The ITT List
Tuesday Nov 23, 2004 8:05 am
Action Alert: Arab bashing on MSNBC morning program
Well, MSNBC sure wants to become Fox News.
Within seven days, MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning" has displayed a complete disregard for quality journalism. Well, that's probably no surprise with the 24 hour cable news channels. But what has put him over the top, is the overwhelming bigotry displayed towards Muslims and Arabs on this show.
OnNovember, 19 the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent out an action alert and a call for viewers to demand an apology from MSNBC. CAIR reports:
Only the day before, CAIR had sent out their first action alert for a November 12 broadcast which contained the following commentary about Yasser Arafat's funeral:
According to CAIR:
If you can't stand this substitute for journalism anymore, contact MSNBC and demand some changes around there. Starting with Imus.
CONTACT:
Mr. Neal Shapiro
President
NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002
FAX: 212-664-2264
Mr. Rick Kaplan
President
MSNBC
1 MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094-2419
E-MAIL: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
COPY TO: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Within seven days, MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning" has displayed a complete disregard for quality journalism. Well, that's probably no surprise with the 24 hour cable news channels. But what has put him over the top, is the overwhelming bigotry displayed towards Muslims and Arabs on this show.
OnNovember, 19 the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent out an action alert and a call for viewers to demand an apology from MSNBC. CAIR reports:
On November 19, the program had commentary on the apparent execution of a wounded Iraqi in Fallujah by a U.S. Marine, a fictitious "Senior Military Affairs Advisor" to the program justified the killing by referring to a "booby-trapped raghead cadaver." The fictitious advisor also said the
killing provided an "Al-Jazeera moment" causing the "Muslim masses to respond with their routine pack of rabid sheep mentality."
Only the day before, CAIR had sent out their first action alert for a November 12 broadcast which contained the following commentary about Yasser Arafat's funeral:
DON IMUS: They're (the Palestinians) eating dirt and that fat pig wife of his is living in Paris.
COLLEAGUE: They???re all brainwashed, though. That???s what it is. And they're stupid, to begin with, but they???re brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill ???em all right now??
IMUS: Well, the problem is we have (reporter) Andrea (Mitchell) there; we don't want anything to happen to her.
COLLEAGUE: Oh, she's got to get out. Andrea, get out and then drop the bomb and kill everybody??
COLLEAGUE: Look at this. Animals. Animals!
According to CAIR:
This is not the first time Imus has been involved in a controversy over anti-Arab and Islamophobic remarks. As early as 1985, he was forced to apologize for referring to Arabs as "goat-humping weasels." (Sunday Mail, 4/21/85) He has also been criticized for using the derogatory term
"raghead." (Accuracy in Media) In a reference to the crash of an Iranian airliner earlier this year that killed 43 passengers, Imus said, "When I hear stories like that, I think who cares.??? He then stated: "Too bad it wasn't full of Saudi Arabians." (National Iranian American Council)
If you can't stand this substitute for journalism anymore, contact MSNBC and demand some changes around there. Starting with Imus.
CONTACT:
Mr. Neal Shapiro
President
NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002
FAX: 212-664-2264
Mr. Rick Kaplan
President
MSNBC
1 MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094-2419
E-MAIL: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
COPY TO: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
18 comments ·
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I’m not defending the content of Imus’ commentary, but as an avid free speecher I would say 1) the content of his show is in the vein of political satire (he often apologizes when he or his staff step over the line and at the end of the day it qualifies as speech…tasteless…but speech none the less, 2) switch channels if the programming is not your cup of tea, 3) if you really want a hate mongering target..listen to Mark Levin on WABC Radio 77 during evening drive 6-8 pm daily. He also has a right to his opinions, twisted though they may be…but BOY…THAT MAN IS SCAREY!
That so very many of the Islamic people are NUTS! Did i see dancing in the streets after 9/11? Um, yeah. After Arafats (finally!) demise? No.
The crazies in Iraq are killing their fellow citizens rather than allowing a democracy? I am glad the Kerry (and Bush) camp did not reach those dizzying “heights”! I can only hope al Jezzarra played the death of the lady aid worker as often as the shooting of the Iraqi in the mosque. (It should be noted that given the way the crazies have fought - car bombs, suicide bombers, etc the soldier should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.)
Jihad - needs no further explanation.
I don’t feel so bad about Americans disliking Arabs. From just about every example they’ve ever given us throughout the whole of history; they seem to be terrible, horrible little people. Crap on them!
RC,
Are you Arab, or some other kind of terrible, horrible little person?? Does RC stand for Real Crap?? Yes, I think it must.
