Current Events

[lesliepear]

On Imus: The particularly offensive part of his phrase was the "Ho" word. I think he got in trouble because he crossed the line and chose the wrong target. Rutgers is local to NYC and is trying to improve it's standing in college athletics - first with the football team making a bowl game and now the women's basketball team. Wouldn't surprise me if there Rutgers alumni, parents of students, or athletic fans in the chain of command at CBS/Infinity/WNBC. I used to listen to him back in the 1990's with my ex. He was ok, but I was never a fan (but didn't dislike him as much as Howard Stern). Also during that time period Joel Hollander (a now leaving bigwig with Infinity/CBS - and the one I don't like for destroying WCBS-FM) who was over him, lost his infant daughter CJ to SIDs. That led Imus to be involved with the Tommorow's Children's fund. It is based at Hackensack Hospital where Alan was born and there are building there named for Imus and his wife Deidre. I wonder they'll have to be renamed. I do hope his good works don't get lost in this flack. Since I wasn't a fan or listened to him before, I probably still won't.

On Governor Corzine: Weird how his accident was indirectly caused by Imus's remarks. (He was on the way to moderate a meeting of Imus and the Rutgers basketball team at the Governor's mansion.) I'm surprised that the hit and run driver who caused the accident was able to not be charged. I figure the state police would throw the book at the 20 year old driver. But Corzine should have worn his seatbelt. I heard he will be charged a 46.00 fine for this (he can afford it as the ex CEO of Goldman Sachs). He does face a long recovery ahead - I'm pretty sure he's getting the best care possible though. NJ still doesn't have an offical Lieutenant Governor position (we will in 2009), but at least our acting Governor Codey has experience in being acting Governor as he filled in after McGreevy resigned.

On the VTech tragedy: My heart goes out to all those who had loved ones hurt or killed that day. It's very strange that I've found 2 connections via 1 degree of seperation on the Internet. One connection is on a working moms list - the other off a children's clothing bulletin board (a poster was an ex-professor there). My early thoughts was that it was someone who wasn't right - it turns out people did find reason to question the shooter's behavior beforehand, but it seems followup with it may have slipped between the cracks. I wonder if any of it has to do with the size of the campus - both physical and in population. I went to a relatively small college in terms of size (WPI) - I felt more comfortable there than at a large state school. I've been meaning to e-mail the alumni admissions contact I have there and ask how they are dealing with it and the issues that have been raised. I got an e-mail today mentioning that people should wear the school colors (Maroon and Orange) tommorrow to show sympathy and support. I'm thinking about doing so, if I can find those colors in the closet.

Comments

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that caught up Imus wasn't the fact that he was using disrespectful language – either the racial or the sexist aspects – but the fact that he was picking on people who didn't have a clear platform to reply. If he had used the same expression in reference to a political figure, for example, the politicians' allies would be howling, and the politicians' foes would be snickering quietly – and the politician would have a chance to get in front of the media to denounce an idiot, which is an opportunity politicians generally find useful.

Instead, he picked on a college basketball team, which had essentially no media voice other than televised games, until general-public outrage at the idiot sent the media looking for the team for comment.

If I'm a politician, my public image is my job. But if I'm a college athlete, going to school is my primary job, playing sports is my secondary job, and dealing with my public image is limited to how I behave during games, unless I seek a wider public image. With his idiotic remark, Imus dumped the business of broader public image onto the student athletes, without any consideration for the fact that they may have had no interest in a public face other than their sports appearances.

I often pick on political figures over policy, which is perfectly fair. (Picking on a basketball team for bad basketball would also be fair.) Sometimes I pick on political figures as individuals too. That's not as fair, except that they often bring themselves into debates along with their political positions. (In other words, if a politician argues their issues on their claims of public benefit, they're off limits personally. But if they assert that an issue is a matter of moral correctness, attacks on their individual moral character are suddenly fair.) They're also fair game for comedy, such as in this piece I wrote four years ago. (Apologies for the self-promoting plug.)

Finally, a lot of other comments have asked the related question of why it's OK for rappers and the like to use similarly racial and sexist language, but not for Imus. Some assert a double standard – blacks can say "n.....", while whites can't. That's true to an extent – I'm even censoring myself by that rule, after all – but that's not the main point that applies in this case. The difference here is that rappers seem to use offensive words in offensive contexts, but without offense directed at specific individuals, particularly specific individuals who aren't public figures except in a very limited part of their lives.

In other words, if a rapper had included offensive language that named Rutgers basketball women, they'd be in the same trouble Imus is. But normally they stick to offensive language about broad, vague groups instead of specific people, or sometimes about public figures.

[madison-mom.livejournal.com]

I don't think the 20 year old hit anyone. It was his careless merging that caused the accident and there was a white truck that actually hit Corzines truck. I also Corzine should get the ticket. At the rate of speed they were going they should also get a speeding ticket.

[butterflymama3.livejournal.com]

My two cents on the whole Imus thing. He made a terrible mistake, a judgement call and he should not loose his entire career over it nor should all the work he does for charity go unnoticed in the midst of all this.

Gov. Corzine - how could he have not been wearing a seat belt at speeds of over 90mph?

VT - my prayers are with everyone involved. Thankfully we are not directly connected with it but still.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I too was thinking: Geez, how much can a $46 fine penalize a guy who can spend $60 million on his own campaign?

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

Some countries have laws that make fines proportional to both the gravity of the offense and the offender's ability to pay. Finland is an example, unless they've changed their rules or I heard wrong about them in the first place.

Our system of assessing fines only on the basis of the gravity of the offense makes fines inconsequential as a deterrent to wealthy people, but I'm not sure US politics would have a place for progressive fines. After all, even progressive taxes have fallen out of favor; the Social Security taxes on minimum wage income are roughly equal to the total taxes on a million a year of investment income.