only in America!


Flag as Offensive

Reply # 41
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:39 AM EST
Well, now
How about Doug Giles? Didn't he have three different columns blaming wimmin for everything that goes wrong in every marriage -- not to mention in the rest of life? And wasn't he defended by a lot of the Boys in the Club House?

Isn't there plenty of talk about "emasculating lesbian b***es" as to blame for the fact that men are increasingly becoming wussified?

As for the lyrics of this huff-and-grunt blasphemy that passes for "music" these days, there's nothing really new about it. Mama has a 78 RPM rendition by "Fats" Waller that we used to sing as kids:

The clothes that you wear are not in style
You look like a ape every time you smile.
How I hate you, you alligator-bait you!
Why don't you lay down and die?

You're big foot, barefoot, slew-footed too.
How'd they ever get a pair of shoes on you?
Your hair is nappy
Who's your pappy?
You're some Ugly Chile!

You can look it up.

As for Lilly's remembering the songs of the Fifties public schools, we had them too -- not to mention "Eeny Meenie Miney Mo, catch a n****r by the toe" for example. We didn't call chocolate babies by "the N word" by the way, as it was considered insulting even then.

And in Grade Five we sang in Spanish these words to La Cucaracha (the cockroach to those of you who don't live in Miami):

La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar.
Porque no tiene -- porque le falta -- marijuana que fumar.

To us it was just a song. We had no idea what it meant! Heck, we also sang "Oh they don't wear pants in the Southern part of France..."
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 42
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:44 AM EST
Brycie
Oh yeah, I'M the racist here, alright. Blackfolk can't be racist, dontcha know? If anyone doesn't buy into your cult of victimology and bow and scrape to the race card, we're on auto-racist, fo'shur.

Go tell it to your Ma; she's the only one liable to agree her babyboy is beset wif whitefolks.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 43
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:46 AM EST
Imagine If It Was A Republican?!
It's interesting to speculate the reaction if Imus had been referring instead to Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, etc. Considering some of the racist comments coming from the left regarding any person of color - CNN's racist references to Alberto Gonzalez - just shrugged off as comments on the "enemy". How frightening it is that society has become so de-sensitized to the racism in the democrat party as long as it's against a republican - it's ok, though, because they're "evil". This I find very disturbing.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 44
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:48 AM EST
Imus' Pennance
Sharpton and Jackson are not in the least interested in an apology from Imus for his comments about thr Rutgers womens basketball team. The only thing will appease them is for Imus to attend a co-sponsored race senstivity seminar and they'll leave him alone. A true bargain for the mere $50,000 registration fee.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 45
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 7:55 AM EST
Actually, you're right
Michelle,

I usually am on the opposite side of you politically. But in this case, I do think that you have a valid point. Many (not all) of today's rap lyrics are disgusting and vile. I won't let my kids listen to rap stations and I'm a black woman!

And I'm not sure how we got to this place, considering that black music can be some of the most enjoyable and influential music in the world. I grew up on 70s funk and early rap, before 99.9% of the content became sexual and offensive.

Even with the FCC regulations, the overt sexual content that can squeak by and get played on the radio is outrageous. (ask what the "milkshake" song is referring to). However, we do have FCC regulations that can filter out most of the profanity.

And let's not forget that most of what we call classic music (like the blues) was considered "low-class" and shameful in its day. My grandmother wasn't allowed to listen to blues by her mother, because that was considered "honky tonk" music, or the music of the whorehouse. Only spirituals and gospel music was allowed in their household.

However, though he might think otherwise Imus is not a rapper and can't be held to the same standard as one. He calls himself an "entertainer," though and because of that he has some leeway in freedom of expression.

Public figures are often considered fair game in terms of being satirized. However, this time he did cross the line in applying his comments to the young black and white women playing basketball.

How would any of you like it if a national media figure called your college-age daughter a "nappy headed ho" and then offered as part of an apology, "Well, it's ok because the rappers use it."

My concern is truly with the young women. I hope that their meeting with Imus proves productive. I think that they specifically were insulted, and it's up to them to decide whether or not to be forgiving.

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 46
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:05 AM EST
Elisabeth
Examples please.

OH! You don't have any? Well, shut my mouth. Maybe you're confusing conservative radio with Al Freaky Franken's hate-filled tyrades.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 47
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:06 AM EST
The trouble with the blacks is
they will not police their own. When Cosby spoke up about what is wrong in the black comunuty ,he was excoriated for "washing dirty laundry in public".
Prior to the civil rights act many in this country considered them stupid,child-like and violent and except for the professional class it would be a mistake to "turn them loose on society".
The liberals however held sway and thought that if they were exposed to how things were they would learn and all would be right with the world. So instead of a program to inform a people who had been systematically excluded what would be expected of them in the name of civil responsibilty, they were "turned loose" and then began an unending parade of programs costing trillions of dollars.
A black friend said to me "it was an experiment", I replied, "it didn't work too well did it?
About 35 years ago one of the comedians,may have been Carlin, did a piece about 5 guys on a street corner,1 black, 4 white, instead of the black beginning to speak proper english, the 4 whites began speaking ghetto ebonics..perfect metaphor for today.
Back in the 50's we had no filthy lyrics in music, no drugs in the schools, no cops either.
We had a golden opportunity 40 years ago to bring an entire group of folks up to speed,instead it went the other way because all the dems cared about was keeping them voting for dems...keep them stupid and on the dem plantation. Great Americans like Condi Rice and Colin Powell are regarded by most blacks as "sell-outs", that tells me that they are the racists, not us, that they want to be seen as victims and not as contributors. Until that changes most get no respect from me.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 48
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:11 AM EST
bryce

I hope you have shrugged off DONAL's insults and are still reading this thread because you've made some of the best points. I have read elsewhere that Bill Cosby and others have criticized the crudity and misogyny of rap. Others might note that it's not the heavy beat and lack of melody that's at fault here; it's the content.

You mentioned, bryce, that most rap is bought by white suburbanites. It seems to me that rap is a modern version of the minstrel shows from the early 20th century, where many talented black performers felt they could only earn a living by creating a degrading parody of their subculture to amuse white audiences. Why is that syndrome still so common today?

