Has Don Imus shown us our own faults?
Alan E. Moses
April 13, 2007
With the furor over the statements made by Don Imus still fresh in our minds, we should take the opportunity to analyze the entire situation. We need to really take a long hard look at our society and begin to ask ourselves questions. Is this just the action of one person that may have misspoken? Or are we dealing with an entire nation that is full of hate and makes fun of anyone who seems different?
Granted Mr. Imus has admitted that what he said was wrong and not appropriate. In fact he says that it was “stupid” on his part. However, unless you have lived in a vacuum you know that our language has changed over the past few decades. The fact is that the word ho is used by the younger generation to describe all females. Even some females use this term to describe each other. There is no race barrier there. The nappy headed part is used to describe some in a derogatory way. Unlike ho it is intended to inflict harm in most cases.
Many will say but why should ho be allowed? You must ask the generation that feels that it is okay. And no not all do. But ask yourself the question does that statement made by Mr. Imus make him a sexist and racist? He is only repeating words and phrases used by our children. We don’t like them nor do we agree that it is okay but how did we get here?
Many will tell you that our American version of the English language is very difficult to learn as we have incorporated so much slang into it. We have finally noticed the dumbing down of our language as words are opposite in meaning. I grew up in the 70’s and words like cool, hip and dig all reflected nice or excellent. Today words like sick, phat or bad may mean the same. If you tell a younger person that you have a nice girlfriend in most cases you will get “yeah, my ho is sick”. Million’s of young men across America head out on Friday night looking for hos. Does this forgive Mr. Imus? Not at all but ask why your kids say that. How often are women referred to as bitches? More than you or I like but these words don’t mean the same to this generation as they do to us.
Our society has become so strict and demanding that we should all look, talk and act a like that rebellion with language is a way not to conform. Clothes and music are other ways and we shouldn’t forget that we all have gone through this mild rebellious stage ourselves.
We do have more serious problems than a few words or the way our youth dresses. May be Mr. Imus has done us a favor and we should look at what these problems are. Are racism, sexism and gay bashing still alive? You better believe it. Just ignoring it has not stopped it. Our society is full of hate towards one another and this is one of our most pressing issues of today. We put obese persons down, how often do we say fat or ugly weird and crazy about each other? “All of the time”.
We just can’t seem to understand that we are all different in our own ways. Society is trying to force everyone to be alike and this is where the problems begin. And if you look at history you will see that this problem is as old as man. Wars are fought over this as Religion against religion, Tribe vs. tribe, Race battling race and political systems attempting to overthrow other political systems.
Why is it so hard to accept that we have different thoughts? We are not unfeeling or unthinking machines. We lack compassion and the ability to understand this simple fact. May be we should teach our children this in school because obviously we aren’t doing it at home. Is it not true that our differences are what make the world go around? Why do so many insist that they are better than their neighbors. We treat people with illnesses badly and in some cases terribly. Why? It turns group A against group B and nothing is accomplished. Only more pain and suffering in the end.
Our own government acts this way and it causes the problems that we see today. If country A won’t do as we say then we stop dialogue and inflict insults in many different ways such as diplomatic or economic. Our attitude is “you don’t think like us so take this”. Kind of child like reminds me of bullies in grade school.
I think that the time has come to stop all this “my way or the highway” attitudes as we are not heading in the right direction. Learn to listen to one another and not throw insults when you disagree. Just understand that there are many points of view and not just one. If perfection were attainable don’t you think that we would have found it by now? We need to stop building walls and start building bridges towards one another as we all have something to give.
Many disregard the things that Mr. Imus has done such as his work for Autism awareness when nobody else in his position would, Helping children that have life threatening cancer learn that they can enjoy what little bit of life they have. His work creating and promoting cleaners and soaps that are human and environmentally safe. He along with the Fisher’s pushed to have a clean and high tech place for our service men injured in Iraq and Afghanistan to come to for rehab so that they could have some dignity (The Intrepid). What did the government have? A VA system that is just a mess and as uncaring as the society it reflects.
Let us not forget diverting his private jet to pick up an African American boy with cancer that couldn’t obtain transportation anywhere else. Do racist people do these things?
There is more than Mr. Imus involved in this story as it only reflects all of us. We need to learn to bridge these gaps with our hearts and not throw insults back because this only continues the wrong. Most of these problems can’t be fixed with money we need hearts and understanding to change this entire problem. There are some things money can’t buy and this is one. Seek out differences in others and learn that just may be you will find that those that are different then you can give you something that you may not have known that you even needed.
