Where Do You Draw The Line?

I haven't been able to post much lately. I was busy with Easter and then busy with "Easter Recovery." But, I did want to pop in for one quick public service announcement.

Don Imus is a nutter.

This whole incident with Don Imus has dominated the news almost to the point of Anna Nicole. I, for one, am sick of hearing the same stories over and over again. It would almost be a blessed event if I turned on the news one day to hear "there is nothing to report today." Still, I have really become sickened by this story of Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers Woman's Basketball team.

Firstly, lets get some points out of the way at the start.

1.) I know African American women feel they can call each other a "ho" and no one else can do that. I am okay with that. Frankly, I'm not interested in calling ANYONE a ho, so if they choose to make that exclusive to their race...so be it.

2) I know that Don Imus is in no way "new" to bashing, insulting and attacking people in the public eye. If you have seen the news reports, most of his prior collegues are not surprised by his behavior.

3) I know that for Don Imus, there is a fine line between shock jock and reporter.

4) I know this can be viewed as an attack on women in general. In fact, I am pretty sure that is how the Rutger's basketball team views this whole incident.

But for me, the shame in all this is that I feel it is an attack on youth. In no way did these young women put themselves in the public eye to be the victims of such senseless ramblings. These are intelligent kids. By "kids" I mean, FIVE of the ten were in high school just last year. By "intelligent" I mean future doctors, lawyers, teachers, mothers, etc. There doesn't seem to be an underachiever in the bunch. BUT, let's say there was. So what?

What Don Imus did was attack a bunch of kids, working hard to make something of themselves. They didn't enter Rutgers expecting to be in the spotlight, fielding criticism....let alone pot shots. They came to Rutgers for an education (which has been interrupted), to play basketball (which has been interrupted) and to have a social experience (also...interrupted).

So, where do you draw the line? The headlines have been completely FILLED with the constant abuse of children at the hands of adults. And you know what? I consider this to be more of the same. This is verbal abuse. Maybe some of you think I am taking it too far. But, if anyone called my daughter the words Mr. Imus used, there would be hell to pay. He has disrupted their lives in one irresponsible sentence that is no more valid than those used by playground bullies. An unprovoked attack.

When will we start to protect our kids from irresponsible adults. When will attacks on our beautiful kids end? When will we put people like Mr. Imus "out of commission" and lend our ears to more reputable people?