Al Roker on Don Imus

I don't think Imus is so important that he deserves all this attention.

If the girls/champions would have commented that Imus is a jerk, and not worth any attention they'd be right.  All this media attention just gives Imus publicity - he's not going away.  His comment is offensive, tasteless, rude and just plain stupid and offensive - for the girls to be offended by his rediculous comment is absurd - He's the one who should be embarrassed and offended by his own remark.

 I hate to hear the Victorious Champions acting like Imus's victims.  They are NOT victims they are champions.

I've never watched or listened to Imus but a few times... now maybe I'll check him out, if just to watch for his next gaff... nah - I just can't stand his voice. 

With respect to NYCArthur's comments, it doesn't matter whether we give Imus further attention now or not, because it's too late for the Rutgers women. They will forvever be linked with Imus's comments. Why? Because, honestly, women's college basketball doesn't have a huge following, so a lot of people out there probably didn't even know about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Now, everyone does, and I hope most appreciate their athletic and scholastic abilities, but the phrase "nappy-headed hos" is going to pop up, even if people realize how repugnant it is. I'm sure Elizabeth Smart from Utah would like be known as Elizabeth Smart, the kind, intelligent girl who likes to study <whatever> and would like to be a <whatever> someday. Unfortunately, people know Elizabeth Smart as that pretty blond teen who was molested by a bunch of wackos.

No one can choose whether or not to be a victim. They can choose how to handle it, and I think the Rutgers women are handling it with a lot of class. They could have brushed it off and ignored it, but they're choosing to raise awareness of the issue of racism that still exists. Just because the restaurants serve them and they get first-class accomodations when they play in a tournament doesn't mean there are people saying behind their backs, "Hey, look at those nappy-headed hos". And, Imus aside, we as a society have to deal with that whether we like it or not.

Imus is NOT so important...talking about his remarks is.

Nappy is not an insult. Calling a team of young college girls at the hieght of thier achievements, HO's is the insult here.

BUt somehow the Ho part has be lost in this conversation. 

About Nappy... 

We have to lovingly rescue nappy from
negative imagery. It is a term that should mean fuzzy or tightly
curled, like when you think of the nap of a soft fuzzy sweater. People
prefer to use kinky, which sounds more technically problematic rather
than physically descriptive. 

Nappy has negative imagery
because in the 1800's Europeans used the term to compare black hair to
that of sheep or animals. And thus, proof that blacks were less than
human because of their animal hair.

So I think that when
someone cringes when they here the word Nappy, they are thinking of the
negative fantasy created by a racist society, rather than the actual
definition that offers a physical description.

So what we are doing now is saving Nappy and defining our beauty through our own eyes, something much closer to reality.

I have an idea. How about if you don’t like what he has to say just turn the station? I personally can’t stand Imus therefore I don’t listen. I also in no way believe he should have been fired. At what point do we stop using the race card and move forward with a positive approach to life? OK great now he’s fired. It’s a wonderful thing that racism is now over. It’s a wonderful thing we’ll never hear negative comments over the air waves again. It’s a wonderful thing BET network and comedy central will no longer have black people talking about white people in a negative way. I guess we can now set our sights on Bill O, Rush, and Howard.

I’m a Jewish person and if I only had $1.00 for every time a negative comment was made about Jewish people over the airwaves. I would be sitting on my own private <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Island where the weather is 85 and sunny for 365 days out of the year. The reason why I don’t listen to Imus is because he’s made comments about Jewish people on several occasions throughout his career. I’ve just tuned him out. That’s the best way to deal with people like him. If enough people just did that he would have lost his job a long time ago.

It’s actually insulting that this has taken up the entire news of the last few days. Can anyone tell me how many American lives were lost during this time in Iraq? Can anyone tell me where these deleted emails are from the Whitehouse in this new daily scandal?  Can anyone tell me what Robert Gates said yesterday regarding the troops? Can anyone tell me this new immigration bill now on the table? Can anyone tell me what’s going on in the mortgage market and foreclosures and why it’s happening?

This is the problem. We are bogged down in a war, soaring gas prices, huge global warming issues, and an economy that on the surface looks great but don’t tell that to the American auto workers and Citi employees who all lost their jobs. Let’s not mention record deficits and fiscal irresponsibility either.