National Mother Pronounces on the "I-Man" Firing

From Ellen Goodman, a pretty sophisticated view of the Imus firing. She says, “Don Imus apologized with something akin to authenticity,” then focuses on the context of his language:

What do we call this? Racism, sexism, abuse, hate-mongering? All of the above and more. . .[But] Don Imus doesn't have a corner on the market on broadcast misogyny. I give you Howard Stern. Imus doesn't own the language of ho's. Have you heard Ludacris? . . .if women are the canaries in this cultural mineshaft, the official name over the mineshaft is incivility. . . more and more people [have] license to use words that were once washed out with soap, or blocked with bleeps. Sex sells, hate sells, and the combination is boffo biz.

Goodman surprises by saying, “I was not in favor of firing the I-Man
for the cultural coarseness and cruelty he shares with so many others.”

If even Goodman has trouble with the firing, you know political correctness may be coming up against some natural barrier. We’ll see.