Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Bob Herbert Speaks for Me

by Steven D
Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 09:24:44 AM EST

In a big picture sort of way (behind NY Times firewall):

Mr. Brokaw, who believes that firing Mr. Imus was the right thing to do, said: “There’s been an absence of civility in public discourse for some time now. The use of language across the racial spectrum, and across the political spectrum, and across the cultural spectrum, has been, in any way you want to describe it, debased to a certain degree. [...]
The language, of course, is just a symptom. Mr. Brokaw went on to mention, in a tone that sounded a bit sad and somewhat resigned, that Americans had steadfastly refused to face the race issue honestly and head-on. “I had hoped,” he said, “I guess somewhat naïvely 20 years ago, that we would be in a far different place than we are now.”
We should also be in a better place in the way that women are viewed and portrayed in the culture. [...]
Another part of the conversation should deal with why the bullying and degradation of other human beings is such a staple of popular entertainment in this country. [...]
The people who fought back against the racism and misogyny of the “Imus in the Morning” program need to keep the momentum going. Keep the pressure on the companies that sponsor this garbage. Keep the matter before the media.
Imus, Snoop Dogg, Michael Savage — it doesn’t matter where the bigotry is coming from. What’s important is to find the integrity and the strength to see it for what it is — a loathsome, soul-destroying disease — and then to respond accordingly.

Amen.

Bob Herbert Speaks for Me | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Bob Herbert Speaks for Me (4.00 / 3)

I thought Herbert nailed it. Although I don't usually do such things, I sent him a bravo letter.

Thanks for bringing his insight here.

If you want things to get better, be prepared to deal with change.

by Kahli on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 09:44:43 AM EST

Re: Bob Herbert Speaks for Me (4.00 / 2)

The people who fought back against the racism and misogyny of the "Imus in the Morning" program need to keep the momentum going. Keep the pressure on the companies that sponsor this garbage. Keep the matter before the media.
Imus, Snoop Dogg, Michael Savage -- it doesn't matter where the bigotry is coming from. What's important is to find the integrity and the strength to see it for what it is -- a loathsome, soul-destroying disease -- and then to respond accordingly.

Let's ask Tipper Gore how we should fight that battle.

I'm encouraged to see men saying such things, because that's where it's really at - how do the big men feel about it? Maybe it'll stop being fun for them.

by Alice on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 10:05:36 AM EST

We should ask Maya Angelou as well... (4.00 / 4)

http://www.poppolitics.com/archives/2007/04/maya_angelou_black_women_and_h
Apparently, girlfriend is summitting in the near future with the likes of Snoop and Dave Chappelle, if last night's newscast is any example.

And from The Dissident Voice, a pitch all too familiar for someone like me:

That's the nature of institutionalized racism and sexism. There's always some widely accepted rationale why nice people should be excused their bigoted remarks and sick behavior.
How deep is the bias? Just look at whom the media sought out when the Imus story broke.
Did they ring up the president or the women of Spelman College? Did they call Johnnetta Cole, Julianne Malveaux, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, Callie Crossley, Vanessa Williams, Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove, Shirley Franklin, Mae Jameson, Condoleezza Rice, Kathleen Cleaver, Pearl Cleage, Susan Taylor, Renita Weems, Jill Nelson, Sheryl Swoopes or any of the legions of accomplished black women who could bring historical and political context to the harm of calling young women hos?
No. Black women were insulted, but the media rushed to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

And it was worse in 1984 during the controversy when the first black Miss America found her soft porn photos plastered all over Penthouse magazine. Or was it Hustler?

Black women's spokesperson? Susan Brownmiller, who in my view, has had some issues with black women as well as black men.

And so it goes.

An untypical Negro

http://thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com

by blksista (gab1954@gmail.com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 11:26:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: We should ask Maya Angelou as well... (4.00 / 3)

Thanks for the links blksista....I was wondering this myself and completely frustrated by the little coverage I did watch on tv. If anyone wonders why this continues the cycle of mainly ignoring women-of any color-think if it had been college men called some racist/sexist slur and all you saw on tv were women talking about how it effected young men. Yeah, I thought so, impossible to even imagine that right?

'Poverty is the worst form of violence'--Gandhi

by chocolate ink on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:50:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bob Herbert Speaks for Me (4.00 / 3)

To Tom Brokaw's discredit though, remember just over 20 years ago in 1984 when the Democratic Convention was being held in San Francisco, and the people at NBC news were all in hysterics, making anti gay cracks and wondering aloud if they would get AIDS?

Racism, sexism, homophobia are all poison fruits from the same tree. Journalists reflect alot of that bigotry. You also have people who are comfortable in corporate good old boy climates who get hired for the major organs. It's just the way it is. They have progressed though. As lousy as FOX news is now, picture what it would have been like 25 years ago. Even they refrain from saying somethings at least out loud.

Come waste your time at NewPairodimes.

by trifecta on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 11:06:27 AM EST

Bob Herbert Speaks for Me | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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