There’s so much good and insight in Baratunde Thurston’s rather amusing post about not being amusing that you’ll have to read it yourself. And if you’re in DC, he’s at HR-57 on Saturday night, as part of the 4 Shades of Black show at the DC Comedy Festival. Â Check him out.
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But speaking of funny, the Arlington Republican Women’s Club is sponsoring a seminar next Thursday called “So, you want to be married?” 7 p.m. at Hunan Number One, $23. Laughing right here, free.
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I’ve got very little to say about Imus, beyond the fact that I’ve never really understood his appeal. I don’t at all believe any of the spin that his firing is due to any genuine interest in decency by MSNBC, CBS, or any of the advertisers.  As Media Matters well illustrates, it’s not just Imus.
The big right-wing broadcast names – Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, etc. – don’t just poke fun at Chelsea Clinton and crazy enviros anymore – they’re downright hateful (and consistently go far beyond what Imus just said). Here’s a few from the Media Matters list:
On the February 1 edition of his radio show, [Rush] Limbaugh responded to a Reuters report on a University of Chicago study that found that “a majority of young blacks feel alienated form today’s government” by asserting: “Why would that be? The government’s been taking care of them their whole lives.”
[ . . . ]
On the September 9, 2005, edition of his radio show, [CNN host Glenn] Beck referred to survivors of Hurricane Katrina who remained in New Orleans as “scumbags.” Also, after acknowledging that nobody “in their right mind is going to say this out loud,” Beck attacked victims of the disaster and the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying: “I didn’t think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims.”
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On the March 31, 2006, broadcast of his radio program, [widely syndicated radio host Neal] Boortz said that then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) “looks like a ghetto slut.” Boortz was commenting on a March 29 incident in which McKinney allegedly struck a police officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. Boortz said that McKinney’s “new hair-do” makes her look “like a ghetto slut,” like “an explosion at a Brillo pad factory,” like “Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence,” and like “a shih tzu.”
[ . . . ]
While discussing the rape and murder of 18-year-old Jennifer Moore during the August 2, 2006, edition of his radio show, [Bill] O’Reilly appeared to suggest that the clothing she was wearing at the time helped incite her killer. O’Reilly discussed several factors that contributed to the “moronic” girl’s rape and murder, including that she was drunk and wandering the streets of New York City alone late at night. But in addition to those factors, O’Reilly added: “She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at 2 in the morning.”
It just goes on and on and on. Bonus creep factor material:
On the February 28 edition of CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck, while discussing racy photos of American Idol contestant Antonella Barba, Beck asked his female guest: “I’ve got some time and a camera. Why don’t you stop by?”
You’ve really got to see the video of that one to get the full slime effect.  But all of these guys – the biggest names in the business – spew this crap every day, and all the networks and advertisers that pretend to take issue with Imus continue to advertise with them.
