There was a very good point made on NPR this morning--- probably
very few of those who so vehemently protested Imus' remark were
regular Imus listeners.

In other words, the MARKET forces didn't shut him down, but rather
the roundabout pressure on the advertisers to pull their advertising
or lose the business of those who, absent his offensive remark,
had no interest in Imus in the first place.

The only thing that could be described as a legitimate MARKET
force taking Imus out would be if those who would otherwise have
continued listening tuned him out.

So it's a bit like my getting out in the agora and saying something
that someone finds offensive, and them telling my boss that they
won't buy my company's products unless he fires me. (The analogy
falls apart a bit, because I'm not paid by the company to speak
in the agora; on the other hand it's strengthened by the fact
that Imus is a journalist, or a pseudo-journalist.)

While I believe that censorship by the government is horrible,
I also believe that 'censorship of ideas with which we disagree
by indirect boycott' is also very dangerous.

Don't watch or listen to Imus if that's the way you feel.

Speak out in opposition to his ideas.

But when you start maniuplating the market to 'cut off his
air supply' I think that you have embarked upon the same
slippery slope that was the McCarthy-era 'blacklist.'

Remember, the 'blacklist' wasn't an official government
program. It wasn't like movie companies and entertainment
venues HAD to refuse to hire anybody on the 'list.' It is
rather that various indirect economic pressures would be put
upon them if they didn't comply.

This kind of stuff is almost worse than an actual governmental
intervention: at least you can take that to a court of law and
get it reversed. Who's to be the arbiter of a mob that demands
that you be silenced and deprived of your livelihood.

However, I believe Imus will be back within a month or two. Maybe
not on CBS or on MSNBC, but instead as the head of his own
production company, and syndicated ala Gerry Springer or Howard
Stern. Maybe he'll be on on cable, or on satellite radio. So
long as he has an audience (and I contend that 95% of his
audience didn't care about the remark, because they 'get' that
that's how he is or because the agreed with it, and that a
further 10% of people who didn't listen to him now will) he'll
make a tidy living being Imus.