Does anyone outside the Huffington Post actually give a damn about the Don Imus controversy? Well, the Providence chapter of the NAACP does. Sort of. They've asked the city of Providence to rename "Imus Way" to "Jackie Robinson Way".Back in 1996, mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, a regular guest on the Don Imus show, renamed a tiny, almost vestigial, stretch of Aborn Street between the Dunkin' Donuts Center (then named the Providence Civic Center) and the Holiday Inn "Imus Way" as a gesture of, well, something, to the skeletal talk show host. A sign designating the strip as "Imus Way" was apparently erected as well. By the time the state took ownership of the Civic Center in 2005, the sign was already gone. What's more, Buddy's ceremonial renaming was apparently just that: ceremonial. "Imus Way" is not an address that is actually registered with the city or state, and it doesn't appear on any maps (Google maps takes a stab at it, but fails).
So, with apologies to the NAACP and all involved, I propose an idea: let's keep moronic disc jockeys and identity politics out of city government as much as humanly possible. Neither Jackie Robinson nor Don Imus have anything to do with Providence, and frankly, the city can find better uses for taxpayer money than ceremonially renaming anything to suit interest groups, whether they're dessicated talk show hosts or identity politics lobbying groups.
Does that sounds good to anyone besides me?
1 comment:
Localities are so crazy...the Imus story has been big news in the SF Bay Area (being such a liberal enclave).
I think him losing his job was definitely a decent message. The man was tasteless and lots of people paid money to be advertisers on his show.
I think you can be in poor taste on radio, but not by calling people out with such terms.
Hell...the Fox News guy...what's his dude...he always makes quips without being crude.
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