This will be my last writing on this one particular issue in which my last column was not well received for both CBS and MSNBC to put Don Imus back on the air. I will not write this column based on emotions but pure logic. Emotions can obfuscate how it will be received by the reader especially if the reader does not share the same emotions.
I still feel that Don Imus was singled out in which there are literally many who have had a long laundry list of bad behavior on television and radio similar to Don Imus. Yet people like Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Nancy Grace remain on the air. They may not have used vulgarity such as Imus, but what they said and continue to say does create outrage. But it is not as intense as the outrage which was brought to bear on Don Imus. Call it selective prosecution if you will. In no way am I defending Don Imus’s bad behavior since many of the things he said I did and still do find abhorrent. Yes, he has done great work for sick children, but in further thinking he muddied the waters. I hope that he uses this time to focus on their needs by reaching out to people.
In the case of O’Reilly, he said that Shawn Hornbeck who law enforcement and family members believe was sexually abused “enjoyed” his four years in captivity. He can call for Rosie O’Donnell to be thrown off the air for expressing her opinions, yet he will not hold himself to the same level of scrutiny. In fact, he has told people to “shut up” who did not agree with him. I did write three columns based on this one case, but the original column is one that was the first of this series. I take pedophilia pretty seriously since I have been addressing this issue for ten years and you just do not do that to a victim of pedophilia. Who came to Shawn’s defense and pressured Fox to take him off the air? No one did.
In the case of Nancy Grace which I wrote of in this column, she literally pummeled a guest on her TV show whose son went missing. As a result of that show, the woman committed suicide. I suggest that you read it to educate yourself on the facts of this case. I believe what Grace did was far more heinous than Imus. Yet, there she sits still on-air. Why not the same pressure to take her off the air as was the case with Don Imus? Who spoke up for the now deceased, Melinda Duckett? Only a few did. Why weren’t any leaders speaking up for her and placing pressure on CNN to fire Nancy Grace?
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