He lost his TV gig. But there will also be at least a two-week suspension on radio. Don Imus's replacement during that time has yet to be named but my guess will be in line with a no-risk, good-natured, person who has never truly offended anyone.
I say we look no further that Radio's top talk show hosts. To those who have never ventured into the need-to-be-made-an-example-of territory because they know better to joke about minorities.
Someone like Glenn Beck. Of course, unless, some Islamic college is seeded in some NCAA tournament and Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota iis coaching the team.
Perhaps Bill O'Reilly. He's certainly spoken out on how there's far too much hate speech and sexism out there. If you're going to offend someone, deliver it personally. No hiding behind the radio and alienating everyone when you can connect with your target audience over the telephone.
‘Course there's Rush Limbaugh. You couldn't find any fault with his mocking someone with Parkinson's. May I remind you that it's a disease, my friends, not a color.
What about Neal Boortz? When he said former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) "looks like a ghetto slut," he was only talking about one black woman, not an entire team.
Laura Ingram might be a terrific catch She outed homosexuals calling them sodomites, but only until she discovered her brother was gay.
Let's not forget Bill Bennett. He advanced the idea of aborting every black baby in this country if you wanted to reduce crime. That's black babies. Not jocks. We don't even know if these are kids who would ever be talented enough to go strong to the hoop.
There's a bunch more out there, though I doubt you could rip Michael Savage away from the 300 plus radio stations who have yet to suspend him. Sure, telling a gay person he should "get AIDS and die" got him bumped off MSNBC, but never radio. And why should they? Other than gays, women, liberal Jews, immigrants, especially Latinos and too many more to list here, Savage has pretty much never offended anyone of any import
All of them, fine potentials to cleanse the airwaves of America.
Then again, if you think that anything these guys might have said was over the line, keep in mind, none of them thought so little of their scapegoats and victims that they would joke about them like Imus did. No. These guys were all dead serious, and if nothing else, they meant what they said.
And that, Mr and Mrs Radio America, is what good clean radio is all about.
Steve Young is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful." www.greatfailure.com>