Critical Bill mentions above that Richard Pryor might not have been so funny if he'd satirized life in the white suburbs. I was a big Richard Pryor fan. He was incisive and hilarious, in spite of the potty mouth, not because of it. If he added legitimacy to rough talk, he was the exception that proved the rule. Some of Richard Pryor's funniest bits were his impersonations of well-meaning but patronizing white suburbanites. In a matter of seconds, Mr. Pryor could create with mannerisms, body language and accents an answer to a question that has always bedeviled me (I'm a white suburbanite). "What do I seem like to a kid from the other side of the tracks?"

The most troubling aspect of rap is the misogyny. I have an opinion about it, but I'm sure it's incomplete and this is where I wish you'd jump in, bryce.

I feel that most teenage boys of every ethnic background experience enormous, long-lasting sexual frustration. Puberty -- what I prefer to call "the onset of desire" -- occurs around the age of 12 or 13 but no legitimate outlet nor the ability to take responsibility for another person in your life, don't occur for another ten years at least. During adolescence, minutes can seem like hours, hours like days, days like years, as many an ancient blues song attests. The decade of your life characterized by the most intense desire but few ways to express it, literally drives a lot of people crazy. Plenty of people make irrational decisions during this period that ruin their lives forever. Many boys express their frustration by blaming the other gender -- misogyny, in other words.

I'm sure there's more to it than that. Maybe bryce or another thoughtful poster (no invective, please) could lend some insights.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 49
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:16 AM EST
Even polar opposites can agree
I hate to admit it, but for once in my life I agree with Michelle! What if instead of Imus, it had been Chris Rock/Eddie Murphy et al doing standup...

Can you picture one of them at the mike laughing saying "Yo, I was watching sports the other night and the Women's NCAA tourney was on, d-mn them Rutgers women are some rough ho's now...Tatts all over, they scared the sh-t out of me...." Not a word would be said...

Imus is vulgar and insensitve (he calls his wife the Green ho because she's an environmentalist) but he is not News, he is entertainment...
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 50
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:16 AM EST
Black Poetry
I've got so many thought on this I can't get them organized into something to put here. It's probably best to reference two other sources.

First, go back and review what Bill Cosby was excoriated for saying.

Next, on the Sean Hannity show yesterday a caller said "...the problem was that he (Imus) was trying to talk ebonics without a license...".

How many time during a normal conversation have the girls on the team been referred to, in whole or in part, as what Imus referred to them as? But then those making the crude remarks probably had a license.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 51
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:17 AM EST
Michelle said:
"On the charts for nine weeks, here's a taste of his dope rhyme"

If you ever lose the conservative commentator gig, you could always land a job as the morning hottie on Cool 106 ;)
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 52
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:20 AM EST
sawdust
newsflash: if you go to 99.9% of black homes, family gatherings, and the like, you will NOT hear that kind of language being spoken.

if a teenager wants to play some music at this family gathering, and if it has profanity (bitches, hos and niggas) they would be told to turn it off.

There have been untold numbers of conferences, church seminars and discussion about the role of rap music in perpetuating stereotypes. And it always boils down to freedom of expression vs. societal responsibility.

As far as policing our own, I don't know how in the world I am supposed to be policing the hip hop community. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 53
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:39 AM EST
Steve Harvey
He has a radio show in NYC and he actually said that Imus has no right to speak about blacks that way but that he and other blacks do have the right to speak that way about other blacks.
So, it's o.k. according to Stevey that it's o.k. for blacks to be derogatory and insulting and make racially insulting comments about each other? What the he** kind of "logic" is that????
He's as big an idiot as Imus and the gangsta rappers.
Have any of you ever watched the "music" videos of this rap crap on BET? (By the way can you imagine a WET) The girls are portrayed as sluts! Not only are the producers, directors, rappers and others at fault for that but the girls who are selling out to make a buck.
People like Bill Cosby, Rev. Petersen, Star Parker, Walter Williams and Larry Elder don't get the media attention that they should. It's all about money.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 54
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:46 AM EST
Just my opinion..but
This whole thing is over the top. Imus was wrong, as he is in a lot of how he says things, BUT he has the freedom to do so. He apologised once and I thought it was sincere...now why must HE OR ANYONE ELSE GROVEL for more 'forgiveness?
It's done...but the black racist pimps like Sharpton and Jackson saw that they have another audience to play to...useful idiots, I call them.
We are in the throes of eroding our freedom of speech....next it will be radio and TV talk shows.
And if the 'BEAST' gets in..you all can kiss your freedoms GOODBY....bet on it.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 55
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:49 AM EST
Elisabeth
Who, pray tell would THAT be? I'd venture to say that you were listening to scAir America when the hatred and racist vitriol was flowing. Thank God they went bankrupt...just like the morals of the Dhimmicrat Party.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 56
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:59 AM EST
Good Points
As we know though Bryce, 'racism' isn't reserved for whites only.
I grew up Jewish(now Christian) and conservative in an all black neighborhood.
I graduated from high school with one of Farakkahns sons.
A lot of the people there were 'racists'.
Imus is an idiot btw-though I'll admit to enjoying his antics as a 'VJ' during the early years of VH1.
The young ladies on the basketball team should not let a 'name' diminish their achievements.
When I was called names-plenty-I just recalled the source.

And one side note: Hyenated-american is an ETHNIC designation reserved for those who were born elsewhere but became US citizens.
Teresa Kerry is an african-american. 2nd Amendment advocate Kim Dutoit is an african-american(born in South Africa). Rabbi Daniel Lapin-also born in S.A.-is an african-american.
An old aquaintance of mine was black AND african-american.He was born in Uganda.

Like I said-ETHNIC not RACIAL.
If you were born here Bryce, you're black-or better yet...just AMERICAN!
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 57
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 8:59 AM EST
Don Imus' comments
What amazes me is that everyone has missed the real 'issue' in this debate: Young black men have created a 'colloquialism' for black women that is demoralizing and degrading - and now it has caught on in the American Lexicon because of the popularity of rap music. White suburbia didn't sit around and suddenly say "Hey, he's a thought - let's start calling young black women "whores" and we'll shorten it to "ho's" and try to get all of America to refer to them as "ho's". Blacks did this to themselves - but, the Al Sharpton's of the world and Jesse Jackson's would rather attack an 'easy' target like Imus - who's attempting to use this now 'popular' reference to black women - in a humorous way - than go after black rap artists who use it in a serious manner to refer to women in their culture. How perverse is this?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 58
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:02 AM EST
Justone
One suggestion would be to get the race-baiters like Sharpton and Jackson to denounce rap lyrics at every opportunity.

