Imus straight haired idiot

Uh oh, nappy headed ho, has fallen out of favor somewhere along the line with blacks. I guess if you’re not Stevie Wonder singing about your memories as a “nappy headed boy” or gangsta rapper grouping all black women into the category of hos, you could be in serious trouble. This story like so many others escapes me. Were it not all over the sports channels yesterday, I’d probably never have known it was a big deal.

It’s a big deal I suppose because Imus is white and we should all know by now that disrespecting black women is the sole prevue of black rappers like Snoop Dog – the only name that comes to mind in that particular category. It’s like the “n” word. A black man like Chris Rock can make a million dollars off the word in a comedy routine, but a white dude better never use it - even if he’s just repeating one of Rock’s jokes to a friend.

Then there’s the faux outrage of such morale arbiters as the Right Reverend Al, Tawana Brawley Freddy’s Fashion Mart, Sharpton and the Right Reverend Jesse, Hymietowne here’s the latest photo of my bastard baby, Jackson. Forget about their personal hypocrisy, they land with both feet on Imus – justifiably so I suppose – but nary a word to the Snoopster’s industry for saying much worse on a much more regular basis.

Because Imus’ remark was directed toward the Rutgers women’s basketball team, the sports guys all used the remark to mount the high horse and wax on and on about how disgusting and inappropriate it was. None mentioned the double standard that has manifested itself in the outrage that has consumed Don Imus’ use of the word ho and the mega sales and extended air play that the Snoopster’s industry receives when they use the word.

Then there’s the Don himself. Goodness man, get a hold of yourself. Imus sounds like a British soldier captured by the Iranians for ten minutes. He’s ready to confess to and apologize for about anything if he can just stay on the radio. You should have sailed right into the storm. “Gee, ho has a bad connotation among black people, whodda thunk it? It’s everywhere in the culture and nobody seems to be too upset with it, particularly the weasel race baiting Reverends Sharpton and Jackson. I thought I was complementing the girls.”

Look, if a white guy like Lex lectures blacks on the use of words like the “n” word, hos etc. he’s told to shut up – you don’t understand the hood blah, blah, blah. But if a white guy like Lex dare use one of those words, holy cow sound general quarters we’re in for trouble. Imus gets paid a lot of money to say things that offend people. As long he’s offending conservatives and Christians he’s safe. But if he offends a minority by referring to them as they refer to themselves, that’s over the line.

Imus should be fired. But he should have been fired years ago. His crime, in my opinion, was not the use of the words hos in reference to black women -- that is way too common place these days to be offensive -- his crime was directing that comment a specific group of black women rather than black women generally. I would hope that the groups feigning outrage at Imus would take their mock outrage to the rap industry's door step as well.