 |
 |
 |
|
It took Don Imus to make Pacman Jones a victim. And by Pacman Jones, of course I mean Adam Jones. With that clarification, I'd like to further announce that Pacman will always be Pacman in the ClayNation column, unless he adds an apostrophe to A'dam, like so.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Now that he's in Dallas we're to understand that Pacman has rehabilitated his image and is a changed man. How much has Pacman truly changed? No one outside the Dallas strip club scene really knows for sure. Aside from his house being foreclosed in Nashville, he stayed under the radar until, unbelievably, Don Imus resurrected him on Monday's show. Here's the pertinent dialogue if you haven't heard or read it yet.
On Monday's show, Imus' news update included a reference to Jones abandoning the Pacman moniker after being arrested six times. That led to this exchange:
"What color is he?" asked Imus.
"African-American," said the announcer.
"There you go, now we know," said Imus.
Imus has since said his comments were a reflection on society's mistreatment of black men. In pertinent part he has argued, "I mean, there's no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once."
Which is brilliant logic unless, you know, you actually commit six crimes. Or give the police reason to believe that you've committed six crimes and that leads to your arrests. Otherwise, multiple offenders could get out on the Imus "no reason to arrest this kid six times" chain of legal logic. I think we'll be waiting a while for the Supreme Court to mete out this Imus exception into its jurisprudence.
Predictably, Pacman's camp couldn't allow this insult to pass without comment. Nope, no way, no how. Because in American society today there's no better position to be in than the victim. When you're the victim, you can't brush off your insult or ignore it like every single parent has taught every single kid since the dawn of time. You absolutely have to take the opportunity to comment on your victimization.
To whit, Pacman Jones responded, "I'm truly upset about the comments. Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I'm upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him."
This is a joke, right? Pacman Jones and Don Imus can't really be feuding, can they? It's too unbelievable. If Dave Chappelle had come up with this sketch it would have been as far-reaching, insightful, implausible and as hysterical as the blind, black KKK member. Yet, astonishingly, the two men have been brought together in feud.
Even better, Pacman F'in Jones actually made the above comment to express his offense at Imus' comments. Pacman, the man who was suspended by the NFL for an entire year and fought that suspension because he believed it was unfair, is now championing the punishment of a single individual by a corporate entity. The irony knows no bounds.
Gag me.
|
|
| Don Imus is seen here after being asked what he thought about thinking before speaking. (Getty Images) |
Pacman is "truly upset about the comments." What? If you have been arrested six times and someone uses that opportunity to allegedly (at least in your view) cast aspersions on your race, shouldn't you be upset with yourself for giving an idiot the ammunition to say something like that? Yes, but modern American society is all about adopting the fetal position and whining. Taking offense is the new national pastime.
It's time for African-American leaders to pull the race card out of Pacman's deck. He doesn't deserve to play it, not with all the more important issues facing the community. Instead of fanning the flames of mock offense and outrage to line his own pockets, religious "leader" Al Sharpton should issue this statement about Pacman Jones: "I'm offended that Pacman Jones is so stupid and reckless in his personal life that he gives other idiots ammunition to say dumb things about Pacman in reference to his race."
Actually, it's time for "I'm offended" to exit the American vocabulary. What's more, it's time for people to stop announcing that they're offended by anything that happens in American society today. Because it demeans the term offended.
America today is the fairest, freest and richest country in the history of the world. If you want to be offended by the current situation in Zimbabwe, or offended by the fact that billions of people live on less than a $1 a day and have no chance to receive an education, or even by the fact that the majority of the people in the world have never made a phone call, then have at it. Those kinds of offenses and outrages can be productive.
Of course, Americans aren't offended by any of these things. We'd rather focus on a single sentence from Don Imus or the off-field actions of a guy who can run fast and has loose hips. In fact our own indifference to the world at large is probably the only thing worthy of offense in American life today.
