Imus enters purgatory

So Don Imus has lost his radio show and will spend a time in media purgatory, where he will take a few long vacations and enjoy some of his millions. Then, certainly, he will return on a different venue, with a new and lucrative contract. And the forgiving captains of capitalism will return to his new show (same as the old show) to a degree commensurate with the public's forgiveness of his sins. This forgiveness will be measured the same way we measure the worth of any media star: Neilsen ratings.

Everybody seemed to spend the last few days weighing in with opinions on what Don Imus said. You must know by now that he called the Rutgers women, who lost the national championship to mighty Tennessee after an improbable run through the women's tournament, a bunch of "nappy-headed hos." He's been pushing boundaries with his insults for years -- it's been the key to his program, in fact -- but usually his targets are the rich and famous. This time he was way out of bounds, not just with his words but with his choice of targets.

Condemning Imus for this is easy, and defending him is hard, so everyone who wants a turn in the pulpit has emerged for their five minutes of sanctimony and outrage. Imus essentailly nominated himself as the pinata, and politicians and pundits declared it Cinco de Mayo. Ole!

In the meantime comes the interesting news that New Jersey governor Jon Corzine underwent major surgery after being seriously injured in a car accident. His injuries included a broken leg and ribs, in addition to losing a lot of blood. The state trooper driving the governor swerved to avoid a reckless driver en route to a meeting between Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team. The meeting carried on, sans Corzine, for over three hours. Headlines say the team accepted Imus' apology, which means we are all allowed to accept it too.

While Imus will have to pay whatever price the Media Gods demand, I must say I'm not all that impressed by the supposed outrage. Although what Imus said was obviously stupid, I think most of the noise about what he said comes down to this: No politician or pundit wants to be the person who becomes a story by NOT saying that they are outraged. So every politician gets asked if they're outraged, and amazingly, all of them are. It's the only thing they all can agree on. Since nobody actually has to DO anything about it except his advertisers and employers -- nobody's suggesting Imus actually go to prison or hang by his thumbnails -- it's easy to make harrumphing noises.

Ask the same batch of public persons if they're outraged by the conditions in inner-city schools, or the war in Iraq, or the atrocities in Darfur, and you'll hear a lot less unanimity. And unlike vapid words from a professional blowhard like Imus, these are actual tragedies. I don't blame the Rutgers women for being bent out of shape by what Imus said, but in the final analysis I think we all give Imus too much credit if we care too much.

I'm saving my outrage for bigger crimes.