It
is that time of year again when college basketball teams put their heart and
soul into making it to March Madness tournament. People from all around the
country whether they are huge basketball fans to just the occasional follower
of the sport print out their brackets and try to guess who will win the whole
thing. The Men’s tournament gains a lot more recognition and attention for its
tournament than the ladies do for theirs. When the brackets came out for both
genders on both ESPN channels all they talked about was the men’s bracket. About
5 years ago it could have been argued that this was different after Don Imus
made his comments about the Rutgers Ladies basketball team. In which he called
them by names such as “nappy headed hos.” After Imus said his statements on his
show there was a huge outrage against him and his show.
After
making those comments he apologized in which he tried to excuse his comments on
the African American society saying that those terms are used in lyrics for
rappers in their songs and it is a cultural saying. He also pointed out how
black movie directors such as Spike Lee say the same or similar things in his
movies. In my opinion this reasoning or excuse on why he said these things is
not justified at all. It goes with the old saying my dad would always say to me
“if somebody was to jump off a bridge, would you do the same thing?” This can
also be implied in the music and film world. By what he is trying to reason is
that since rappers talking about shooting people and selling narcotics is
alright to do in real life because they said it in a song that was put out to
make money? Another example would be in the movies if somebody robbed a store
it doesn’t mean it is alright to do that in real life. He was better off on
just owning up to what he said instead of him trying to put the blame on
somebody else.
In
your opinion do you agree with my statements or do you disagree with what I have
said and think he justified his actions. If you think he justified his actions
please explain so maybe I could get a better reasoning on this topic.
Matt Konyesni
Matt K brings up a plethora of great points in his blog. I think he brought up an immensely important point that I do not think he knew he brought up. The fact that the Women’s Basketball Tournament is barely talked about. They too have a bracket selection show but it comes on Monday nights, and no body really watched it. I feel as though they are a filler until the men’s games come on; then it becomes serious.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the Don Imus situation I cold heartedly agree with Matt; there is no excuse for that type of offensive language toward those women. Especially because they did nothing to provoke it. I am still upset he never truly apologized to them. it was a halfa$$ one, and he did not realize why he had to apologize. I did that only because he has told to. There was no sincerity in it. He tried to blame it on blacks with regards to their music and films. This has no validity to it because those words were out long before rap and movies were out. Rappers and others in that profession say these things as a means of income. It does not mean they live that lifestyle, which some of them do. Lastly just because someone says/does something it does not give you free reign to do that. He is childish and immature for trying to hide behind that. He also proved that he is not the smartest man by one saying those remarks, and second using that strategy to try and get out of it. Imus is a coward of a person, and I hope his show gets cancelled.
Matt McCarroll
Its sad something like this happened because the race of a good girls basketball team shouldn’t even mater. I agree completely with your statements because there’s no excuse to say something that racist towards any race on the radio. Blaming it on hip-hop music and its culture is pitiful and a weak excuse. Hip-hip might be the most popular, but it isn’t the only music genre that talks about violence. And just because you hear something doesn’t mean you act on it. That’s where personal control kicks in and should take over. I just think that was another racial shot from Imus to be honest. Imus not giving a sincere apology shows he could care less about the situation, which is also disrespectful in its own way. And for him to have a job after an incident like that is just insane.
ReplyDelete-Mike Anderson
I think Imus was on the right track with his logic, but the logic is obviously flawed as the blog suggests. It is almost on parallel lines of the usage of the "N" word. Many white people can't figure out why it is OK to say the "N" word or the other variation of the word, while black people say it is a greeting in open public. The same can be said for Imus' comments. He couldn't grasp why rappers can right lyrics that degrade women and essentially call them useless sex objects for male entertainment. As G-Unit so eloquently said in his interview, "you can't color the flag without red." OK, I understand that if you're talking about real issues but how is it OK for Lil' Wayne to say the lyrics "You's a bitch like Zeta Phi Beta Muthafucka"? Are the members of a sorority really "bitches"? Are they part of the struggle? No! He's just being degrading and sexist in my opinion. I'm not sticking up for Imus though, I think what he did was wrong and deserved his punishment. I just think there is more to be said about the issue.
ReplyDelete