Whither Don Imus

OK...just to be clear, yes Don Imus is a putz. A moron. A goofball. The difference with my opinion of him vs. some others is that I held this opinion before he got into such hot water. And I still hold it.

Don Imus is an idiot that made a lot of money being controversial. This time, it appears, he stepped over the line by directing his inflammatory insults to a group of college girls that did not deserve it AND were not public figures that get no such consideration. OOPs. Sorry bout that.

Don't worry. My guess is that Imus will find an audience for his crappy comments somewhere. Seems satellite radio is where all the "nasty" type people are flocking to, just like cable-TV is where soft-core porn went to 20 years ago. 20 years later, cable TV has supplanted over-the-air TV as the medium of choice because it essentially skirts certain regulatory bodies in favor of marketplace-regulated content. Satellite radio will be the over-the-air counterpart to cable TV in this fashion. It may take 20 years, but I'm certain we'll see relatively few idiot commentators like Imus, Stern, etc., and much more quality, yet less strickly regulated, content. The marketplace does work, it simply takes time.

The bigger issue here, is NOT Don Imus. It's US. Don Imus is not the problem. He is merely a symptom. A symptom of a sickness we all share. A sickness of culture; a culture that wants "more, more, more" and screams constantly to get it and showers the people who give it to them with accolates to spur them on. Then, when some poor schmuck like Donny boy steps over some invisible line in the sand (only visible after the fact), we surrupticiously crucify him in the name of "decency". Shame on Don Imus? Shame on US.

People like Don Imus would not be around if there were not a market for his crap. Probably a large market. We need to face the facts that people are simply inherently flawed. Should we tolerate his comments? No way. But then again, we should never have in the first place.