Bryce, I think that the percentage of blacks that rail against rap is the same as the percentage of "moderate muslims" that rail against Islamofacist terrorists. Until the racial slurs against Condoleeza Rice, Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell are treated with the same level of indignation as Imus's idiotic statement is, you have no room to complain!
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 59
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:07 AM EST
Supersue
Maybe it's time for Mrs. Al Gore to get going after the Music again?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 60
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:08 AM EST
Peppermint
You inspired me to come up with "Are you a stinking librat? tests for 2009!

Libs, once you're exposed as a librat, you can surrender and enjoy Jerubaal's diet.

http://noliberalspin.townhall.com/g/dcfd97fa-59db-4a4a-a9a0-687123b246fb

(comment section. jerubaal writes: Tuesday, April, 10, 2007 11:04 PM.

We STILL have hope for you! haha.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 61
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:11 AM EST
Michelle! Thank you!!!
My gosh it is about time somebody said it! So called "moral" leaders or "black" leaders are a joke. None of them are saying anything about the Getto culture that is destroying the youth, especially the black youth.

I have no love for Imus, but he gets a pass because he said nothing even close to what the pop cultrue today does.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 62
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:12 AM EST
PC and Equal Opportunity
I spent 20 years in the Army and it was universally understood that people were judged on merit, not appearance. I served with many good soldiers of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

However, as Michelle points out there is a double standard.

While stationed in Korea a t-shirt became popular that said "It's a Black thang, you wouldn't understand" and to me it was racially charged and trying to diminish any one that isn't black.

I ran it up to Division level and was told that there was nothing I could do about it.

I then had a t-shirt printed saying "It's a German-American thing. You wouldn't comprehend." Needless to say, I was told I couldn't wear it as it was insensitive.

Double standard is alive and well.

"Free speech for me but not for thee" is the PC battle cry.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 63
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:17 AM EST
Double standard women haters
While critizism can be made of conservatives, you are intellectually dishonest to say it is even close to the level of disgraceful behavior displayed in those songs. The left has always defended the most harden woman haters. Had Imus said this about the Bush daughters or Secretary of State Rice would any outcry been made? Obviously not because the double standard is what the Democratic party is all about.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 64
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:17 AM EST
bitches & ho's
Sharpton and Jesse sitting on a fence trying to make a BUCK out of 99 cents Follow the money
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 65
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:18 AM EST
Rich
Once again, Imus is not a rapper. We do not hold all media figures and all public discourse to the stature of rapper.

Eminem is a white rapper who uses the same type of lyrics, and you don't have black folks up in arms about his "racist" lyrics. It's seen as part of the genre.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 66
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:18 AM EST
Let's NOT FORGET
that Hanoi John Heinz-Kerry called Al "twanda brawley" the MORAL compass of the Dhimmicrat party! haha. What a joke.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 67
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:20 AM EST
A Little Fellow Follows Me
Author unknown. Persons who profit off of the music/lyrics, including rhymers (not singers)should take this poem to heart because they are destroying children while they rake in the dough.

A careful man I ought to be.
I little fellow follows me.

I cannot once escape his eyes,
whate'er he sees me do, he tries.

Like me, he says, he's going to be,
The little chap who follows me.

He thinks that I am good and fine,
Believes in every word of mine.

The base in me, he must not see,
That little chap who follows me.

I must remember how I go,
Thru summer's sun and winter's snow.

I am building for the years to be,
In that little chap who follows me.

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 68
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:22 AM EST
Myths...
I wasn’t going to comment on this issue, but since I enjoy TH and it seems to be the main purpose for its existence recently, I’ll post my 2 cents.

First if I may dispel the myth of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton being “Black Leaders”. Neither has ever been elected to any political office by black Americans.

Unlike David Duke, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond (who like George Wallace before him made peace with his own black constituency later in life), or Trent Lott, not for his remarks about Thurmond but for his participation in and obvious support for groups like the white-supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC).

Founded in 1985 by Gordon Baum, a worker's compensation attorney and longtime white-power activist, the CCC rose from the ashes of the Citizens Councils of America (CCA), a coalition of white-supremacist groups formed throughout the South to defend school segregation after the Supreme Court outlawed it in Brown vs. Board of Education.

According to the CCC's own Citizens Informer newspaper, more than 20 state lawmakers — 17 of them from Mississippi — had met with chapters of the hate group in 1997 and 1998. Peggy Noonan, Ronald Reagan's former speechwriter, said that anyone associated with a group like the CCC "doesn't belong in a leadership position in America."

Lott, who spoke to the group five times, once told its members they "stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia delivered a keynote speech at the CCC's national convention in June 1998.

Five years later, Southern lawmakers were still meeting with the CCC. According to a review of the Citizens Informer, no fewer than 38 federal, state and local elected officials who are still in office today have attended CCC events since 2000, most of them giving speeches to local chapters of the hate group.

That roster includes such leading lights as Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour, and the presiding justice of the state Supreme Court, Kay Cobb. Though the vast majority of these politicians are Republicans — 23 of the 26 current state lawmakers, to be exact — the Republican National Committee, so forthright five years ago, now declines to condemn the CCC. No member of either party has been sanctioned or reprimanded for maintaining ties to the Council.

Considering they were elected “white Leaders”, not anointed by the aforementioned media, should it be safe to assume they represent the opinion and heart-felt convictions of white Americans? Although several of those posting above probably do, I doubt the majority of God-fearing Americans support such sentiment. I for one certainly do not believe it reflects the attitude of conservative Americans of any ethnicity.

Neither Jackson nor Sharpton have ever had the political base nor support of their community to succeed in politics, perhaps, with the exception of Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, before he decided to make his living by shaking down corporate America, that is why they don’t enter either the local or state political arena.

Neither Jackson nor Sharpton ever pastured a church nor led a congregation. In fact both were appointed as “Black Leaders” by the white media.

“Black Leaders”, historically and today, have most consistently been members of the clergy within their own community, the majority of whom as Christians, continue to provide moral direction, consul on personal responsibility and for the most part have not nor will ever be the focus of the aforementioned media. They continue to abhor and condemn the stain of rap, illegitimate birth, drug use, etc., just like the majority of their white counterparts do from their own pulpits.

