The Crucifixion Of Don Imus

I would like to congratulate MSNBC for showing us the true nature of the cowardice of their network, and for showing us how they truly don't believe in the very 1st Amendment of our Constitutiuon that protects them. As many of you are aware, talk show host Don Imus has been fired by MSNBC, for, of all things, a joke. A joke that ironically was stated before the start of the Eostre Celebration Weekend. I'll recap for those of you who don't know. He referred to the Rutger's Women's basketball team as nappy headed hos, not in a insulting context but in comparing their toughness as a team to the team that they were playing. He has said that there was no malice in his heart when he said it, and I believe him. I believe him because I watched his show. It is at it's very core is a comedy and satire show that makes fun of everyone and has for over 30 years. He has attacked and satirized everyone from the left to the right and all shades in between, and the people who are made fun of most on his show are the very members of the show itself, including Imus, his newsman and friend Charles, and even his wife. He is no Rush Limbaugh, no right wing rabid nutjob. If he were, I as a very liberal person would not watch or listen to his show. He truly is an equal opportunity offender, and God knows we need more of those, to save us from the many tentacled, strangling monster of political correctness. As the journalist H.L. Mencken said, and I'm paraphrasing here, the job of the news is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and Don Imus has lived that on his show. Not only is Don Imus a talented satirist and comedian, he is also a person who has had countless journalists, writers, musicians, politicians, and social commentators on his show, and has proved his worth as an interviewer during his discussions with them. He also has brought to light many social and political issues on his show and exposed many people, including myself, to books, music and issues that may have been kept in the dark, except for his efforts, and the efforts of his staff and contributors. This is not to say I supported his remarks about the Rutger's Women's basketball team, they were at worst, a bad joke. That is all. He has apologized almost everday now for them since it happened to the the point of absurdity and that still is not enough blood for the societal piranhas that have crucified him. Even I, as a fan, have become furious at him at times, especially when he supported Joe Lieberman in his Senate race after his primary loss to Democrat Ned Lamont. I believe what Lieberman did by running and eventually winning as an independent and then changing his affiliation back to Democrat was, in fact, a subversion of democracy itself. But that did not make me call for his firing or stop me from being a fan, and his support for Lieberman, in my view, was just as egregious, if not more so, as the remarks he made about the Rutger's Women's basketball team. I continued to watch his show and continued to be informed and to laugh, does anybody remember what that is? What I would like to know is where was Al Sharpton and Imus' other critics when Rush Limbaugh recently attacked John and Elizabeth Edwards on his show after they announced she had incurable cancer and that John would still be in the 2008 Presidential race? Where were the calls for Limbaugh's firing after the myriad racially insensitive remarks he has made, that he arguably was NOT joking about? I hear crickets chirping. Now here is where I get a little personal and sentimental about this situation, to inform you of some things Don Imus has done that show me he IS a good person and did not deserve this cowardly firing from MSNBC. This transcends my admiration for him as a comedian and social critic. You see, my father died of lung cancer when I was 7, I watched him turn from a brawny, WW2 Veteran Sailor with arms like Popeye, into a dessicated, suffering mummy before he died. My stepfather died of lung cancer as well, and I watched a similar thing happen to him, so I have had first hand experiences of the horrors of cancer, not only for the afflicted but for their families. Don Imus, as you may or may not know, runs a ranch in New Mexico for kids with cancer and other debilitating diseases, a place where they can have fun for a while and not have to dwell on their dire situation, for some of them their time at the ranch has been a part of their last moments in this life, he also has children there who have been affected by cancer by watching their siblings, or parents, suffer from it. As he has said, Don Imus, does not need the money from his job, he is a multi-millionare, he can sit by and live very comfortably on interest for the rest of his life. But his job, his former television show and his radio show, which by the way is now in jeopardy, gave him an outlet to acquire more funds for the ranch and other charities he donates to. now part of that has been taken away, he no longer has a television outlet to raise money and awareness for these things. Apparently some of the kids who have been to the ranch are kids with sickle cell anemia, this is an African-American disease, a teacher who worked with my mother, also a teacher, died from it in his early 30's recently. Even though I was not close to him, my mother's discussions of it increased my awareness of what he was going through, the horror of it. When Imus was a guest on Al Sharpton's show, Al Sharpton, charitable man of God, former Presidential candidate, did not even know how much federal money was spent to fund research into sickle cell anemia, Imus knew the exact paltry amount compared to the other things our government spends money on. In closing, I would like to point out that at the beginning of the week in which his unfortunate comments occured, Imus flew to my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to pick up a black child with eye cancer, I feel horror and dread just typing that, I cannot imagine what this kid is going through, but Imus came and got him and took him to New York, I believe it was for treatment. And if the firing from MSNBC wasn't enough, they took him off the air, the very day before he was to have a radio fund raiser today and tomorrow for the Imus Ranch and SIDS research. So, all of the people who watched his show from MSNBC and did not or could not listen to it on the radio, missed this fundraiser. Bravo MSNBC, you let political correctness trump charity. For all he has done, Don Imus does not deserve to have his career end over a bad joke.

Peace and Love,

Mark