Who the hell is Imus anyway

HI Wozafriday,

Nice blog. I’ve enjoyed reading through some of it it. Regarding the Imus hysteria, it’s true, you’ve witnessed a peculiarly “American” way of dealing with the legacy of racism. The slur “nappy-headed hos” is literally understood as “kroes-kop hoers,” or “curly-headed whores.” The nappy is a distinctly racial way of referring to black people’s hair in a derogatory manner. The “hos” is a pop-culture way of saying “whores.”

The problem with the Imus quote, for Americans, is pretty obvious. He’s debasing black women for no particular reason except that they’re black and they’re women.

Imus is not unique, of course, but the furore is over the fact that the gets sponsorship for his radio program from huge mult-national corporations. This is to say that he had a certain amount of legitimacy as a social commentator. But no more. He’s toast.

You made an interesting point, comparing the sensitivity of Americans to racial issues versus South Africans, who just emerged from apartheid. I guess the sensitivity comes from the fact that many Americans still think that there is racism structuring social opportunities, and when such racist sentiments are so casually pronounced by someone of Imus’ stature, then it offers a new point for social commentary. It reinforces a lingering belief for many. I wonder if South Africans are becoming more like this now that apartheid is over, that racism is no longer an official policy. Certainly most believe that racism still exists in some form. But, following your question, I too wonder if South Africans would react with the same outrage as Americans.

As an American, I enjoyed your spirited response to what must have seemed bizarre for someone who comes from South Africa.
Cheers,
Henry

Modern media culture FEEDS off that shit. If those idiots were scarred for life because of those words, then they really need to give themselves a nice big slap and think about those starving all over the planet and reconsider what it really means to be hard done by. Heck, if slavery is the topic, why not consider what their ancestors went through, and then ponder whether being called a “nappy headed ho” is really that bad. Personally, I’d phone him up, tell him he’s a wanker, and there you go, job done.

I think the world has lost it’s sense of humour - I’m quite sure Imus isn’t a racist. I guarantee he said it in jest, his mouth slightly ahead of his brain, and now he’s jobless. It’s fine for Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock to take the piss out of white guys (and good on them - they’re funny!) but it’s NOT ok the other way round. Political correctness continues to be an oxymoron, it seems.

Hey Dave

Thanks for the blog, just checking it out today for the first time. Super!

I’ve been living in Boston for four years, and my input on the Imus story, racism aside, is that this is simply how the US media cover “newsworthy events”. Something gets beaten to death if nothing vaguely more scandalous is going on. So, I really only get my news online now (and certainly not from a US news source).

Right about now, I’m getting nostalgic about ol’ Imus… because all we hear about at the moment is Paris in jail

Thanks!
kbd