Second, the excuse of blacks referring to each other in demeaning and derogative terms is no justification for Mr. Imus’ comments. Just because Jeff Foxworthy refers to southern whites as “rednecks” certainly does not give others the pejorative to feel comfortable doing so in the public arena. Had any commentator referred to a white player as such during the NCAA playoffs, they too should have merited suspension if not outright dismissal.

Finally, it is a bit disingenuous for TH to run so many articles concerning this matter, there are a few more pressing issues at hand.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 69
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:24 AM EST
Myths...
I wasn’t going to comment on this issue, but since I enjoy TH and it seems to be the main purpose for its existence recently, I’ll post my 2 cents.

First if I may dispel the myth of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton being “Black Leaders”. Neither has ever been elected to any political office by black Americans.

Unlike David Duke, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond (who like George Wallace before him made peace with his own black constituency later in life), or Trent Lott, not for his remarks about Thurmond but for his participation in and obvious support for groups like the white-supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC).

Founded in 1985 by Gordon Baum, a worker's compensation attorney and longtime white-power activist, the CCC rose from the ashes of the Citizens Councils of America (CCA), a coalition of white-supremacist groups formed throughout the South to defend school segregation after the Supreme Court outlawed it in Brown vs. Board of Education.

According to the CCC's own Citizens Informer newspaper, more than 20 state lawmakers — 17 of them from Mississippi — had met with chapters of the hate group in 1997 and 1998. Peggy Noonan, Ronald Reagan's former speechwriter, said that anyone associated with a group like the CCC "doesn't belong in a leadership position in America."

Lott, who spoke to the group five times, once told its members they "stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia delivered a keynote speech at the CCC's national convention in June 1998.

Five years later, Southern lawmakers were still meeting with the CCC. According to a review of the Citizens Informer, no fewer than 38 federal, state and local elected officials who are still in office today have attended CCC events since 2000, most of them giving speeches to local chapters of the hate group.

That roster includes such leading lights as Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour, and the presiding justice of the state Supreme Court, Kay Cobb. Though the vast majority of these politicians are Republicans — 23 of the 26 current state lawmakers, to be exact — the Republican National Committee, so forthright five years ago, now declines to condemn the CCC. No member of either party has been sanctioned or reprimanded for maintaining ties to the Council.

Considering they were elected “white Leaders”, not anointed by the aforementioned media, should it be safe to assume they represent the opinion and heart-felt convictions of white Americans? Although several of those posting above probably do, I doubt the majority of God-fearing Americans support such sentiment. I for one certainly do not believe it reflects the attitude of conservative Americans of any ethnicity.

Neither Jackson nor Sharpton have ever had the political base nor support of their community to succeed in politics, perhaps, with the exception of Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, before he decided to make his living by shaking down corporate America, that is why they don’t enter either the local or state political arena.

Neither Jackson nor Sharpton ever pastured a church nor led a congregation. In fact both were appointed as “Black Leaders” by the white media.

“Black Leaders”, historically and today, have most consistently been members of the clergy within their own community, the majority of whom as Christians, continue to provide moral direction, consul on personal responsibility and for the most part have not nor will ever be the focus of the aforementioned media. They continue to abhor and condemn the stain of rap, illegitimate birth, drug use, etc., just like the majority of their white counterparts do from their own pulpits.

Second, the excuse of blacks referring to each other in demeaning and derogative terms is no justification for Mr. Imus’ comments. Just because Jeff Foxworthy refers to southern whites as “rednecks” certainly does not give others the pejorative to feel comfortable doing so and had any commentator referred to a white player as such during the NCAA playoffs should have merited suspension if not outright dismissal.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 70
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:29 AM EST
Pappy hit the nail on the head
"Jackson and Sharpton don't give a hoot in a hollar that insensitive remarks were made by an idiot who gets paid to be an idiot on the radio.

Except that they then are able to stir the racial tension kettle and keep themselves in the Spotlight, and in their minds, be relevant.

As there is no room for racial epithets or insults, there is also no room for hypocritical Race Lords like these two."
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 71
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:32 AM EST
wow
This is the first time I've ever seen something from Michelle Malkin I agree with. Generally her hate mongering and absurdly twisted logic turn me off. In this particular post though, I find I have to agree with her. The ridiculous hypocrisy of the media attention towards Imus' comments while not just turning a blind eye, but glorifying the lyrics of rap is stunning. To me though tis not proof of the medias left leaning bias, tis proof of their unfailing allegiance to their profit hungry corporate masters. Both sides of the ideological debate, the "culture wars" if you will ultimately don't stride upon any moral ground higher than the piles o' gold they reap from the mindless drivel they put forth to hypnotize the masses. Malkin could raise herself above this fray if she chose to by leaving her hateful rhetoric behind and entering real dialogue. But alas, that rarely pays as well as being a shrill talking head on O'reallys show.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 72
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:33 AM EST
Here's a thought.
As an European-American (I love hyphenated terms), I am a bit more concerned that Iran is a year from a nuclear device than some stupid 4 word comment. Wow some folks sure can get worked up over nothing. Such name calling and outright hatred.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 73
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:36 AM EST
Liberty
You're spot on. I remember the Twanda Brawley incident well.

Here are the deeds of Race Hustler Sharpton.

1. He falsely accused Steven Pagones of rape and mutilation in the Tawana Brawley matter. BTW, he's never apologized.

2. He incited murder at Freddie's Fashion Mart in Harlem while loudly denouncing white interlopers. BTW, STILL NO apology.

3. Incited the Crown Heights Riot in New York. He whipped a crowd into a four-day riot on rumors that a Jewish ambulance had failed to treat a young black at the scene of a disturbance after a car accident. There was Sharpton referring to "diamond merchants" shedding the "blood of innocent babies." Diamond merchants? Code word for Jews. Oh yeah, NO APOLOGY.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 74
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:36 AM EST
Sorry...
..about the double postings, seems to be a recurring problem here...
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 75
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:38 AM EST
Use of the term "Culture"
To refer to the "culture of Bitches, Hos, and Niggas" is to do an injustice to the term "culture." Such a phenomenon is the exact nihilation of any real culture and is evidence instead of a sterile mediocrity.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 76
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:53 AM EST
quick obs
here is a quick observation.
the tendency for the black community to complain for every single slur and insult makes them appear weak. it actually tends to prove that they are weaker that the other races. is it true? i do not believe so, but this constant harping on every word gives that perception.

the oriental went through the same type of discrimination. they were not slaves but were undesirables. they fought through it all.

the only groups that can be insulted are white males (unless they are gay) and Christians. imagine the uproar from the Christian community if they reacted to every single slur that is thrown at them from people like bill mahr and even the history channel and discovery channel productions?


