Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Point: The Hypocritical Imus Shakedown

Casting The First Stone
By: Brian Restuccia

The recent firing of Don Imus has brought about the discussion of what is the politically correct type of discourse for things like race, gender and sexuality. His comments have opened him up to assault from all sides, particularly by the Reverend Al Sharpton. What he said was unwarranted and socially unredeemable, but then again what you type of high standards do you effect from a shock jock? The issue here is not about one man saying one insensitive comment. The problem I have with this situation is the way that he is being attacked and that there is an obvious double standard about precisely who is responsible for maintaining civil discourse.


Sharpton is known as a vehement defender of civil rights and a famous activist defending the African American community when they have been slighted or wronged. There are some instances, however, when his exuberance and support has gotten the best of him as he has quickly and vigorously supported 'victims' in cases that later proved to be fraudulent. Famous cases include Tawana Brawley, the Crown Height Riots and the LoanMax spokesman incident to name few. The issue that Imus brought up was whether Sharpton would be willing to apologize to the Duke lacrosse players for judging and slighting them, just as Imus had done for the Rutgers basketball team. Some people may view this as a cop out, or an attempt to divert some media attention away from himself, but I think this is a legitimate question.

It's not about Imus asking to be let off the hook. It's about the idea that responsibility for raising the discourse on race, sex and equality in general should not be burdened solely by one group. It should not be that Imus marginalizing a group is in someway so much worse than Sharpton doing the same. Why should Imus loses sponsorship and a TV show, while Sharpton remains unaffected for similarly ostracizing a group? Imus is pushing for (in his apology) and being asked to push for equality and tolerance, but by Sharpton not ever apologizing it makes it look like he is not interested in the same, just promoting his own agenda.

- Brian Restuccia

2 comments:

rmacguidwin said...

Sharpton is a bit crazy. I tend to agree with you on this one Brian. It is a shame that a generally respectable man is kicked off a show for a single laps in judgment. I am interested to hear what Steve has to say about this issue.

Brian Restuccia said...

I don't know much about the guy, but I do know that he was in the middle of a charity fund raising event that was stopped short because he was booted off the air. That is a shame