Carrie Bartkowiak v. 5.0

What a mountain out of a potential molehill. I mean, come ON already.
The radio shows today were filled with talk of Imus and his “nappy-headed hos” quote, and how he’s getting suspended for two weeks even after apologizing numerous times and even having the balls to go on Al Sharpton’s pathetic joke of a show and apologizing there.
Everyone’s making this out to be a race issue; especially camera-chasers like Sharpton and Jackson.

This is not a race issue.
Let me say that again.
This is not a race issue.

If any of these hypersensitive politically correct talking heads would pick up a dictionary, they’d quickly realize that the slur here is against women, not against blacks.

For the record, Imus and his crew were discussing (if you can call his particular style of banter “discussing”) recent sport happenings. The basketball game that the women’s team from Rutgers played in was brought up.
The show’s producer, Bernard (Bernie) McGuire popped off the observation that the girls were “some hard-core hos”.
Imus retorted with “that’s some nappy-headed hos”.

In both of these comments, you’ll find the word “ho”; a derogatory term referring to women as being whores.
In Imus’ comment, you find “nappy-headed”.

I’m sorry, but those girls are nappy-headed. Nappy means frizzy or kinky. Period.
It comes from the word “nap”, which refers to the coarseness of a piece of wool shorn from a sheep. If the wool was particularly rough (coarse) and kinky, it was “nappy”. The term grew to be used with anything else that could be considered nappy, including clothing, carpeting, and yes, hair.

So the issue here isn’t with the supposedly racially-charged “nappy-headed” remark, no matter how much Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson would like you to think it is. They’ll even attempt to pull up the next few comments in the Imus crew diatribe to prove their nonexistent point; where sports announcer Sid Rosenberg said “the Jigaboos versus the Wannabees”.

Well, sorry again folks, but Sid was referring to a Spike Lee movie where the teams were nicknamed The Jigaboos and The Wannabees. One team was black and bad-ass, the other team was white and whimpy. Sid’s comparison of the Rutgers/Tennesee game to this movie was apt. Once again, there was no racial slur; instead there was a movie reference from the revered Spike Lee himself that was spot-on. Not to mention, Imus didn’t make that comment, the stand-in sports announcer did.

So we’re back to Imus calling women hos.
That’s the real issue here.

Everyone’s banging the drum to have Imus fired. I don’t see anyone screaming to have Bernard McGuire fired; even though he started the whole “ho” ordeal. No, let’s focus on the incorrect politically-hypersensitive perception that Imus’ slur was all about race, and ignore the fact that Imus was led into (albeit willingly, to be sure) his derogatory remark about women by his producer.

The talking heads are right about something, although they don’t realize it.
They’re saying there’s a double standard because black rappers, comedians, and anyone black in general could say “nappy-headed ho” and get away with it, but since Imus is white he’s being hung out to dry.

They’re right about the double standard part; what they’re wrong about is which double standard we’re looking at.

Don Imus is an ass. Always has been, always will be.
He gets paid to be an ass. MSNBC knew what he was when they hired him. Imus has been this way forever; he didn’t just suddenly spring up and decide to be the Howard Stern of political talk shows last week. (A spot, by the way, that Michael Savage is trying so desperately to wrest for himself. Ugh.) MSNBC knew who they were hiring, knew what they were paying him for. His mouth, and the ignorant remarks that come out of it.

Yet now MSNBC is crying wolf, and suspending Imus for two weeks for being a bad, bad boy.
Why?
That’s the real double standard.
From:
“Hey Imus, we like your hype. You get people’s attention by being so brash. We need some of that at MSNBC. Since Fox News is kicking our butts so badly in the ratings, we’re gonna pay you $10 million dollars a year to bring your particular brand of ‘bad boy radio’ into our fold. How’s that sound?”
To:
“Imus! Bad boy! Bad, bad boy! You’re making us look bad! You’re suspended for two weeks! Quit being so brash!”

Puh-lease.

And what’s with these Rutgers girls getting in front of the microphones and sniffling away talking about how “hurt” and “offended” they were by Imus’ comments?
I’d be willing to bet that not one of those girls listens to Imus on an even semi-regular basis, and would have had no idea whatsoever that he’d made that comment about them if they hadn’t been told.

Just once, I’d like to see the team captain get in front of the camera with some knock-your-socks-off self-esteem, and say:
“Was I offended by Mr. Imus’ comments? Hell no. I know who I am, and I know what I’m capable of. I am an amazing young woman with an incredible career in front of me. If Mr. Imus wants to see that as being a ‘ho’, then that’s his problem, not mine. If I were to take personal offense at everything that came out of an ass, I wouldn’t have time to be the incredible woman that I am.”

Let Don Imus bury himself - he’s been busy digging the hole for years. His ratings are in the toilet, and if someone is actually going to take time out of their day to listen to his blather, then more’s the pity for them. If Don Imus is fired and blackballed, then Bernard McGuire should also be fired and blackballed. After all, they both referred to women as hos. But I say let them bury themselves.

Quit making such a fuss out of what came out of an ass. If this is going to be the standard, then I guess we should ban Monty Python as well.
“I fart in your general di-rec-shee-yun!”

Offended because Imus referred to women as hos? Not a bit. I know myself, and I know I’m not a ho.
If only the Rutgers women could focus on their victories and talent, and know themselves enough so that they wouldn’t be offended either… that would be the real slap in the face to Don Imus.

What do you think? I wanna know! Please leave a comment :)
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