A Nation Of Duplicity

With a sigh, I have to weigh in on Imus's comments about the Rutger's womens basketball team. First, Imus is a decaying dinosaur, desperately clinging the the last shredded vestiges of his quickly fading career. He is irrelevant today and actually has been for a while. The only thing he has left is the occasional moments in which he actually manages to put together some sentence fragment that sufficiently stirs up some controversy that gets him a little attention.

What he said was disparaging to both women and blacks. Yep. No argument there. But now, the outcry begins. "Fire Imus!" "How could he say that?" To Al Sharpton and the rest of those screaming for his head, I say, "How duplicitous of you."

We have an entire generation of young men growing up with their perception of women being shaped by popular music that treats females as objects. It's like the Taliban with a beat. Where is the outcry? Many of the same people who are now aghast have been silent when it comes to a song that contains lyrics so violent and distasteful toward women that I won't even post the edited lyrics here.

It can't be both ways. Either Imus and everyone else who uses that kind of language to refer to others is wrong or no one is. Either women deserve respect and admiration from all men or no men. There is no middle ground here.

There is also no excuse for treating a group of people disrespectfully. Whether it is a group of people to whom you belong or not makes no difference. Attempts to justify it ring hollow to the ears of the rational person.

And I don't want to hear the free speech or it's the language of the culture argument either. Imus could claim the same thing. Either it's wrong or it's not. Make a choice. End the duplicity. Actually take a stand instead of grandstanding.

Clearly I believe that rappers, rockers and shockers are all wrong for how they treat women. They all ought to be ashamed. And so should anyone who turns his or her head, for whatever the reason, to the culture of disrespect and violence toward women perpetuated by some of what purports to be entertainment today.