Finally, a piece examining the role of Don Imus’s executive producer and sidekick, Bernard McGuirk, who was the first person to use the word “ho’s” during the now-infamous exchange. I am fully delighted to see Imus get the drubbing he deserves, don’t get me wrong. But there are other offenders as well.
Just as I don’t support the idea of the ADL’s Abe Foxman speaking for the entire Jewish community on the issue of antisemitism, neither do I see much value in Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson’s highly public atonement sessions. But let’s note that during his on-air meeting with Sharpton, Imus said, “Geez, I can’t get anywhere with you people.”
And try to beat this involuted logic from McGuirk: “To not satirize someone just because of their race, I think that would be patronizing and racist in itself.” There we have it, the new math: It’s racist not to be a racist.
[P.S. — I realize that there’s a good debate to be had about what has been called “post-P.C.” humor, of the kind heard on “South Park,” “The Daily Show” and so forth. I’m a fan of the stuff when it’s done well. The pendulum, in other words, can swing the other way, toward excessive fear of giving offense to one group or another. That’s the point that McGuirk is trying to make, but he has no standing to make it. The Imus remarks unfolded in a context of what could be called “pre-P.C.” humor. There’s nothing knowing or intelligent about it; it’s simply middle-aged whites demeaning young blacks, in the neanderthal spirit of the Old South.]
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