The Collision of Extremism and Appropriateness: The Passion of Don Imus and Michael Richards

First, let me say that the answer to shocking language and socially ‘inappropriate’ behavior in the mainstream media is not to excise the offending member. I’ll try to explain my point on the matter.

Over the past few months I have seen comedian Michael Richards and shock radio host Don Imus lambasted, or even excised from culture for racist epithets. On November 17, 2006, Richards lost his composure with hecklers at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California by alluding to Lynch mobs, and repeatedly using the word “Nigger”. What ensued was a media frenzy in which outlets like MSNBC and CNN nearly preempted far more important issues like warfare and hunger to keep Richards’ face on the air day and night for nearly two weeks, as well as demands by subject Kyle Doss for reparations. This was despite statements of contrition and (refused) requests for reconciliatory meetings with African-American leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and articles on conspiracynet about linkages of Richards to his Masonic affiliation and the Freemasons’ linkage to the Ku Klux Klan.