Imus be an idiot . . .

[Mephisto]

Many whites (INCLUDING IMUS HIMSELF) has kinky hair!!! When I refer to whites with "nappy" hair I clearly am using this definition from Webster.

Apparently you didn't see this on the first page of the thread:

I just walked over and consulted the advice of two guys I work with. Apparently, nappy is a racial slur when used by a white person because white people don't have nappy hair.

Corplinx consulted two black friends/co-workers to find this out. Are you going to call him a liar, or claim that the two African-Americans he spoke to are wrong about slurs directed at their race?

 

[brodski]

You're making a sociological argument not a semantically or grammatical argument. I don't see how the "basic ruels(sic) of English" make any difference.

Language is a sociological construct- the rules of how English is understood means that you can have a phrase (such as "hook nosed evil Zionist") were no single word is racist, but the total meaning of the phrase clearly is. Using a racial a characteristic to qualify an insult makes the whole insult racially based.

Using "hook nosed" and "Zionism" in the same sentence means "Jewish". These key words when used together in this sentence and in this context do imply he's referring to a Jew. However in the context of the discussion on the Imus show, it had nothing to do with race.

bollocks, the words "nappy headed" refers to a stereotypical characteristic of black people, the term "ho" is predominantly black American slang- it is exactly the same as calling someone a hook nosed Zionist.

Do you have any evidence he's racist? This is borderline libel.

He called a group of black women "nappy headed ho's", the fact that he claims that this was "accidental" just makes him a careless racist.
If Imus objects he can contact my lawyers.

 

[TheJim]

How can anyone say what Imus said as anything but racist. Here is the context in which he made the comments.

IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.

ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --

McCORD: Do The Right Thing.

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

His producer clearly makes mention of race by bringing up Spike Lee, Ho is word historically used to refer to African American hookers, Nappy in this context does mean african American hair.

 

[hgc]

This time is different. The girls on the Rutgers basketball team have done nothing more public than to play very good basketball. Calling them "nappy-headed ho's" stepped over the line. Not because it's racist, but because it's gratutitous. He should apologize to them, personally. Last I heard, he asked to do just that, but they don't want to see him, preferring, I guess, their own self-righteous anger.

As you said, all the only public thing they did was play very good basketball. So why then is their refusal to meet with Imus in order to lend credence to his attempts at contrition self-righteous. Imus made his own mess. They're under no obligation to help him clean it up. Nice job turning the tables on the victims though. You should go on Imus and tell him that you think he's a swell guy underneath it all.

 

[TheJim]

How can anyone say what Imus said as anything but racist. Here is the context in which he made the comments.

IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.

ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --

McCORD: Do The Right Thing.

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

His producer clearly makes mention of race by bringing up Spike Lee, Ho is word historically used to refer to African American hookers, Nappy in this context does mean african American hair.

 

[headscratcher4]

Imus accidentally said something offensive (Not racist, just offensive) and apologized SEVERAL times for it. He was never "slapped down". He was suspended by a cowardly news network who is too afraid to stand up to the ilk of Sharpton or Jackson. That's all.

"Nappy headed ho..." not racist? How do you figure? Of course it was racist. It wasn't funny but it was racist. There is no other way to look at "nappy headed" and "ho" together in the same breath.

He's done it before. Read Gwen Ifil's thoughtful piece in today's NYTimes (registration required).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/opinion/10ifill.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

When she didn't want to play his juvinile frat boy radio game, he called her a cleaning woman.

I don't think he should be fired, but the sort of "bad-boy" can't control what comes out of his mouth stuff is full of Cr*p. It suggests to me that very racists images are not too far below his surface.

The sad part isn't that he said it. The sad part is that he has an audience at all.

 

[headscratcher4]

Imus accidentally said something offensive (Not racist, just offensive) and apologized SEVERAL times for it. He was never "slapped down". He was suspended by a cowardly news network who is too afraid to stand up to the ilk of Sharpton or Jackson. That's all.

"Nappy headed ho..." not racist? How do you figure? Of course it was racist. It wasn't funny but it was racist. There is no other way to look at "nappy headed" and "ho" together in the same breath.

He's done it before. Read Gwen Ifil's thoughtful piece in today's NYTimes (registration required).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/opinion/10ifill.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

When she didn't want to play his juvinile frat boy radio game, he called her a cleaning woman.

I don't think he should be fired, but the sort of "bad-boy" can't control what comes out of his mouth stuff is full of Cr*p. It suggests to me that very racists images are not too far below his surface.

The sad part isn't that he said it. The sad part is that he has an audience at all.

 

[Mephisto]

Sorry - this was a double-post.

 

[Katana]

I don't care, I'm just passing the time.

Thanks, Lonewulf.

 

[pgwenthold]

In all of this, I am left with the question:

WHO GIVES A FLYING FIG WHAT IMUS SAYS ABOUT ANYTHING?

Seriously.

Seriously?

That's pretty easy for you to say when you aren't part of the stereotype. Especially given the role that discrimination against those who are included in the stereotype has played in our society.

Of course, Imus is one thing, but no one has commented on this guy McGuirk calling them "jigaboos"? How does that guy keep his job at all?

 

[corplinx]

Corplinx consulted two black friends/co-workers to find this out. Are you going to call him a liar, or claim that the two African-Americans he spoke to are wrong about slurs directed at their race?

I didn't say I agreed with them. The list of things we can't say gets longer every year. One of these days the Friar's Club will be outlawed for violating thought police statutes.