There still is hope we just need to learn how to recognize it. Mr. Imus you were wrong but so are all of us. As John Lennon once said “Imagine”.
Granted Mr. Imus has admitted that what he said was wrong and not appropriate. In fact he says that it was “stupid” on his part. However, unless you have lived in a vacuum you know that our language has changed over the past few decades. The fact is that the word ho is used by the younger generation to describe all females. Even some females use this term to describe each other. There is no race barrier there. The nappy headed part is used to describe some in a derogatory way. Unlike ho it is intended to inflict harm in most cases.
Many will say but why should ho be allowed? You must ask the generation that feels that it is okay. And no not all do. But ask yourself the question does that statement made by Mr. Imus make him a sexist and racist? He is only repeating words and phrases used by our children. We don’t like them nor do we agree that it is okay but how did we get here?
Many will tell you that our American version of the English language is very difficult to learn as we have incorporated so much slang into it. We have finally noticed the dumbing down of our language as words are opposite in meaning. I grew up in the 70’s and words like cool, hip and dig all reflected nice or excellent. Today words like sick, phat or bad may mean the same. If you tell a younger person that you have a nice girlfriend in most cases you will get “yeah, my ho is sick”. Million’s of young men across America head out on Friday night looking for hos. Does this forgive Mr. Imus? Not at all but ask why your kids say that. How often are women referred to as bitches? More than you or I like but these words don’t mean the same to this generation as they do to us.
Our society has become so strict and demanding that we should all look, talk and act a like that rebellion with language is a way not to conform. Clothes and music are other ways and we shouldn’t forget that we all have gone through this mild rebellious stage ourselves.
We do have more serious problems than a few words or the way our youth dresses. May be Mr. Imus has done us a favor and we should look at what these problems are. Are racism, sexism and gay bashing still alive? You better believe it. Just ignoring it has not stopped it. Our society is full of hate towards one another and this is one of our most pressing issues of today. We put obese persons down, how often do we say fat or ugly weird and crazy about each other? “All of the time”.
We just can’t seem to understand that we are all different in our own ways. Society is trying to force everyone to be alike and this is where the problems begin. And if you look at history you will see that this problem is as old as man. Wars are fought over this as Religion against religion, Tribe vs. tribe, Race battling race and political systems attempting to overthrow other political systems.
Why is it so hard to accept that we have different thoughts? We are not unfeeling or unthinking machines. We lack compassion and the ability to understand this simple fact. May be we should teach our children this in school because obviously we aren’t doing it at home. Is it not true that our differences are what make the world go around? Why do so many insist that they are better than their neighbors. We treat people with illnesses badly and in some cases terribly. Why? It turns group A against group B and nothing is accomplished. Only more pain and suffering in the end.
Our own government acts this way and it causes the problems that we see today. If country A won’t do as we say then we stop dialogue and inflict insults in many different ways such as diplomatic or economic. Our attitude is “you don’t think like us so take this”. Kind of child like reminds me of bullies in grade school.
I think that the time has come to stop all this “my way or the highway” attitudes as we are not heading in the right direction. Learn to listen to one another and not throw insults when you disagree. Just understand that there are many points of view and not just one. If perfection were attainable don’t you think that we would have found it by now? We need to stop building walls and start building bridges towards one another as we all have something to give.
Many disregard the things that Mr. Imus has done such as his work for Autism awareness when nobody else in his position would, Helping children that have life threatening cancer learn that they can enjoy what little bit of life they have. His work creating and promoting cleaners and soaps that are human and environmentally safe. He along with the Fisher’s pushed to have a clean and high tech place for our service men injured in Iraq and Afghanistan to come to for rehab so that they could have some dignity (The Intrepid). What did the government have? A VA system that is just a mess and as uncaring as the society it reflects.
Let us not forget diverting his private jet to pick up an African American boy with cancer that couldn’t obtain transportation anywhere else. Do racist people do these things?
There is more than Mr. Imus involved in this story as it only reflects all of us. We need to learn to bridge these gaps with our hearts and not throw insults back because this only continues the wrong. Most of these problems can’t be fixed with money we need hearts and understanding to change this entire problem. There are some things money can’t buy and this is one. Seek out differences in others and learn that just may be you will find that those that are different then you can give you something that you may not have known that you even needed.
There still is hope we just need to learn how to recognize it. Mr. Imus you were wrong but so are all of us. As John Lennon once said “Imagine”.
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