The Imus Brouhaha

So… just who is to blame for Don Imus losing his job… MSNBC, CBS, show sponsors and advertisers, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the African-American community, Imus himself?

Wrong! It’s all of us… American society in general. Day-by-day, we all slowly-but-surely degenerate into a lower class of people by looking for some (any!) new cheap thrill which comes our way. And because of that insatiable appetite for a new cheap thrill, someone will always step up to the plate to bat one out to us. We cheerfully idolize and make them richer for so doing. And they will be willing to deliver all the crassness and vulgarities which we can handle. And we are willing to handle more each day.

Professional comedians are one thing… they are the court jesters of our time and we need them to continually floodlight and skewer the foibles, hypocrisies, idiocies and inconsistencies of our way of life. They have carte blanche and always should be allowed that freedom of speech, no matter how crude it gets. The best comedians and humorists of our time are not, themselves, hypocrites, because they poke fun at themselves and their own ethnicity, political leanings, religion, and sex, as much as others’. Others, however… the shock jocks, hip-hoppers, religious figures, politicos, talk-show hosts, actors, et cetera, seem to do it for two reasons: notoriety and money. They certainly aren’t doing it for the benefit of the American public, because such rude crassness doesn’t benefit any of us, out here on the receiving end.

And it all filters down to our children… children who are now being raised by a generation of parents who weren’t properly raised, themselves. For, sadly, we have lost the “lore” of our American culture… those things which are not (never were) taught in any school, but were handed down from mother to daughter and father to son.

Where are “please” and “thank you”, patiently awaiting one’s turn, offering a helping hand, and consideration for other people? All gone. Such things are no longer taught by the parents, who have little or no conception of such things, themselves.

Personally, I always offer a helping hand; allow someone who puts on their turn signal to move in front of my car; clean up my trash at a fast food restaurant; often cook dinner and wash dishes for my lady because she works a full-time office job; and so forth. Does this make me any better than you? Nope. It’s just the way I live my life. I’ve come very close to dying at several times in my life. And I’ve come to realize it’s neither money nor attitude which counts… it’s people.

Look around you… at the growing number of lonely old people… people who wonder why they have no companion in their twilight years; whose children don’t even call them – let alone visit; people who have no circle of loyal and steadfast friends. Take a good, hard look at them. They are what American society is turning into… the crass and lonely old. And it is not anybody's fault but their own.

So go ahead, America… be as smart-assed as you like. You’re a free American. Tell it like it is… the ACLU will defend your right to do so, for free! Here, let me help you along…

Bagel-snappers, beaners, bible-thumpers, bitches, camel jockeys, chinks, coolies, crackers, cripples, dot-heads, dykes, fags, frogs, ginnies, goombahs, greasers, homos, injuns, ivans, jappos, jewbans, kikes, krauts, micks, monkeys, moolies, nappy-headed hos, niggers, polocks, pope-kissers, rag-heads, red-skins, ree-tards, sand niggers, sheenies, shvartzas, skees, slant-eyes, slopes, spics, wetbacks, wops… did I leave anybody out? I certainly don’t want to be known as a prejudicially-selective disparager of people. As a God-fearing American, I strive to be an equal-opportunity disparager.

You see, dear reader, it’s not about Imus… it never was. It’s about us, as Americans. How low do we collectively go? Some limbo contest, eh…?

Hanley “Doc” Harding

April 2007