COWARDS KICK AWAY ANOTHER PIECE OF AMERICA’S SOUL
I MET Imus on the gangplank of Noah’s Ark. He was then and remains today a truth-seeking missile with the best bull-meter in the business…. Imus came from the Great Southwest, where the men are men and the emus are nervous. And he did it all with something that seems, indeed, to be a rather scarce commodity these days. A sense of humor. There’s no excusing Imus’ recent ridiculous remark, but there’s something not kosher in America when one guy gets a Grammy and one gets fired for the same line. The Matt Lauers and Al Rokers of this world live by the cue-card and die by the cue-card; Imus is a rare bird, indeed - he works without a net. When you work without a net as long as Imus has, sometimes you make mistakes.
I’m not a big fan of political correctness, which really only serves to stifle open and honest communication. There are times, though, when political correctness gets confused with simple common sense. Being angry with Don Imus for his “nappy-headed hos” comment is not about political correctness, though the controversy has long since been blown far out of anything resembling proportion. Imus’ comments were a misguided, hurtful attempt at humor, which ended up being about as funny as a sucking chest wound.
The argument can be made that Imus was sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. Whether or not you happen to agree with that argument is really beside the point. What’s done is done, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are counting coup. Kinda makes you wonder when they’ll take on the same hurtful language within the African-American community, doesn’t it?
Where does Kinky Friedman come into this equation? Well, as usual, he’s tap-dancing where angels fear to tread. And trust me, comparing Imus to Socrates, Jesus Christ, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Mozart and Mark Twain takes some twisted logical tap-dancing. In attempting to assuage Imus’ public contrition, Friedman seems if nothing else prepared to give Imus a free pass. Whether this is appropriate is something I’m not about to pass judgement on. We all know what opinions are like, no?
Take heart, Imus. You’re merely joining a long and legendary laundry list of individuals who were summarily sacrificed in the name of society’s sanctimonious soul: Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Mozart and Mark Twain, who was decried as a racist until the day he died for using the N-word rather prolifically in “Huckleberry Finn.”
Speaking of which, there will always be plenty of Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons around. There will be plenty of cowardly executives, plenty of fair-weather friends, and plenty of Jehovah’s Bystanders, people who believe in God but just don’t want to get involved. In this crowd, it could be argued that we need a Don Imus just to wake us up once in a while.
There probably isn’t a single one of Imus’ vocal critics who come anywhere close to matching his record of philanthropy or good acts on this earth.
Judge a man by the size of his enemies, my father used to say. A man who, year after year, has raised countless millions of dollars and has fought hand-to-hand to combat against childhood cancer, autism, and SIDS - well, you’ve got a rodeo clown who not only rescues the cowboy, but saves the children as well.
And that certainly excuses Imus’ being a bigot who equates racial insensitivity with lowbrow humor, eh? What disturbs me about Friedman’s eloquent but wholly inappropriate defense of his friend is his seeming inability to recognize that Don Imus is a bigot and a DUMB@$$ in his own right. Imus may have been the victim of a vocal collection of opportunists looking to make a big score, but Imus is the one who set the table for them.
I believe New York will miss its crazy cowboy and America will miss the voice of a free-thinking independent-minded, rugged individualist. I believe MSNBC will lose many viewers and CBS radio many listeners.
Too bad for them. That’s what happens when you get rid of the only guy you’ve got who knows how to ride, shoot straight and tell the truth.
If Don Imus is a truth-teller, then this country is in worse shape than I’d feared. What Imus is- outside of his good works and philanthropy- is a bigot, a misogynist, and an angry old man willing to disrespect and skewer anyone he happens to take issue with. Seeing yourself as the ultimate arbiter of goodness and decency is a horribly arrogant place to be, but it’s exactly where Imus has been for years. If Kinky Friedman can’t recognize that, HE’S in worse shape than I’d feared.