I occassionally watch Imus in the morning and sometimes find him amusing and interesting. However, his racist comments about Arabs and Moslems are unacceptable. Please know that I am Jewish and have too many memories of that type of language and attitude being tolerated.
While the whole country was in an uproar about Janet Jackson’s exposure - the silence around this is deafening.
MSNBC needs to apologize and carry some programming to counter the stereotypes and attitudes that Mr. Imus represents. Mr. Imus is probably beyond hope and is now beyond my interest. I have let the authorities at NBC know, and I encourage others to do so as well.
There are terrible, horrible little people in every culture, RC. You, in fact, are a perfect example of a terrible, horrible little person from ours. Very small indeed.
Most Americans are ill-informed idiots. 90% of the them do not even own a passport! They learn their history from FoxNews, CNN, and this skumbag Imus. Hence, some of the comments above. Many stupid Americans still believe Sadam Husain had something to do with 9/11 despite stunning facts to the contrary. I just don’t care about what these people say anymore. I feel they are as much a victim as the people of Iraq or any other part of the world that felt their atrocities (Vietnam, Japan, Central America, ... to mention but few)
Every country, nation, religion, or political party throughout history up until this present moment has been guilty of some type of propaganda to a greater or lesser extent. Our job as world citizens is to do our best to see through this propaganda and find the seams of truth that unite us all.
The world’s demigods have all tried to divide and conquer us through fear…. which leads to hatetred…. which leads to war - the lowest form of communication posible… but it is still communication.
The famous Harlem black writer James Baldwin said: “What kind of man are you white man, that you need a nigg##? -(the negative form of Black American that can’t be printed in this forum). Meaning is the only way we can elivate ourself, is by pushing someone else down? We can substitue the word nigg## for Arab/Moslem, homosexual, jew, liberal, etc. We can also substitute for the word “whiteman.” Try this simple test to your next generalized hate thought….. Then seek the truth and be free..
I appreciate Imus for many things,especially the political figures he interviews on the air. But I deplore his intemperate language generally and his constant racial and ethnic slurs in particular. It just isn’t funny calling everyone in sight names. He does it constantly, and the other guys on the show are worse. Okay, it’s satire, it’s supposed to be funny, Don doesn’t pretend to be a journalist and is some sort of “entertainer” or “personality”—and of course we have free speech.
I’m not sure how much of the I-Man’s crap I’m willing to listen to just to catch the occasional good interview. You know, Don Rickles, who made a living being insulting, was never actually MEAN. But Don Imus is. I think he has a real problem, and he should deal with it.
Mainly, it’s just bad radio.
Four more years get used to IT. The country’s In the crapper!!
Is the world fucked up? Yes.
Are Arabs andy more fucked up than Americans? No.
In my humble opinion, we could drop a bomd on every evil person in the world, leaving only ood people, and in a eneration or two it would all be fucked up again.
In that light, Imus is clearly an negative element, for he just wants to blame people instead of doing the work of setting a good example. That is the only way to keep evil away - personal vigilance.
Stupid wars.
Four more years get used to IT. The country???s In the crapper!!
Get used to what? “IT”? Internet Technology? Or get used to fascism on a national scale?
No, I won’t get used to it. That’s what that piece of crap in the white house wants. I’ll fight that sham president who has started all of this on everything he does.
So, if you’re for him, you’d better get used to the 49% fighting back.
No Neil, I’m on your side but I must say I am a little disheartened. We won the campain but lost election. As long as guys like Imus, Limbaugh and O’Rielly have have their propaganda mills it’s going to take something big to discredit this bunch of thugs from power.
“Are Arabs andy more fucked up than Americans? No.”
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
Now that is FUNNY! :)
In a country where “reality” shows score huge ratings as they depict reckless promiscuity, adultery, and contestants eating puke pizza, is it any wonder that Imus keeps his audience?
I wonder if he’ll imitate Stern and do a Fartman redux…
One can only pray NOT!
i no longer watch or listen to imus,he and his cohorts are just too mean spirited,
he calls al gore ‘‘a horrible human being’‘
all through the campaign he belittled
kerry ‘‘his guy’‘bernard mcguirk is beneath
contempt calling president clinton a ‘‘rapist’’ etc they exaberate the problems
in this country that has no respect for life
except fertilized eggs.
I bet Patricia is just as upset at some of the nutty lefists calling Bush a “Hitler”. Very offensive. (I am hoping for just a tiny bit of consistency here.)
What are nutty lefists and why are they calling Bush a “Hitler”? He’s plainly more of a “Mussolini”. Shame on you nutty lefists (what or whoever you are).
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