Flag as Offensive

Reply # 77
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 9:56 AM EST
Tune to XM Channel 66
and you'll hear the n-word and f-word and h-word more than you can imagine. I've never heard of Al or Jesse protesting against XM.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 78
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:00 AM EST
Imus Rap & Free Speech

.....Michelle ...

.....Up front ...I don't like Imus ...I watched his show long enough to see that he was a foul mouth jerk with a mean streak and I tuned him out ...this is what the defenders of free speech recommend ..."if you don't like the program ...change the dial" ...

.....This is the arguement the defenders of Rap make on the O'Reilly show when he rips the insulting and profane lyrics of Rap music ..."if you don't like the lyrics ...don't buy the CD" ...

.....If you defend free speech ...as I do ...it is a tough call ...but one has to be consistent ...there can't be different standards for different groups ...

.....I watched the replay of Imus's gaffe and it was tasteless and insulting ie: it was Imus being Imus ...my question is ...why did Imus find it necessary to apologize to Al Sharpton? ...the only apology that was owed was to the girls basketball team ...does Sharpton represent the team? ...I don't think so ...

.....As I said ...I don't like Imus ...but I don't think he was intentionally being racist ...I think he was making a crude backhanded compliment to the teams toughness ...unfortunately for him he did it in the vernacular of the rappers ...that was his mistake ...if Imus had been black ...no one would have paid attention to what he said ...but Imus is white and there the double standard comes into play ...

.....Political Correctness makes it OK for blacks to denigrate their women but it is taboo for whites to do the same thing ...so in the case of the rappers ...they are protected by Free Speech ...in the case of Imus he is restricted by Politically Correct Speech ...we can't have it both ways and still be free .....COLOSSUS
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 79
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:02 AM EST
Harmony
Harmony writes: Wednesday, April, 11, 2007 1:45 AM

Regarding your post from the time above, I was brought up many, many years ago, when things like calling other people the kinds of names you wrote was "normal", but my mother, God rest her soul,
taught me never to use those kinds of insults. She taught me well. Also, in my Catholic schooling we were NEVER allowed to repeat such epithets.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 80
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:03 AM EST
A few thoughts
There is a kind of irony here: Imus in a (pathetic) attempt to be 'cool' by using hip slang, really stepped in it. Trying to be young black while actually being old and white.

Of course the vultures (Sharpton and Jackson) will jump all over anything that can be blown large, as that is their only motive: they are not interested in improving culture. I had alot of time for Jesse Jackson when he seemed to be extolling black youth to 'be somebody'. I guess he found it alot easier to go victim-hunting.

As for the rape-your-sister rap lyrics, it's women who ought to take the reins: let their sons, brothers, boyfriends know that doesn't fly.

The free market should take care of people like Imus--stop listening to him, and he'll be fired by his ratings. No self-respecting woman should listen to Rush Limbaugh either. Unfortunately, both of them will most likely remain on the air.

I had to flag a few posts as offensive here...that doesn't happen very often. Plenty I left alone that I found pretty distasteful: some of you seem real happy for a chance to feel smug about race. That's kinda bothersome.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 81
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:16 AM EST
I agreed, until the 2nd to last word
Speaking of cultural sensitivity, people with Tourette's syndrome don't appreciate denigration for behaviors over which they have no control. The word choice of the final phrase in the final sentence is unfortunate and rather ironic.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 82
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:17 AM EST
Elizabeth
I think some of us are still waiting for you to name the conservative radio talk show hosts you accused.
Please name them before you lose any credibility that you may have, which I might add is very little going by previous posts you've made at TH.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 83
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:24 AM EST
Letting the market decide
to the poster who commented about letting the market decide about Imus.

If we use that same logic in the case of rap music, the market has decided with a resounding YES!

Hip hop long ago surpassed rock music as the biggest money maker in the music industry GLOBALLY. Rap is now the most popular music worldwide.

For example, there are Japanese hip hop groups, complete with them copying the gang signs and iconography of American black rap artists. Reggaeton is Spanish music with a hiphop influence.

Rap appeals to (young) people's need to feel "dangerous" or outside the law. The need to shock, to identify with the "underdog," etc. It's why gangster type movies have always been popular.

Also, the music producers who put out the stuff can be quite skilled with making danceable beats, even if you don't like the lyrics.

I would urge all people, black, white, Asian, Latino to stop buying misogynistic or racist music.

But until then, there will be no stop to the hip-hop phenomenon.

As they say, in America the only color that matters is the color GREEN!!!
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 84
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:33 AM EST
Baseballdoc
".....Political Correctness makes it OK for blacks to denigrate their women but it is taboo for whites to do the same thing ...so in the case of the rappers ...they are protected by Free Speech ...in the case of Imus he is restricted by Politically Correct Speech ...we can't have it both ways and still be free"

You nailed it...you covered almost every post here in a few short comments. Nice post.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 85
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:39 AM EST
I ask one question
If Jesus were alive today would he defend and justify Imus' statements as so many here do?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 86
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:47 AM EST
Don't complain, just stop listening.
Well that's one reason I listen to Jazz and Classical Music. I don't have to put up with such cultural gabage. If everyone who objets to the increasing nihilism of Pop Music quit listening, the drop in business may convince the Music Industry that they have a problem. Regarding Imus, just boycott his program. Commercial broadcasting is dependent on ratings which are used to determine the rate they charge advertisers. If Imus' ratings drop sufficiently, he'll be gone. Problem solved. Isn't private enterprise wonderful?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 87
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:48 AM EST
BrianR
"How long's the guy been dead, anyway?"

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

You owe me a keyboard for all of the coffee I just spewed all over it!!!!!!!!!

