Fire Him, (Fine Him?), And Ostracize Him

I've always found Don Imus to be a fatuous gasbag who, on the rare ocasions when I have been stuck listening to him, has never been either funny or insightful. And after his latest racist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team he (and his producer) ought to be fired from their jobs.

There is also a part of me that feels as if the FCC ought to fine them heavily -- a million dollars or more. The firing ought to be a no brainer. The fining is a bit more problematic given the First Amendment and the fact that I am pretty much a free speech absolutist. But the FCC has set the tone -- tv and radio stations have been fined for much less, and Howard Stern used to face the FCC's wrath all the time for far lesser violations. So even if I disagree with just about any fining, the FCC at least must be consistent on this matter. And if Imus were to fight the fine and win, well, I'd be more than happy to see the FCC take a punch in the mouth.

Here is the exchange in question:

"That's some rough girls from Rutgers," Imus said. "Man, they got tattoos ... "

"Some hardcore hos," said (producer Bernard) McGurk.

"That's some nappy headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus said.

Imagine being a father or mother of one of these girls, a sibling or a friend. These women are college students. Imus does not know a single one of them. He has no idea about their intellect or their character or their aspirations. he has no idea which are leaders, which are funny, which are beautiful. To him they are "nappy headed hos."

And this . . . is . . . not the first time accusations of racism have flown Imus' way. It's time for him to go. Apologies are, by this point, farcical and insignificant. Fire him. And while I think that in court fines ought not to stick (in any of the cases where they have been levied) as long as it uses fines to punish that of which it disapproves the FCC had damned well better fine Imus -- racism is a lot more important than profanity or Janet Jackson's exposed breast that no one actually saw.