The apology of Imus

Imus said a dirty word.

50 Cent said a dirty word.

Anne Coulter said a dirty word.

Jesse Jackson said a dirty word.

Ever considered turning off the television? Turning the newspaper page?

Public figures like these are fueled by those who support them – and by those who oppose them. Morality has little bearing in the matter more than how offended someone might be by an insensitive comment. What’s a quick solution?

Grow thicker skin.

Imus made a big mistake. I’m no Imus fan, but I don’t dislike him. The real question is, does one wrong nullify so many rights? While I don’t place Imus on a pedestal, from a nonpartisan standpoint, he must have made a lot of good points for people to put a radio show (a RADIO show, mind you) on TV. And I think most would agree that he has a face for radio, at that.

While I certainly don’t approve of Imus’ comment, I also don’t listen to him. The only people he should have apologized to were the Rutgers’ team, which he did, and they accepted it. He might also need to apologize to his boss, which I can almost certainly assume he did.

He could even owe an apology to Comcast, Charter and other cable companies for losing viewer-base because of his comment.

Does he owe us, the public an apology? Of course not. While my endorsement of cable may in some way trickle a thousandth of a cent into his paycheck, I did not choose what cable channels I’d receive (another issue I with the cable companies would modify), they did. I’d happily go without MSNBC. I prefer the History channel anyway.

Johnathan Cross
Marietta