After a week long uproar, MSNBC has dropped the Don Imus Show. In the end, it came down to the top three advertisers of the show; GM, Proctor & Gamble and American Express bailing out that finished him off.
This is an interesting case of how the MEDIA works. We can look back to Jimmy the Greek getting fired from CBS Sports for explaining how blacks are bred. Or Rush Limbaugh getting fired from ESPN for pushing that old racist crap that Blacks are not smart enough to be quarterbacks. And not to forget Michael Savage getting fired from MSNBC for telling gays he hopes they get AIDS and die.
On the other hand, with Michael Savage (a full bore racist pig) now third in radio syndication with hundreds if not thousands of local right-wing talk show hosts doing their various racist hate talk to audiences of tens of millions, there is no problem.
You see? You can do just about anything on the radio, but not on television. Why is that?
Which brings us to the rub in the Imus situation. His CBS radio show is broadcast on MSNBC television. So indeed, to be fair, he had to go.
But tossed off the radio? CBS has suspended him for two weeks. But to be fair he should stay.
Imus is not one of the right-wing conservative propagandists who dominate AM radio. He is a somewhat left of center Good Ole Boy who can be described as an "intellectual" shock jock. He gives important people their say on his show. The shock increases his audience which in turn forces that audience to listen to issues they would not otherwise take the time to hear.
This also brings the issue of political correctness into the mix — which I usually decry for in the long run it drives the huddled masses into the conservative fold. But television is different that radio. The TV is ON in our living rooms, WE watch it. It is not a lone occupation in one’s car. We expect a certain level of communication from it. Black viewers do not tune in Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage on the radio. Blacks are also a viable share of the TV audience as well as employees of the networks and their advertisers. In this very competitive world, a loss of 10% of customers allows the OTHER GUY to take the lead.
The issue of how political correctness can impede human progress is best expressed by these two quotes from Mr. Wiener (Michael Savage)
"It’s a racket that is used to exploit primarily heterosexual, Christian, white males’ birthright and steal from them what is their birthright and give it to people who didn’t qualify for it." On the Civil Rights Movement.
"I’m a white male, I’m a white, male, married heterosexual. I don’t want the Democrats. I’m not voting for a party of ethnic minorities and women and immigrants." On why he votes a straight Republican ticket.
Both those statements, unlike Don Imus stupid blurb, are expressions of deep seated racism. I hate to be the one to bring sad tidings to y’all, but those two quotes represent the majority of Americans in the South, and the near majority of Americans everywhere else. Most people lie about this in the polls and do not shout it out in public. But they sure as Hell let it be known on the first Tuesday in November every other year when the pull that lever. It is the "Second Dynamic" of American politics, second only to my wallet.