He does kinda looked like warmed over death, don't he!?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 88
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:52 AM EST
Great Ariticle Michelle!
The airwaves and street scenes are full of such derogatory remarks as said by Don Imus. Due to his “hip”, self-interested and mean spirited bents, I have not tuned him in for probably 8 years, so, I did not hear his comments, first hand. I think that he is irrelevant and should have left the airwaves long ago. However, his comments that I read are as common as dirt in the music and entertainment business – his business. He merely reflects that community’s common language. He wants to be “hip”. So, he just repeats popular “hip” phrases. He certainly did not invent this stuff. If Sharpton and the other dummies involved want dummies like Imus not to repeat things like that, stop encouraging them by delivering the lines to repeat in the first place!

Sharpton is such a bitter, old, irrelevant racist, desperately looking for a way to become relevant – Good luck!

Anyway, are such words any more worthy when said, played, listened-to or sung-along-with by blacks than by whites? What’s the difference? As they say, “what goes around, comes around”.

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 89
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 10:58 AM EST
bryce...
"I ask one question
If Jesus were alive today would he defend and justify Imus' statements as so many here do?"

1. Jesus is alive today.

2. I can only speak for myself, but if he were here today, I for one would not be, as a Christian, anticipating and believing in the rapture.

3. And no Jesus would not, but yes what you will have left of humanity will certainly defend Imus. That unfortunately will be one of the least of their predicaments...
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 90
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:07 AM EST
I ask one question
If Jesus appeared before us today, would he defend and justify the lyrics of rappers? Would he defend the culture that glorifies the materialistic rapper and demeans black women? Would he defend the high rates of black-on-black crime, which accounts for a disturbing amount of violence committed against black men?

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 91
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:08 AM EST
reply to AWOL
I just knew the conservative racists would show up with this topic. Doubtless, AWOL will be joined by others of his ilk as the day wears on.

An aside: some of you who've posted express regret at the "innocent" racist talk of years past. While I'm pleased that you think this, I'd like to point out that conservatives had little or nothing to do with efforts to change in this area. Liberal PC should get the credit for helping to create a cultural climate in which racist remarks are subject to criticism.

Maybe some conservative will figure out how to make a conservative case against racist talk. That should be interesting. I mean, consider: conservatives are fond of tradition, and racist talk is part of the tradition of most societies. Thus, conservatives should probably side with those who want to engage in racist talk.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 92
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:11 AM EST
Justone
says most blacks don't approve of the hip-hop culture, and I agree. Unfortunately, the (very) vocal minority is what we see and hear, simply because they refuse to NOT be seen and heard.

IMHO, the main problem in the black community today is the effect of the War on Poverty. The WOP accomplished what slavery and the Klan couldn't do, the almost complete destruction of the black family unit. With a 70% illegitimacy rate, things aren't going to get better any time soon.

What continues to puzzle me is black support for the Democrats. I think the Dems are their worst enemy, but that's just me.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 93
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:14 AM EST
I'm about to be accused of racism
Malkin points out how the lyrics of rap music demean women. They also demean the rapper, as those who speak such things tell us more about themselves than the "hos" they "dis".

But to me this entire sorry episode is the inevitable fruit of the degradation of the English language that we have allowed, and even encouraged, through the acceptance of "black English" or "ebonics" or "u-bonics" as a legitimate dialect within our culture.

If it were only the use of "dis" instead of of "disrespect" or "ig" instead of "ignore" or "peeps" instead of "people" one could live with it unaffected.

But this episode shows where the degradation of standards inevitably leads. Loss of respect for the language segues into loss of respect for other standards, including the standard of respect and appreciation for one's self and for others in one's life.

Before long "dis", "ig", and "peeps" degenerate into "b*tch", "ho", and "n*gga", for the sake of being "cool" and at the expense of everyone's human dignity.

It doesn't hit home until you hear it on your own child's boom box and see him/her gyrating to the beat and mouthing the lyrics.

It's bad enough when we have to deal with it on the playground, on the streets coming out of overpowered car stereos, or in our children's bedrooms when they are supposed to be studying. We don't need it on purportedly intelligent political talk/commentary shows.

If it were just a case of young people talking in code to obtain a certain level of privacy from adult eavesdroppers it would be relatively harmless. But how can we believe it doesn't contribute to actual aggressive misogyny when young men are being culturally indoctrinated to think of women as "b*tches" and "hos", and young black men are indoctrinated to think of themselves and each other as "n*ggas"?

And how can a young woman develop a positive image of herself when she is repeatedly told that she has no social worth other than as an object of lust?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 94
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:20 AM EST
The limitations of Rap
I suspect much of the misogyny inherent in Rap lyrics springs from the limitations in the musical form itself. (Please note: I am about to express some reasons why I personally dislike Rap, but I AM NOT CALLING FOR CENSORSHIP; I understand that government censorship is not the answer. I agree with the poster who stated the best solution is for people to stop buying the stuff.)

The majority of musical genres -- classical, pop standard, jazz, country, and even rock n' roll -- are FLUID. Many different sounds and styles exist within the genre's umbrella. As a result, these genres can give voice to a variety of emotions and ideas, the spiritual and idealistic as well as the elemental and the physical. Fats Waller might have written the crude "Your Feet's Too Big," which throws crude slurs at a woman, but he also penned "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "I've Got a Feelin' I'm Fallin'," songs which express tenderness and warmth for one's significant other and joy and delight in his/her company. A country artist like Toby Keith can express irritation at his woman in a song like "I Wanna Talk About Me," but then be touchingly romantic in "Me, Too." Frank Sinatra can warn his woman that her duplicity will catch up with her in "You'll Get Yours," and then sing of heartbroken love in "You Forgot All the Words (While I Still Remember the Tune)." And classical -- well, there simply is no more diverse musical form.

Yet unlike the genres which can convey a vast variety of emotions and express a wide range of ideas, Rap is terribly confined. It's locked into expression of the basest and most elemental emotions and responses; it can't, or won't, rise to the level of the spiritual. Therefore, when it paints relationships between men and women, it paints them in terms of violence and degradation. A Rap love song along the lines of, say, "The Way You Look Tonight" or "They Can't Take That Away from Me" is apparently outside the realm of possibility.

Since tenderness and love don't exist in the Rap universe, how can women be anything but "ho's" in that universe? Males dominate the industry, and in their lyrics, women are objects to be used, not individuals to be loved. Yet even female rap artists tend to speak of sex in its basest, most exploitative terms.

