The Don Imus Affair

A radio talk show host named Don Imus was recently fired from his job because he called the Rutgers Women basketball team, "nappy-headed hoes." There have been thousands of stories and comments about it, ranging from what a horrible person he is, to how wrong it is for MSNBC and CBS to fire him.

So, first of all, I think it was not a nice thing to say. I'd call it very poor taste. I think his employer has every right to fire him, no matter what he said or didn't say. It's their show, and their business decision. If he gets a show somewhere else and it takes listeners away from MSNBC, the decision will have been a bad one. Time will tell.

I'm not a big radio listener. I can count on one hand the number of radio hosts I have ever heard - Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Dennis Prager, Dr. Laura, and Roger Hedgecock. Before this incident, I had never heard of Don Imus. Upon hearing this story, I found myself thinking, "I'd like to hear this guy's show." I bet I am not the only one.

Regarding the harm done by words, when I was about six or seven years old, I learned a little saying - "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me." That seemed pretty obvious to me, even as a youngster, and since then, I have never felt especially harmed by anything another person said to me. I have been called various pejorative names. I have been told I was stupid, ugly, awkward, inadequate, and who knows what else. I have never been affected by those words, for the little rhyme always returned when I needed it - "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me."

Adults, nowadays, seem to have forgotten that little rhyme - or maybe they don't teach it in school any more. Apparently, it is now generally accepted that words do harm people - especially black people, and especially if they are uttered by white people. Apparently, if black people refer to other black people as niggers, that is OK; whereas, if a white person calls a black person a nigger, it is very harmful. It is grounds for an attack, lawsuit, loss of employment, or who knows, maybe even justifiable homicide (self defense). Apparently, white people aren't even supposed to say the entire word. They have to say, "the N word," instead.

I think that is very sad. Black people could make their children so much less vulnerable if they could just teach them the little rhyme, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me."