Just Let the Racist Idiot Be a Racist Idiot
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by user Wildcatmatt
I can't be the only one who's sick of this. How many times has this scenario played out in this country? The ignorant and insubstantial public figure makes a stupid and offensive comment. Everyone has to act overly indignant, even though none of us really care that much. In the end, the public figure makes a hollow apology, and we all continue to act incensed until we just stop caring on a literal level. Then they go back to being just as ignorant but slightly less insubstantial because of all the attention we just afforded them for being ignorant.
Nobody should give a crap about Don Imus. Imus has been an insignificant speck on the radio landscape ever since Howard Stern kicked his ass in the WNBC ratings in the mid 80's. There's probably about two dozen people left in this country who still listen to Imus on a regular basis. The only reason anyone knows the name anymore is from Stern making occasional remarks about what a useless douche nozzle Imus is.
When Don Imus made the comment that the Rutgers women's basketball team was a bunch of "nappy-headed ho's" we, as a society, should've shrugged and thought to ourselves "that douchebag Imus is still on the air?"
But no, Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson had to get involved. Approximately 12,000 sports columnists had to voice their opinion about it. And the Rutgers coach had to throw a press conference to call him "deplorable and despicable." This is an actual quote from the coach, C. Vivien Stringer:
I don't know how anyone could have heard this and not been personally hurt and offended. When there is not equality for all or when there's been denied equality for one, there's been denied equality for all.
I mean, is she describing her basketball team or the Little Rock 9? Is she seriously giving Don Imus that much authority over us as a culture? I wasn't personally hurt or offended because Imus is a friggin' moron and I couldn't care less what he has to say about anything.
(By the way, your fearless author is a Jewish-American who wasn't the least bit offended by the comments of Micheal Ray Richardson and I'm actually somewhat offended by all the media jag-offs who acted as if they were personally offended).
What all these people need to understand is that 98% of the country already agree with what I'm saying. We don't need the Rutgers coach to tell us the comments were deplorable, we're smart enough to figure that out for ourselves. I can understand the Rutgers team being offended, but I don't understand the need to throw a press conference just to let us know how offended they are.
As for the other 2% of the country who agree with Imus? Well, guess what, we're never convincing those ignorant morons otherwise. But some of those 98% are going to see people like Al Sharpton running his mouth, acting as if the incident has anything to do with him, and maybe even start to feel some vicarious sort of sympathy for Imus. In other words, putting on this big show in the media isn't going to get much done, and if anything, it's going to backfire.
What the Al Sharptons and Jemele Hills of the world need to learn is that in a society as sensitively advanced as ours, often it's a better idea to just let the racist idiots be racist idiots. Instead of stating the obvious counterpoints to their ignorance, why not just let them twist in the wind as we all jointly mock them as a cultural pariah?
It's the further expansion of the lowest common denominator stance in America. We always have to pander to the dumbest and most irresponsible out of all of us. This incident reminded me of a video link someone once sent me of that idiot Tyra Banks engaging in a debate with Shirley Phelps, better known as the God Hates Fags lady. The problem here is, Banks only gets a TV show because she used to be a supermodel, whereas Phelps is a lawyer and a shrewd public speaker. By the end of the debate, I found myself actually siding with the God Hates Fags lady. How the hell did that happen? Because Banks is an idiot who thinks she's deep by trying to point out the flaws in Phelps' lifestyle and ideals. Of course, Banks' audience ate it up. But those of us who aren't trained donkeys clapping at an "applause" sign didn't need Banks to point out these flaws because ANYONE WITH THE BRAIN OF A 4-YEAR OLD CAN SEE THE FLAWS FOR THEMSELVES.
I contrast this with the aforementioned Howard Stern, who frequently brings Phelps on as a guest simply to mock her by allowing her to espouse her insensible views without interruption (save for the occasional goading). That's because Stern understands that these views can stand on their own as mockable and ridiculous without the need for commentary and disagreement. Instead of ignoring the fact that there's a "God Hates Fags" lady, and instead of dropping down to her level by arguing with her, Stern instead does his audience a service by simply keeping them on guard to the fact that such ignorance and douchebaggery still exists in the world.
This is something that people like Al Sharpton will never understand. The only person in this whole Don Imus controversy who came off looking solid was Cal Ripken. As you may or may not have heard, Ripken was (for some reason) scheduled to appear on Imus' show later this week, but after learning of Imus' comments decided to cancel his appearance.
And that was it.
And that's how we should all handle a situation like this. If you didn't care about Don Imus before, then you should shrug your shoulders at his ignorance and continue to not care. If for some reason, in the course of your future life, your path was intended to cross with Imus' path, then take another path. That's how you get these ignorant racists to go away. You don't do it by making them apologize or firing them or suspending them or writing scathing columns about them. You do it by just letting them continue to be ignorant racists, but let them be an ignorant racist that we all admit exists, but eventually ignore.
