I've defended ostensibly racist diatribes in the past. I defended the University of Wisconsin's very own law professor Leonard Kaplan, now best known for his allegedly racist comments made in class. So it may come as a bit of a surprise that I am none too upset that Don Imus, best known for his "nappy-headed hos" comment, is now without work. I saw the Rutgers press conference, and as a black man with a burgeoning and sensational afro, allow me to inform you that not one of those young ladies had nappy hair. Mr. Imus's salacious, racist and sexist comment was out of place, out of time and out of order. And I'm none too worried that he is now out of a job.

His outburst is not unprecedented, and no one who is familiar with the popular shock jock has expressed surprise at his ridiculous portrayal. There's been an indifferent spirit of "Oh, that's just Imus" from those who seem to know him best. Listeners of Mr. Imus' show, which, according to The New York Times, reaches about two million listeners, are familiar with Mr. Imus' edge. His show has reportedly been full of speech that would make Dick Cheney blush. And Dick Cheney doesn't even have blood.

Why Mr. Imus' employers chose to look the other way when he was making his previous allegedly homophobic/racist/anti-Semitic/sexist comments is anyone's guess. Perhaps it was because the outcry wasn't loud enough. Perhaps advertisers didn't pull their ads.

And why shouldn't he say these things? He does, after all, have a right. It's a card that his apologists have been playing rather frequently. And in the case of his firing, it just isn't enough.

So he gaffed. He screwed up, messed up, and then fessed up. His sincere apologies and earnest attempts at redemption were much appreciated by the women at the center of the controversy. They never called for him to be fired, like self-appointed leader of the black community Al Sharpton. And to Mr. Imus' credit, he didn't pull a Michael Richards and convolute his reaction with awkward pseudo-apologies and confused utterances of "I'm not racist." No, he responded with heartfelt regret. He pointed to his charitable work with underprivileged blacks and Latinos in New Mexico. He met with the grandstanding Mr. Sharpton and with the offended team. Yet, he was fired.

Surely, there are hidden hands at work here. Hands that hate America and its precious freedom of speech.

Hardly.

But have no fear, Mr. Imus will still walk freely among us; he won't serve any jail time for his words. Unfortunately for Mr. Imus, though, the freedom to say whatever you want does not guarantee the retention of a nationally syndicated radio show.

Make no mistake. This was no Mr. Kaplan speaking in the subjunctive. The quotes we have of Mr. Imus are not misquoted out-of-context amalgamations from a source who did not hear the comments. This was sincere, unadulterated, no-big-surprise-he-said-something-like-that Mr. Imus. And he said it to a listening audience estimated to be about two million people. But with rap seemingly a mainstay of African-American culture, did Mr. Imus really say something all that isn't being said already?

To be honest, Mr. Imus's comment would be rather unspectacular lyrics in your average rap single. The fact that the black community can swallow our own usage of the sexist and racist epithets that permeate the genre is a well-established and much-pondered absurdity. I don't get it. You don't get it. Al Sharpton doesn't get it.

But Snoop Dogg does.

Snoop Dogg, according to MTV News, insisted that rappers like him are nothing like Mr. Imus, but are instead "talking about hos that's in the hood that ain't doing shit, that's trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things." While I abhor Snoop's syntax, grammar and degrading language, and may be even a bit confused at what he said, he may have a point. Mr. Imus referred specifically to a group of 10 women who had not asked for his attention or deserved his ridiculous characterization. And in an age of unfettered access and replication of information, in a time when perusing the hallowed depths of YouTube for the most mundane or salacious of information is simple, you must choose your targets wisely. Mr. Imus did not.

So don't cry for Mr. Imus. He's no poor free-speech pioneer who hasn't been allowed to have his say. He's been saying things he oughtn't for 40 years now. He finally overstepped that line of indecency that most Americans find excusable.

While most of America felt no need to ascribe more credibility and importance to Mr. Imus' words than was necessary, unlike the aforementioned Sharpton, most were fairly disgusted by his comments. Most people seem fed up with that sort of talk. So it stands to reason that NBC would get rid of him.

Afterall, what America wants, America gets. And to be honest, America has had enough of guys like Mr. Imus.

Gerald Cox ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in economics and Middle Eastern studies.