Imus Be Crazy

It's comforting to be sitting here north of the border where racism exists largely (see Chariots of Fire) as it has for years in the Commonwealth....deeply entrenched, institutionalized, and dangerously discreet. Comforting because I can sit back at a distance and watch the massive and polarizing flare up that was ignited by shock jock Don Imus and is now threatening to burn out of control as rhetoric on both sides heats up. As luck would have it a rape accusation made by a black woman against 3 white Duke University students was tossed out of court two days ago and this along with the prevalence of misogynistic gangsta culture in today's youth has created quite a heady (not nappy-heady though) mix. Take a look at a couple of videos (click on the talking heads once you've linked to the site) http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/12/open-thread-fireworks-on-the-factor-with-michelle-hosting and this article http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html to appreciate the extremes of lunacy and lucidity that sorround the issue.

As a child of the 60's with it's somewhat rosy and naive "Age of Aquarius" ethos I'd been led to believe that we'd have evolved beyond all this. Real progress was being made and this was mirrored in the pop culture of the day with hopeful songs and films like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Defiant Ones that showed that we could indeed overcome. Now all we have is a kind of secular zealotry that is giving the Shiites and Sunnis a run for their money. Red states, blue states, black victims, white victims all ever more entrenched and convinced of the infallibility of their views when in fact they are all right and wrong and the real color is gray. The vitriol level is soaring, the nattering is deafening....it's the perfect time for escape into the fabulous, make-believe world of reality TV....gotta run...time for America's Next Top Model!!