All Hat No Cattle

I have to take just a minute to pile on Don Imus. Notwithstanding my opinion that his show was stuffy and boring, I think it's wholly appropriate that his simulcast on MSNBC has now been sacked. There is nothing special about an old white guy who is sexist and racist; they're a dime a dozen. Nor, as I put in comments below, do I think Don should be thrown in jail or otherwise prosecuted for what he said. Free speech is a wonderful thing. But free speech has its consequences as well.

Don Imus is free, as an American, to go around saying degrading things about women and minorities. America is, nominally, a free country. But that doesn't mean he should get paid to say those things nor enjoy the celebrity of having an audience to digest his garbage. What he did was nothing new or even very original. But it was thoughtless, ignorant and cruel. In all the news coverage of this (and boy are the other cabloid news networks beating this dead horse like it was Anna Nicole's corpse) it seems very little is being said about the unfortunate victims of Imus' "humor". These ladies did nothing to Imus. Their crime was just being young and different in the eyes of a crotchety old fart lucky enough to get paid for being one. Perhaps Imus' impending meeting with them will do him some good; they reacted to the situation with poise and class.

So, goodbye Don. Maybe now MSNBC will have something interesting to watch in the morning. And one more grumpy old racist misogynist will ride off into well-deserved anonymity.