COMMENTARY: Sure Don Imus is a jerk, but...

In case you're wondering I don't listen to Don Imus.

I don't tune into Howard Stern, (the shock-jock, somehow my television can't seem to avoid the attorney) either. I don't listen to Rush, and I guess you could say I'm not that big of a talk radio fan at all.

So, in my opinion, that makes me the perfect guy to comment on Imus' national example of foot-in-mouth disease.

It sucked.

For years Imus has made a very lucrative living insulting the rest of us with his version of "humor." And yeah, once in a while, he was even funny.

But he went to far.

Calling a group of black women "hos" on a nationally syndicated talk show went beyond poor taste.

It was mean, bigoted and just plain stupid.

And the gals from Rutgers didn't deserve it.

The fallout was quick: People raised hell, critics complained, and then advertisers pulled their ads.

Imus fell.

And he fell hard.

As a member of the Fourth Estate and someone who will almost always stand behind the First Amendment, I didn't support the calls for Imus' ouster. Axing the messenger - even when we hate his message - worries me.

But that's not my biggest concern.

It's the use of the word, "ho."

Those of you who take time to read this column are not stupid, you know that "ho" is urban slang for "whore." And, today, "ho" has become close to an accepted greeting.

That's wrong.

Today the word "ho" is used in songs, by artists and others of many races and creeds. Today kids greet each other as "ho." At school where my wife is a first grade teacher, even the smallest kids call each other a "ho."

We have lowered the bar and beat ourselves with it.

If American society is going to establish the cultural boundary that says "ho" is not something we want our airwaves filled with, then it should also be eliminated from music, and other artistic and cultural performances.

If it's wrong, it should be wrong everywhere.

Calling someone a "ho" is yet another example of hate speech and it's all too frequent here in Oklahoma.

And it's most certainly wrong when referring to a group of young women who have done nothing but go to school and play basketball.

I'm not going to loose any sleep because Don Imus lost his job; before the month's out, I'll be you my copy of the Redneck Dictionary that he'll will be back, hired by an outlet which has even less morals and cultural grace than he has.

But I know the name calling will continue.

Today was a group of young, black women.

Tomorrow it will be a group of Asian males.

And soon, we'll try to demonize everyone because of their color of their skin.

Think I'm kidding?

Take a look at many of the demagogues in the state legislature; they're working hard to paint undocumented workers and something evil.

Look at how we belittle the poor and the unfortunate.

Think about the way people who have weight problems are insulted.

Hate speech happens all the time, and it's one of the banes of the human race.

Don Imus got slapped hard for what he did; the problem is that we, as society, forget too soon.

And that lesson, that we shouldn't hate, continues to go unlearned.