Our Chance to Show Our Good Manners

Earlier this week I weighed in on the Don Imus public potty mouth situation, with a link to connect with the appropriate media outlets to request his termination. Apparently enough outraged people did just that, and late today he found himself without a vehicle for his"humor."

I don't think this guy is a "bad" man, anymore than I think Al Sharpton is a "good" man. Sharpton has certainly made his own share of mistakes, as, when you come right down to it, have we all. But I find this a heartening vindication of the decency of the American people, that such a blatant blast of ill-judged verbal spittle could garner such attention, outrage, and action. Good old capitalism played its part - if major advertisers hadn't pulled their money away from Imus' show, perhaps the networks wouldn't have acted quite so quickly. Now I can only hope that this whole episode will act as an object lesson for some of the rest of our media darlings who speak from the sewers of many different forms of -isms. If thought before speech, and then civility in public discourse, would come into vogue as a result of this whole mess, then Imus will have paid his dues for us all.

If you asked MSNBC and CBS to divest themselves of Imus, now take a moment to thank them. From the Feminist Majority Foundation just now, I have this message:

Don Imus is off the air, but hate speech is still all too common on talk radio and television programs. Write CBS Radio and MSNBC, thanking them for taking this action. Then, demand that they take this opportunity to clear all hate speech from their programs and add racial and gender balance to their lineups.

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