|
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:03 |
 | | Marc Mullinax |
ìThe way to become famous fast is to throw a brick at someone who is famous.î
ó Walter Winchell
ìMy goal is to goad people into saying something that ruins their life.î
ó Don Imus
ï
MARS HILL ó Poor Don Imus! He finally got his just desserts. Say enough edgy words, when you make words for a living, and soon the edges crumble and down you tumble.
Now liberals like those who may read this column are probably feeling
pretty OK by now. ìWe got the scumbag. Without Don Imus to worry about,
we are closer to a color-blind society.î
Repeat after me: Political correctness.
So Imus makes jokes. Bad ones. But when did you stop laughing at him?
When the corporate sponsors pulled out, why was it not a laughing
matter for anyone anymore? Why did it have to come to that? If only we
had stopped laughing a long time ago ... stopped listening. He needed
us.
What is this conversation all about, besides some white conversing
about black womenís hair? The conversation has a long history, which
most whites ignore. Weíll probably never ìget itî that we cannot joke
about a group of people against which white people committed the
worldís first holocaust.
And until we ìget itî that we ó not just our ancestors ó continue to be
stakeholders in this ethnic cleansing, racism will never be dismantled
in this country.
Imusí language fed the worst stereotypes and racism in America today,
and if you donít ìgetî the uproar his three words caused, you need
educating.
Whites enabled Imus to become a laughing matter no longer. He just
pushed the envelope we provided a little too far. Sorry if youíre white
and think you had nothing to do with this issue. Your test will be to
come off the bench when injustice recurs and risk your life or
reputation.
What about those who say to us, ìOh, grow up! Donít get your panties in
a bunch by locker room language from someone known to fish his best
material from the sewer.î After all, did Imus not borrow his language
from black recording artists? Does he not have the right to repeat
such? Were all his detractors really genuine about their outrage? Or
were they just getting their aerobic exercise jumping onto the latest
bandwagon of hate ó this time politically correct hate?
Can you say: hypocrisy?
Frankly, I donít care if Imus is a racist. Weíll always have them. What
is significant is that his offensive racist, sexist and homophobic
humor has been accepted by the mainstream for years.
The right to freely express oneís views remains a jewel (if chipped) of
American democracy. We cherish and defend it. But Imusí freedom to
express doesnít mean our obligation to consume.
Yet consume we do, largely ignorant that (1) our consuming means that
someone is laughing all the way to the bank, and (2) our laughter is
heard by others as hate speech.
Why? White people are the majority, and what we view is the norm. Even
our stereotypes are ìourî norm, ones we need to test in authentic
dialogue with African-Americans.
Apparently, words matter a lot. They are the paint of our
thought-worlds. The words we use to coat others (especially historical
Others) are always ethical decisions.
Depriving a race of respect through words is the same as outright
deprivation of that race of life. Why dishonor this one life with
half-way, undisciplined commitment to living in community with all
people? Imus will be back on the air, airing his dirty laundry next on
satellite radio. Why does extraterrestrial radio have to be the last
refuge of schlock and shock jocks? And then what? Will you $upport his
right to divide and get it wrong?
ï
Dr. Marc S. Mullinax, chairman of the philosophy and religion
departments at Mars Hill College, can be reached at mmullinax-at-mhc.edu.
|
