I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, summarizing Voltaire, 1906

Don Imus, like Howard Stern is a "shock jock." We know the term. They are being paid to shock us. Seems simple enough. Until they do shock us. One might think that is part of their job, hence the title. But no. When they fulfill that part of their duties, all hell breaks loose. If they can't offend, how are they shocking us? And without touching nerves, how are they doing their job? I'm not sure if it's a paradox or a vicious circle but whatever it is, it's a perplexing set up.

Evidently, nothing is offensive until a large segment of society finds it so. If a few people write the station and the FCC to complain, the network couldn't care less. If 500-1000 people do, well, maybe there's something. A small snippet on a news network might engender some caution and three days of coverage could signal a shake up. What is said is never important; the reaction is all that counts.

A lot of people wanted Don Imus every morning on their way to work. They longed for his witty banter and cutting edge humor. Where are they now? Where are the people who say that a few weeks of deep reflection and race awareness classes will absolve him? Wherever they are, they are insignificant. The tide has turned. People want him punished and last night, MSNBC gave the people (and themselves) what they wanted. He will no longer be carried on the network. Don Imus is a petty loss compared with the wealth of public support.

This story has nothing to do with Imus anymore. Nor, as some commentators have said, is it some watershed moment in society where race relations get another look. As always, it's about economics. No radio or television personality is backed by their network. They're quickly dispensable. All that matters is where the audience and their money stands. Change is required only when profit margins are threatened. Did the public speak out when Imus called a black PBS anchor a "White House cleaning lady" some twenty years back? Some did, yes, but not enough to alter the bottom line.

I just heard that CBS has fired Imus. He's officially unemployed. Did the networks make this choice out of the humanity in their hearts? Because they are concerned about the racial insensitivity in this country? Of course not. Of the plentiful offensive comments that hit the airwaves, this one rose to the top. It got the right spin, the right ratings, the people showed enough interest and suddenly the swell of public support (finance) was moving against Imus. Nothing would please me more than to see CBS or MSNBC hold a press conference and explain what a shock jock is hired to do. Then again, I'm an idealist.

The networks don't want you focusing on the fact that they hired him knowing full well that he was a powder keg. It's the same as the government deflecting questions of why we went to war and turning the focus on the fact we're there so, let's make the best of it. It's the arsonist lighting a fire and being the first one on the burning scene helping a child out in the nick of time - "Of course I started the fire but what's important here is I just saved a child. Aren't you for saving children?"

It's so simple to get lost in the outcry and lose focus of the fact that he was paid to offend. Just because the comment was racist doesn't make it any worse. Had he told some bad jokes about dead children, 9/11, Columbine, rape or Oklahoma City, they wouldn't be any more acceptable. Yet that is his job. Giving hosts free reign and then punishing them when they exercise it is absurd and incendiary. If the networks are intentionally applying this Catch 22, my hat's off to their duplicitous genius.

Like all middle tier stories, we'll recall Don Imus but we won't know where we were when we heard the news. We won't make progress on racism despite the likely special that will air on CNN called, "Racism in America: How Far Have We Really Come?"

It's being reported that the Governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, was critically injured in a car crash on his way to the Governor's mansion to sit in on the meeting between Imus and the Rutgers Women's Team. This story was a wreck form the start, it only makes sense it should end in one.

In short time, racism in America will slither back beneath the surface. Don Imus will be a distant memory and possibly a Trivial Pursuit question in the 2010 edition. Someone else will offend and the uproar will shift profits from one side to another. Ratings will spike, reporters will scurry and we'll do this all over again. See you in six months.