Rap centers its focus on the exciteable emotions -- anger, resentment, lust -- and leaves the quieter, more thoughtful ones alone. It speaks the language of emotional extremes and shuns the balance. Hundreds of songs content themselves with hitting the same emotional chords with a sledge hammer. When a musical genre is this confining, one would think people would get tired of it after a while. R&B (a genre I like) at least offers its listeners some emotional diversity; it can speak to aspects of the listener's life that Rap can't (again, or WON'T) touch. This is why plenty of people still like R&B even when it was thought Rap would drive it out of existence.

Through Rap, young people are being fed a steady diet of emotional extremes. But as they grow older, surely they will begin to think, in the words of Hawkeye Pierce, "We want something else." Before much longer, surely Rap will start to die out.

Rock n' Roll is here to stay. Rap is here today, gone tomorrow.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 95
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:21 AM EST
wiseone:
You ARE wise, indeed. Loved your post.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 96
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:23 AM EST
Pamela
"Rapper's Delight" was released as a single in 1979. That is 28 years ago. Wow. I remember it on Top of the Pops! If that's "here today, gone tomorrow" I take it you are talking in geological terms??
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 97
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:25 AM EST
LoginLeery: One keyboard
on the way.

I'm glad you missed your screen. Budget crunch.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 98
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:25 AM EST
The Lefty press weighs in
A couple of editorials in the lib press, plugging a pass for Imus:

LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rice11apr11,0,5538321.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Washington Compost:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001310.html

What do you think the odds are that these rags would have taken these positions if the guy wasn't a lib himself, hmmmmm.....?

What if Sean Hannity had said this? They'd be screaming for him to be yanked off the air, so they could hang him.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 99
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:31 AM EST
incivility, crassness=dangerous
We can argue back and forth about who has more right to own or use derogatory words.
But we can't forget the invention of the words and who they are most applied to SPECIFICALLY to be crude, uncivilized...if not deliberately hurtful and to dehumanize the target.
WHO uses it....does it really matter?

Words are powerful, placed in the hands of someone who uses them irresponsibly, it's not only uncivil, it's DANGEROUS.
This is why learning good manners, learning how to communicate effectively without devolving is a responsibility.
And if you're in a position of widespread media, than even MORE SO.
Because the effect is or has the risk of being detrimental.

Why IS this country engaged in so much horribly fracturous infighting over petty name calling? When we are at war, our borders are wide open....and there is a poverty of moral and intellectual clarity in this country?

Those who haven't been on the receiving end of harsh gender, racial or sexual orientation rants, is in NO place to tell another to dismiss it or forget it.
Otherwise no lessons are learned, and incivility wins.
This isn't about being 'politically correct' which has become a bad thing in itself. When good manners, basic ones, will do.

Imus, Rush Limbaugh...Mike Savage...make a LIVING from their rants and denigrations.
It's entertainment for some, ok...but what does that say about the person that gets a big laugh out of it when Savage tells a gay man he should get AIDS and die?

I despair at the baseness of the hip hop culture and rap.
Here we are, black Americans with the legacies of Maya Angelou, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Langston Hughes...
and these young black folks aren't even TRYING to raise wordsmithing up to that standard?

They are appealing to the lowest, and crudest and least intelligent within their listeners.
And if the audiences rise to this chum, that doesn't say much about their tastes or their ability to even LOOK for something better.

Instead of denigrating the reaction of the basketball team, why not ask in what way YOU'D make this culture a better place where Imus would have more respect. And wouldn't have to apologize in ways we might doubt his sincerity.

On these TH discussion threads, I've been put down for my defense of gays and lesbians.
I will defend the dignity of women and ethnic minorities.
And for pointing out issues that are still dangerous, and UNNECESSARILY hurtful and undignified for the discussed minority...I was called paranoid.
Well, for someone to judge me in that way, and not even care to ask what my gender or background was, that just shows another form of uncivil behavior, however subtle.

Rhetorical questions rule on contentious matters. But the experience of the Other...especially a minority, doesn't matter.
But when it comes down to it...Imus, is an old white man who doesn't HAVE to be civil if he doesn't want to be.

And many men, if it makes them millions...no matter what color they are, will put women down.
Will talk of women as if they are dirt.
And unfortunately it's a fact of life that BLACK women are the least protected, and respected in our culture, sometimes no matter WHAT their accomplishments.

I'm not saying that the visibility of black women like Condi Rice, or Oprah...or the sports legends like Wilma Rudolph or the Williams sisters isn't wonderful.
But it's the Everywomen, who struggle more with less that deserve better.
When it's all said and done, there IS a double standard and all kinds of wrong, will and never can make a right.
The only right is to not utter those words for the sake of bowing to the worst in someone and hurting others.

We SHOULD be better than that...and why NOT be BETTER than that?

Would it just KILL anyone to just be civil and intelligent and respectful?
Would it?

Flag as Offensive

Reply # 100
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:35 AM EST
All to often
To often now a days race is used as part of an argument in an attempt to gain the upper hand by discrediting the person they disagree with.

Unfortunately this creates an atmosphere, were people feel communication requires hyper care and accuracy to avoid racist charges. This results in no communication as people become hesitant or afraid to enter into these kinds of discussions.

The racist charge starts to become meaningless in even when it really applies, hurting the true victims. Slurs commonly herd in rap and the community at large become excepted or tolerated until some hidden line is crossed and people get all up in arms.

I believe people should stop crying racist to gain victim hood or moral high ground in an argument. Racial slurs should be condemned, even when coming from someone of the same race.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 101
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:35 AM EST
Critical Bill:
I suppose I may be speaking geologically, yes. I'm thinking twenty to fifty years down the road.

There is ONE way Rap can save itself (and ONE way I would wish it to) -- it must find a way to diversify in terms of its subject matter. It must find a way to express a wider range of emotions rather than playing exclusively to the extremes of ANGER, RAGE, ANGER, RAGE, ANGER, RAGE, ANGER, RAGE...

In the world of gansta rap, people don't even have sex out of physical desire. Sex, like everything else, becomes an expression of anger and hate.

