Monday, April 09, 2007
The Problem with Imus and so many others
It's been a long time since I've posted. I do not really have time to go looking through the news and give my opinion anymore. But, I feel compelled to talk about Imus.
I'm getting to this late because I don't hear Imus (although, I did listen regularly in Albuquerque when we lived there) and don't really look into stories about him. He's not on in Chicago (or most cities). And, I didn't see a headline about it until yesterday.
Anyone who's ever heard him knows Imus is a misanthrope. My biggest problem is with Imus's go-to excuse. He claims to be an "equal opportunity offender." This misses the point. When Imus makes fun of white people he makes fun of their intelligence or of their lifestyle choices or of their judgment in a banal ornery way. But, when Imus does the same about black people and other minorities and disfranchised groups, he makes fun of their race by using racist (or at least racial) language.
I doubt Imus misunderstands this reality. His job is to speak and he uses language daily to spar with his co-hosts and guests. So, to say that he doesn't understand the difference is a lame defense.
This is true for so many of us though. We often want to be funny by using words that have racial overtones or subtexts. Worse, we use epithets to be funny. It turns out ugly more than it turns out funny.
In fact, this is one place where I agree with Sarah Silverman. While I don't think she's as funny as conventional wisdom would have it, she thinks about how she's going to use racial language to be funny. After the Michael Richards incident, she explained it with a funny line about the difference between her and "Kramer" that basically went, "I spend time planning my racist jokes." Typical of Silverman, she provided a sentence with a double meaning. The serious meaning being that she takes care in the use of language.
Imus doesn't do this. Or, if he does, he seems to take care to be mean and racist.
I'm getting to this late because I don't hear Imus (although, I did listen regularly in Albuquerque when we lived there) and don't really look into stories about him. He's not on in Chicago (or most cities). And, I didn't see a headline about it until yesterday.
Anyone who's ever heard him knows Imus is a misanthrope. My biggest problem is with Imus's go-to excuse. He claims to be an "equal opportunity offender." This misses the point. When Imus makes fun of white people he makes fun of their intelligence or of their lifestyle choices or of their judgment in a banal ornery way. But, when Imus does the same about black people and other minorities and disfranchised groups, he makes fun of their race by using racist (or at least racial) language.
I doubt Imus misunderstands this reality. His job is to speak and he uses language daily to spar with his co-hosts and guests. So, to say that he doesn't understand the difference is a lame defense.
This is true for so many of us though. We often want to be funny by using words that have racial overtones or subtexts. Worse, we use epithets to be funny. It turns out ugly more than it turns out funny.
In fact, this is one place where I agree with Sarah Silverman. While I don't think she's as funny as conventional wisdom would have it, she thinks about how she's going to use racial language to be funny. After the Michael Richards incident, she explained it with a funny line about the difference between her and "Kramer" that basically went, "I spend time planning my racist jokes." Typical of Silverman, she provided a sentence with a double meaning. The serious meaning being that she takes care in the use of language.
Imus doesn't do this. Or, if he does, he seems to take care to be mean and racist.
Labels: race in America
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