Just minutes after finding out from CNN that Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole’s baby (and wondering if the madness was finally over), the next topic of the day/week/month that came up was Don Imus and his “racially charged rant” regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. I won’t deny that what he said about them was…less that flattering. But seriously, why do people care this much? It’s all over the news, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are protesting (when are they not?), and everyone’s demanding Imus be fired from his talk show. All because of what Imus himself called “an insensitive and ill-conceived remark.” The man even apologized quicker than I’ve ever seen anyone apologize.
So what’s the issue? Well, according to Sharpton and Jackson and the Rutgers basketball team, Imus is a racist. Shock! Horror! Uh, no. First off, while the majority of the team in question is indeed black, they are not all black. From the press conference photos I’ve seen, there are actually quite a few white girls on that team. Secondly, none of what Imus said was even concerned with race. He was calling them “rough girls,” which I think anyone can say about a women’s basketball team. Besides, as I said, he already apologized. What more do people want? Will firing everyone who ever makes a semi-offensive remark in jest make things all better? No, of course not.
People are too easily offended. Take the incidents involving Mel Gibson and Michael Richards. Both made racially insensitive remarks, but the first was drunk and the second was pissed off. Neither are racists; they just made errors in judgment. People do that sort of thing all the time. I just wish people would get over it so it doesn’t keep news channels from showing real news.