Imus V. The Rappers

Submitted by Joe New York

Imus Vs. The Rappers
Many people have compared what Imus said to the despicable things that rappers spew on thier albums. Couple of points: Imus personally insulted specific people in a racist and mysogenist manner on national radio. Furthermore it was a group of young students who would be affected by this in a manner that could be psychologically trying and which sends a message that black women are somehow unacceptable to society no matter how hard they try and no matter what their achievements. His show is seen as somewhat mainstream and certainly has sponsors and guests that are important and mainstream. What rappers do is similar, maybe even worse. Sharpton should take them to task. Walmart and other stores should ban their albums (maybe). But nobody seems to be putting pressure to do that, and if they did it would become a huge censorship issue. Supposedly the issue is addressed vis-a-vis the music warning labels. Are we now saying this is not enough? I don't know the answer, but I suspect banning these albums would only draw attention and wind up increasing sales for those artists. The black community should condemn these artists. However, in a sense their horrible lyrics reflect some reality of the attitudes of black men. So then how do you change an entire culture? In the case of Imus, presumably we are changing the culture of racism in mainstream society, but in the case of rap, arguably, we would be trying to change culture in the "ghetto" only (although rap is widely consumed by white America). Rap, like it or not, is an intractable cultural phenomenom. It is certainly easier to deal with Imus, being as he is just one guy and an easy target. But to change the entire rap industry and the culture it represents is not as simple as that, nor is it simple, by firing Imus, to change mainstream racist attitudes (if that is indeed what Imus represents). So in conclusion, I have to say that punishing Imus is easy, that's why it is being done, but punishing JayZee or Snoop . .. that would not work because you would have to punish a WHOLE INDUSTRY AND CULTURE. I would appreciate your thoughts on that.