Fired. Blew it?

Now that total and complete victory (well, once the Radio complies as well) has been achieved, ain’t no use bloviating bout the usual at this point. No, Imus shouldn’t have used those words, even in jest. Nor is there any truck with the argument “well, black people say it, it’s a double standard.” And don’t bore me re: “maybe now rappers et al will re-examine their language about young women”; much like the real impetus behind MSNBC’s decision, as long as talking about young women being pieces of meat makes $$$$$, it will not stop. Period.

But I am bothered that the punishment does not fit the crime. In my eyes. We have evolved into a culture now when someone messes up, we’re not happy until total and complete action is taken; it is not enough to rail on you publicly and suspend you and hang the tag of “racist” on you for the rest of your life, we are not happy until you have been completely destroyed. Fired, sent to your ranch and no matter what you’ve done in your life you will be remembered only for a few words you foolishly said one nebulous morning.

I feel that the Rutgers Ladies, as classy and great as they’ve been, have misused the opportunity (strange word to use here, but stay with me) they were given. Instead of themselves controlling what happens, they’ve let themselves become pawns in a game bigger than themselves. They could have spoken up and instead of letting him be fired, really taught the world AND Don Imus, maybe an old dog who could still learn a few tricks, about forgiveness, tolerance. Turning the other cheek, taking the high road. Yes, it’s easy for me to say this, that when a white guy fucks up a black person should forgive etc. But whats the legacy here? What’s been won? Imus will either just slide away into oblivion or end up on satellite radio, where he can be as malicious as he wants. These girls, who were pushed by the media into thinking this is their Rosa Parks moment, will be immediately forgotten as soon as the next incident like this occurs. I guarantee this. Instead, they could’ve insisted on forgiveness/tolerance. They could say don’t fire him, make him be on the tv everyday reminding people what he did, make him REALLY atone. Maybe they could’ve been remembered as the young ladies who turned the Imus program into a more thoughtful, meaningful show. He’s already said he wants more black people on the show, some gentle prodding from these girls re: more daily content on the subject of racism could make a huge difference. Remember, Imus’ show is HUGE. Teaching him lessons on forgiveness and tolerance is a hell of a thing, passed on to millions of viewers every day. Instead, they will be remembered as the girls who were the “nappy hos” that got Imus fired. Is this conclusion even a battle in the war? I don’t think so.

Let’s be honest. There’s awful racism every day. Black people mishandled by cops, passed over for jobs. There’s entire nations of people being slaughtered that we couldn’t care less about because their skin is dark. Now here comes a moment that while offensive and abusive, blew up into a maelstrom of publicity that ironically could’ve resulted in better words and deeds than the thoughtless words that started it. REAL change and dialogue could have been borne out of mere words, not 41 or 50 bullets or even worse. But no. We’re not happy without “total victory.”

It’s not fair for me to be hard on these girls, I know this. They didn’t ask for this. They’re young. All they’re trying to do is go to college. But I’m bitter that they’re not trying a route other than “fire him.” It’s like torture – it might seem like it works for the moment, but in the end doesn’t move us forward.

I understand the anger. I also understand our celebrity/culture/media’s intense need to sensationalize, drive ourselves into a frenzy, each trying to out-outrage the other. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something eerie about the coincidence of the Duke Lacrosse fiasco closing the books this week. Lives ruined because of our need to go crazy.

I know my white guilt is supposed to make me horrified at anyone who doesn’t want Imus attacked by wolfpups right now. But at this moment, and I know I’m wrong and will regret this tomorrow, at this moment I could care less if Imus meets with these girls. What’s the point? More groveling, more “I know I’m an idiot” etc etc. We will all run each other over to proclaim how classy and amazing these girls are. Which I’m not saying isn’t true. But if he said you know what, enuff, fuck this I’m done meeting and apologizing when I’m just gonna get buried even more, I can’t say right now I’d go crazy on him.

I just have a bad feeling these girls are gonna look back as they get older and think maybe they coulda done things differently. Which we all do anyways, looking back at our youth. But in the upcoming weeks, I for one don’t wanna hear these girls pepper their speeches with “Jesus” and “the Bible” etc etc. Cause when they had a chance to affect REAL change as Jesus would have, they said nothing and allowed this execution. And on a side note, I don’t wanna hear MSNBC (and surely CBS radio) self-righteously proclaim they’ve dropped him because of the words themselves and not the fact that sponsors have pulled out along with their ta-da! Moolah.

Anyways, that’s that. Imus was wrong, he’s been wrong many times with his mouth. But he also could’ve become an (ironic) instrument of great change. Again, I know I’m prolly being unfairly harsh on the young ladies, but just feels like we blew a big chance here.