It Doesn't have to be this way...

And another comment on Imus:

... Well, you are very nearly totally correct. On most things in my
experience. I do think you have referred to "lying bastards" or some such
characterization of conservatives on various occasions. I'm not hammering you
for that, I do it too, and don't feel bad about it, nor inaccurate. And Imus
appears to be a real oinker. But he should be allowed to say what he thinks. The
market place is the arena for casting him out, and I don't think he will get
that opportunity. He may be a racist, he may be a sexist. But I think you are
right, he's just a bully, to whomever! All included.It is interesting that we
(the nation) are spending as much time and energy on this as we are, when there
are many much more important things to be outraged, or even mildly annoyed, at.
Think it's a plot by Rove?...Gordon

Yes, I have!

...Referred to Conservatives as lying bastards. I stand by that statement and I can back it up. Facts have a Liberal bias and aren't the province of the conservative noise machine.

I would like folks to remember that I did not call for Imus to be fired...Exactly the opposite, in fact. I called for him to serve those he had wronged in such a way that his victims could better understand him for what he is...And in such a way that Imus could understand his victims for what they are:

Young, black, also white (people forget that the team is mixed) overacheivers...such as the player who speaks several languages and listens to symphonic music not rap becasue she plays several musical instruments on a symphonic level...and yeah, she got game, too!

Now Imus gets to play the victim, claiming people were out to get him. Of course they were, and with damned good reason, but his show was not particularly profitable, he demanded way too much in salary (ten million a year, dang!), and it was the sponsors that actually pulled the plug. Got that?

Imus was fired by the Marketplace...Ha!

I doubt that he will be able to accept that very easily. The victim role is so much easier.

Now here's the part that disappoints me in this sorry episode. Jesse jackson and Al Sharpton are both Christian ministers. Not once did I hear them do the Christian thing and ask for us to forgive Don Imus.

Where could America be if had say, Jesse Jackson, gone up to Don Imus and said, "Come with me to the gym. you and I will clean up and wash towells and serve these young women to make up for the harm, but more importantly feel the harm your words caused. This way, Mr. Imus, you will grow as a person and these young women will get to know that bigotry is about fear and is to be pitied as much as reviled."

Since the death of Martin Luther King, One thing I've never seen is a prominent christian leader 'wash the feet" as it were. This was a huge moment in America. Bigotry could have been greatly diminished by excercizing forgiveness but it became instead a moment for the shifting of power...a moment for revenge.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Peace,

Steve

******


"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car..."
Lee Iacocca