Christien Louviere

Several months ago, I wrote about Politics, Silliness and Sex.  It was my take on the great strides we’ve made in weakening our society.  The amount of time we waste going over pointless minutia…today we found out who the real father of Anna’a baby was.  Wonderful…report it, put it on the ticker and move on.  Do I really have to see a 5-panel discussion on this?  Who cares…seriously?  Is it that big of a deal?  I didn’t get the 5 weeks of coverage after her death either.  I, along with a few other million people, remember seeing her in Playboy when she was 19.   Can we just keep that there?

However, the reason I am writing this one is about the comments made on the Rutgers women’s basketball team by Don Imus.  For the record, I don’t like Imus in the least, and I’m mad at Rutgers for knocking out my LSU Lady Tigers.  I was hoping that this would die after a day, but I’ve never been that lucky.

People are so quick to jump on a box kill whoever makes a mistake.  Mr. Imus’ show has been the same format for years…all of a sudden it’s a big deal.  And why?  Because it was a slow newsweek.  One of the players was asked what she thought about the comments right after they lost the in the Final Four.  The comment was along the lines of, "It’s no big deal.  He’s just another voice." She’s right.  This kind of talk goes on all the time.    We can’t go nuts every time a comment is made.  Do I think his comment were offensive…yes.  But before we all want the guy’s head, remember the arena and context where it was said.  This was not a news report or professional commentary.  This was a radio program like Howard Stern or whatever other wacky local morning talk show is out there.

The reason we find jokes funny is because they contain a truth.  It’s all in the presentation and the context.  We have all sat around with our friends at a bar, a park, watching TV, whatever and made a joke that probably would not have been made in the general public.  Yes, Imus has a bigger stage but how the hell can we come down on these people when we do it ourselves?  And another thing, if it’s that big of a deal when someone does something, then why does a simple non-emotional apology clear the air?

The thing that bothers me most of all are the activist groups.  I swear these people cause us to completely regress as a nation.  Their business is making sure that their cause remains a victim and people either refuse to see that or don’t want to see it.  Al Sharpton is bad, but I usually find Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond much worse.  They’re referred to as black leaders…why not black IGNOBLE leaders?    Imus called the Rutgers team "…nappy-headed, hoes."  So then, why not come down on Sean Carter (AKA Jay-Z) or Chris Bridges (AKA Ludacris)?  I guarantee you that they discuss worse topics than this, refer to women in more derogatory terms than that and degrade their own race repeatedly.  Odd, that doesn’t seem to bother them.  Rutgers has a press conference over this.  I’m in the age group of the team that played, and I guarantee that if their iPods were checked some of this music has made it on there.  They were listening to it before they warmed up each game and all of a sudden they’re offended…please.  I love Jay-Z, so I’m confessing…cast your stones at me.  I’m white, and I repeatedly listen to music that uses the N-word.  A word so bad that I would more than willingly say fuck on my blog but can’t even make my fingers type the fomer one.  I don’t want to hear the argument about the team or the rappers that, "It’s ok because they’re black."  I don’t think so.  It’s the game of life and life ain’t fair, but we need to call it both ways.  We are Americans.  We are supposed to be one.  Isn’t that what we’ve been fighting for, "One Nation Under God?"  We take it for granted, and we need to work to become great once more.

So my question is, "Are we dumb, bored and/or both?"