Rap needs to find a way to put something else on the menu. Perhaps if it's looking for clues, it should go back to that 1979 CD "Rapper's Delight" and consider that in the early days, Rap COULD express delight as well as anger, joy as well as rage, enthusiasm as well as degradation. It used to be about joy in rhythm and bass. It used to be FUN. Then it put itself into the narrow Angry Box, and the degradation of women sprouted from there.

I agree with wiseone: Rap has nothing to offer girls, except visions of themselves as someone's tool to be used. How can a genre continue to thrive when it speaks exclusively to only a quarter of the human race (i.e. young males)?
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 102
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:38 AM EST
All In The Family
I am in no way condoning Don Imus. He's a habitual idiot who finally got caught, I suppose. Where were these sponsors who are now dropping from the Imus Show all these years he's been flapping his jaw??!

However, after scanning the posts in reply to Michelle's article I find those who are defending rap music and the culture of inter-racism even more ignorant. (Imus didn't just make up the words `nappy-headed hos' ... He picked it up from the sources that not only created it but propagate it.)


I think we all are missing the underlying double standard here ... I would love to see just exactly who those young Rutgers women have in their CD collections ... what music they listen to loudly on their car radios ... whose concerts they attend??? Any guesses?

If you accept this sort of degradation, demeaning, and defamation in one venue, you open yourself up to it in all other venues ... You can't have it both ways, plain and simple. I'm sorry.

Any/all young American woman, especially of African origin (AKA, black), should be outraged at rap music, even more so than they are at the stupid Don Imus.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 103
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:43 AM EST
no censorsing
I want to point out that I love our freedom of speech here. I love our ability to criticize powerful people in government without arrest or censure.
However, there is a reason why libel, slander and threat are NOT protected speech.
These are the words our government tries to teach bear a responsibility and consequences, because of the risks they convey.
However, we are a society that's very ignorant of that and that's not helpful to effective and challenging ways of being heard, without being or becoming a rage machine.
Passion is one thing...but someone like Mike Savage does slander entire groups...and THEY pay the price for his actions.
Rev. Fred Phelps, of the Westboro church leads his family in invasive and hateful activity and they intrude on people when they are at their most emotional and vulnerable.

When he harassed gay people's families at funerals, no one spoke out.
NOW people are getting offended when the Phelps's show up at the funerals of soldiers with their rants.
See, they let him go before and defended his First Amendment rights.

But again, you let someone go too far, they WILL come for YOU next. So knowing what's right, and what someone should get away with, is part and parcel of the clarity of values we all should be well motivated to understand.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 104
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:48 AM EST
Bryce wrote:
"If Jesus were alive today would he defend and justify Imus' statements as so many here do?"

First off, if you think He's dead, then why would you even care what Jesus would do? Secondly, He would say "Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone" and that would basically have ended this entire nonsensical argument immediately.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 105
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:49 AM EST
P.S.
I have Tourette's Syndrome. Michelle, I'm looking forward to your face to face apology. Leave hubby at home ;)
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 106
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 11:57 AM EST
Shady the Enabler For Rapped Racism
According to shady, "My argument here is that you should not compare recorded music to the conduct of an employee in a professional setting." You are inventing a division that does not exist to make an arugument that enables some to be acceptable racists while inflicting pain on selected unacceptable racists. The only "straw man(?)" here is your invention. The characters that Michelle exposes with their lyrics and Imus are all professional actors of the same entertainment industry.
Imus is getting his just desserts. To my mind, not enough.
Michelle, rightfully, argues that there remains an enabled culture of racism flourishing in the rap world. As long as it is allowed to fourish, don't be surprised when it's enabled jargon gains enough momentum and acceptability that it spills over into other forms of entertainment, as it has, here, and everyday events.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 107
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:02 PM EST
mystic7 wrote:

"...Secondly, He would say "Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone" and that would basically have ended this entire nonsensical argument immediately."

Actually, He would have said, "Go, and sin no more ..."

As for your "invitation" to Michelle Malkin ... I certainly hope it is NOT one of those asinine threats certain people who disagree with Ms. Malkin often throw her way ... but can't seem to face the fact that she is more than entitled to her view.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 108
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:06 PM EST
drolmorg
Here's the nail. Here's the head. ~CONTACT!~
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 109
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:12 PM EST
drillanwr
I agree completely. The "All in the family" argument is a weak effort to justify a double standard.

When this language became common and marketed to millions, The "All in the family" argument became idiotic.
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 110
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:20 PM EST
BrianR
I just read the LA Times article you linked.

Utterly amazing.

It was written by a CIVIL RIGHTS attorney, who said, among other things:

"Firing Imus for racist riffs would be like firing Liberace for flamboyance. It's what he does."

She then goes on to rationalize (read "excuse") Imus' remarks by comparing it to other, MORE OFFENSIVE things he says.

So, she seems to be telling us, it's OK to be racist and offensive, and even get rich doing it, if this is what you do all the time.

One technique I like to use to assess and expose liberal hypocrisy is substitution. You have hinted at this with your hypothetical example referencing Sean Hannity. So let's substitute "Hannity" for "Imus" in the above quote. Can you imagine ANY lib making the following argument?

"Firing Hannity for racist riffs would be like firing Liberace for flamboyance. It's what he does."
Flag as Offensive

Reply # 111
Date: Apr 11, 2007 - 12:21 PM EST
words have power
A couple of thoughts come to mind. I've heard of Imus from time to time but never listened to word one. I wondered if he listened to Rap and the words came out of his mouth without editing but a white guy of that age listening to rap? seems impossible.

Words have power, Michelle, thats why we love them so much. What comes out of your mouth is what is in your heart. Speak good,loving, respectful, kind words and that is what you will live. Treat everyone you meet with equal respect.

I don't understand black culture it is beyond my comprehension. They seem to glory in their poverty and violence with no effort to find a way out. My Parents taught me that poverty was something to escape as soon as possible. (and we were definitely as poor as any black family!) I grieve because they are nearly incoherent, certainly obscene and just plain sick of heart in their lyrics. What can be changed though? - it is not for us to change them but for them to want to change themselves. From my point of view, though their very culture is a prison they need to escape to live better, healthier lives. (and yes, it is a struggle.)
As for Imus, its time to retire old man, you just stepped a few steps too far.
I don't listen to Savage. I do listen to Rush and I disagree, He is never insulting or profane, He is Satirical,often funny, and, in truth, he works not to be ugly in language. I would not be able to listen to him if he was.
Flag as Offensive