Boomer Freaks Polluting The Airwaves

We haven’t said anything here on FM about the disintegration of Don Imus, but I’m going to pipe up, because I think this is an issue that speaks to the culture of the media/political establishment, and gives us a real point of differentiation between Millenials and Boomers. That’s part of our beat, right?

I’ve been catching coverage of this on my normal blog rotation lately, but it wasn’t until I was on a Jetblue flight and picked up my monthly dose of cable news that I realized how big a deal it was. I have to admit my general reaction is one of confusion. To me, Imus seems like a borderline pathetic fake-ass old man (why the fuck does he wear that cowboy hat?) and yet the response from his “gang” of journalist buddies — Howard Feinman, Paul Begalia, et al — seems to suggest above that all else they really think he is cool, and they want to make sure he (and we) know it. Which blows my mind. It’s like the he’s captain of the GD football team.

I mean, who are these people? Does anyone else remember Tom Oliphant (another genuflector) as the terminally nerdy journalist from Going Upriver, that biopic that made John Kerry seem inspiring for a second? This tweedy geek (and I don’t often use that term disparagingly) comes on the Imus show with “Solidarity forever" as his opening line. What. The. Fuck? How did these foobs become the arbiters of our national discourse, and why do they kowtow to Don Imus?

Without minimizing the idiocy and callousness of his remarks, I think the reaction around Imus’s jackassery is much more interesting, important and troubling than his individual comments themselves. it’s a window into the boomer mind of sorts. It seems to be a world starved for authenticity and humanity, a world in which there’s apparently a vast and lucrative audience that thinks it’s the height of wit to parade around in a faux-masculine costume and to remark that Venus and Serina Williams are more likely to be found nude in Natl. Geographic than Playboy.

Oh, and also this world seems to contain a critical mass of major white male media figures.

This is something that I think distinguishes us Millenials from them. We’re the most diverse and non-white generation in US history, and that’s part of our attitude as well as our demographics. Even the wonder-bread testosterone sandwich here at FM is miles ahead of the Boomer Boys Club. We are not threatened by women of people of color, even in powerful positions, and we’re largely comfortable with and around homosexuals, even recognizing that they fall in love and deserve a crack at marriage.

I’ll say it: we’re right and they’re wrong. Luckily for us, their world is crumbling around them, and they’re cracking up as it fades. Good riddance, I say. You people are a fucking embarrassment.