This whole "yes we sit around making fun of John's Nappy Hurr but if you do its racist" stuff is getting tiresome. The ability to arbitrarily decide what is racist and ruin someone's career scares me.

 

[BPSCG]

As you said, all the only public thing they did was play very good basketball. So why then is their refusal to meet with Imus in order to lend credence to his attempts at contrition self-righteous.

They're under no obligation to; he committed the offense, not they. But is expressing a desire to apologize personally necessarily an attempt "to lend credence to his attempts at contrition"? Do you reject the possibility that it's genuine? Imus at least had the guts to make an actual apology, saying that he had done wrong; he didn't use that tired, phony non-apology construct people so often use: "I'm sorry that you were offended..." He did not try to put the blame on the basketball players. If he had, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to meet him.

Nice job turning the tables on the victims though. You should go on Imus and tell him that you think he's a swell guy underneath it all.

You should read my earlier post to see what I really think of him.

 

[Mephisto]

Many whites (INCLUDING IMUS HIMSELF) has kinky hair!!! When I refer to whites with "nappy" hair I clearly am using this definition from Webster.

Apparently you didn't see this on the first page of the thread:

I just walked over and consulted the advice of two guys I work with. Apparently, nappy is a racial slur when used by a white person because white people don't have nappy hair.

Corplinx consulted two black friends/co-workers to find this out. Are you going to call him a liar, or claim that the two African-Americans he spoke to are wrong about slurs directed at their race?

 

[hgc]

They're under no obligation to; he committed the offense, not they. But is expressing a desire to apologize personally necessarily an attempt "to lend credence to his attempts at contrition"? Do you reject the possibility that it's genuine? Imus at least had the guts to make an actual apology, saying that he had done wrong; he didn't use that tired, phony non-apology construct people so often use: "I'm sorry that you were offended..." He did not try to put the blame on the basketball players. If he had, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to meet him.

You should read my earlier post to see what I really think of him.

Fine, Imus made a real apology. You still haven't explained why the Rutgers girls' refusal to meet with him means they "[prefer] ... their own self-righteous anger." I think this is a ill-considered remark on your part, and I'd give you a lot of credit if you were to retract it.

 

[Tailgater]

I didn't say I agreed with them. The list of things we can't say gets longer every year. One of these days the Friar's Club will be outlawed for violating thought police statutes.

This whole "yes we sit around making fun of John's Nappy Hurr but if you do its racist" stuff is getting tiresome. The ability to arbitrarily decide what is racist and ruin someone's career scares me.

As long as I've been on this planet, nappyhead and ho have always been insulting and not new to the list.

It is sad that this story and baby Anna Nicole are half of the news today.

 

[pgwenthold]

I didn't say I agreed with them. The list of things we can't say gets longer every year.

I gotta admit, taking "nappy-headed hos" off the list of "things we can say" really doesn't affect the vocabulary I use very much. YMMV.

 

[TheJim]

I didn't say I agreed with them. The list of things we can't say gets longer every year. One of these days the Friar's Club will be outlawed for violating thought police statutes.

This whole "yes we sit around making fun of John's Nappy Hurr but if you do its racist" stuff is getting tiresome. The ability to arbitrarily decide what is racist and ruin someone's career scares me.

Last time i checked Imus was not arrested. Hell, he has not even lost his job the only thing he has done is apologize and get suspeneded from a simicast for 2 whole weeks starting next week.

And i see where you are coming from i mean **** who gets to decide if calling someone a nappy haired ho with too many tatoos in a discussion with someone saying jigaboos and referancing spike lee is racist? Until i was told by Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson to be offended i would have never thought that to be racisit.

 

[hgc]

I didn't say I agreed with them. The list of things we can't say gets longer every year. One of these days the Friar's Club will be outlawed for violating thought police statutes.

This whole "yes we sit around making fun of John's Nappy Hurr but if you do its racist" stuff is getting tiresome. The ability to arbitrarily decide what is racist and ruin someone's career scares me.

I would think that calling a womens basketball team "nappy-headed hos" was just as unacceptable long ago as it is today ... not some johnny-come-lately violation of PC manners. How recently do you think it came to be added to the list of no-nos?

 

[Katana]

Seriously?

Yes.

That's pretty easy for you to say when you aren't part of the stereotype. Especially given the role that discrimination against those who are included in the stereotype has played in our society.

That's pretty easy for me to say because I just don't care what he thinks. Listening to the drivel that Imus spews is a waste of time, and this instance is no exception. He could have made disparaging remarks about women athletes or women in general (groups to which I belong - well, I used to be more athletic, but that's not the point ), and I would feel the same.

The media frenzy over this is baffling to me. You have activists, minority groups, Al Roker all calling for his resignation. He's apologizing left and right. Now his show has been suspended for two weeks. Good grief.

I would have preferred that people just turned him off for good, showing him (and his sponsors) just how irrelevant he is.

Of course, Imus is one thing, but no one has commented on this guy McGuirk calling them "jigaboos"? How does that guy keep his job at all?

I have to admit that I wondered about that one.

 

[Tailgater]

From the other thread:

Imus might not be a racist, but the comment was. You can split hairs over the specific definition of "nappy", but it is meant to be an insult. Blacks call other blacks nappy when their hair is unclean and pressed down in a tight fashion past small curls. Other races use nappyhead as racist slang. I usually hear it from hillbillys named Bobby Jo. Ho is used to call a woman a whore or slut. You call a woman a "ho" out of disrespect. If you use these terms together and think it's OK and no big deal, you are either ignorant or a racist womanizer.