Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

[A post of mine to the Grassroots Radio Coalition listserve.]

A friend of mine suggested that someone had it in for Don Imus. Now, I
think he's right.

I don't care that Imus may be fired; if you're highly paid to say offensive
things and you say something highly offensive and get fired, that's an
occupational risk still far better than the job security most of us have.

My friend's point, which others have made in different contexts, is that you
can listen to any fifteen minutes of any of Imus or dozens of other radio
shows and come away with plenty of material to be outraged about.

Mapping how and on what outlets this outrage is allowed to take hold, and in
what circumstances, would be fascinating as a study of media whether or not
any agendas seem to peek out.

But if we accept this outcome of sudden media attention as justice being
done, the system working, are we letting an utterly symbolic purge take the
place of a crying need for redress?

Why are we only allowed (and why do we allow ourselves only) to be publicly
outraged about some individual's words? What about reality?

What of the institutional racism that forces even middle-class blacks to
lose opportunities for their children from even higher interest rates on
loans? Why can't outrage for that, or even for the interest rates even us
white folks pay (else, as many are doing, lose the home), seem to find a
center and a platform?

Why isn't every politician asked to comment on the preventable destruction
and willful squandering of the great Black American city New Orleans?

What of the deaths of millions of Iraqis over years of war, sanctions, and
occupation? The millions of women harmed by U.S. withholding of funds for
family planning or women's health clinics that acknowledge the possibility
of abortion?

Despite the temptation to pitch in on battles we can win, fighting symbols
and ignoring real damage isn't just a matter of our own cognitive
dissonance, it's bad strategy. Now people who have common ground with
progressives, feminists, and anti-racists just come away thinking that
there's a powerful black lobby or tolerance police.

We who get outraged (at both words and actions) a lot more often than media
personalities lose their jobs know this isn't true.

Which leads me to wonder, again, are there some white men in power who
didn't mind seeing Imus gone?

In any case, I want a chart of issues with # people affected, how seriously
(death, injury, economic damage, psychologically), to help me express my
exact level of outrage.

Misogynistic and racist statements: outraged? Absolutely. Fire Imus, sure.
Wealth inequality and job discrimination against mothers: outraged?
Thousands of times more outraged. Let's dismantle CBS and the economic
system it - and its corporate co-conglomerates:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2870 - prop up.

- ben, http://AgaricDesign.com + http://pwgd.org/

Deborah Speer wrote:
> > With the news that CBS Radio has now fired Imus, I'm
> > tempted to say this is an instance where the
> > "marketplace of ideas" and the "market" did their
> > jobs.
> >
> > Without getting into the details of this single
> > instance (for we all know there have been many over
> > the years), Imus and others have the right to be as
> > offensive as they please. Their employers and
> > advertisers also have the right to let him seek the
> > nearest unemployment line. And CBS has done just that.
> >
> > Perhaps this is a good sign that the public is fed up
> > with the way its airwaves are being used by their
> > corporate caretakers.
> >
> > But the FCC? No thanks. I'm with Curt and Carol here.
> >
> > Debbie Speer
> > KFCF/Fresno, CA
> >
> >

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