Imus be serious

While other Democrats may wring their hands with Don Imus, I won't.

I don't believe Don Imus meant anything untoward, I think he learned his lesson last time, that off-color jokes are not funny, and he's a smart enough man to stay away from the subject. I suspect he really DID intend to highlight the arrest disparity which exists - his show has generally been more cerebral than Howard Stern or Bill O'Reilly. I heard the tape of what he said (it's been on nearly every radio station).

I may not always like what Imus says, and sometimes he's a jerk, but you'd have to think he had the memory of a snail, or was totally incapable of controlling what he says, to think he'd be dumb enough to say something so stupid again. Even his 'nappy-headed ho's' comment struck me as something not wilful, but rather a reflection of the latent sort of racism all too many of us white guys have lingering around - some due to experiential based fears, some not. But this comment came across as, "Well there you go", meaning, "well that just proves it" (that blacks are always in trouble) being said sarcastically.

So, Imus be serious and cut the guy some slack. We all take ourselves a bit too seriously sometimes - how many of us can say we don't make a joke here or there about another culture, religion, or race, not in an overtly offensive way, but with a slight tweak, the kind of tweak all good humor has to have? When we can no longer poke fun at ourselves, and at each other, we've crossed the line into a humorless society no longer worth trying to co-exist in. That's no excuse for overtly racist commentary or attitude - for which there is no excuse, but it's saying something like "Of course I can't jump, I'm white", shouldn't automatically set off alarm bells every time it happens to be 'on the air', rather than our locker-room buddy making the comment. How many of us could live by that standard? We have to learn to accept our cultural differences, and accept a little bit of ribbing too from those who don't understand- because there ARE in fact a few differnces between some cultures, and then maybe help them understand, in good humor, and taken with the good will intended.

Even so, in this case, I don't think it was Imus doing anything of the sort anyway. I don't like him, but I won't hang him unless I think he's guilty, and I don't.