One can only hope that the stench of hypocrisy polluting the airwaves last week about Don Imus will abate this week, but I suspect that the tip of that iceberg is immune to hot air. How many times can I possibly say, “Give me a break?” The left represented by race extortionists the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, plus the Democratic candidates for president are hailing the decision of CBS and MSNBC to fire the aging shock jock. Meanwhile, those on the right are viewing Mr. Imus as a straw man who took the fall for despicable language that is condoned by rappers and ghetto dwellers. In this case, I believe both sides are missing the point. The real culprit can be found in our mirrors.

Don Imus felt free to spew nasty, disgusting, demeaning language on his radio program because listeners enjoyed hearing it. Politicians lined up to reach that same audience and never chastised Mr. Imus for his homophobic, racist statements until now. As for his defenders who charge that gangsta rappers and ghetto dwellers use that same language and that’s where Mr. Imus first heard it, they are as misguided as the blacks who say that language is “keeping it real.” The truth is that the gangsta rap would have died out soon after inception if it hadn’t been supported by the millions of white wannabes like Eminem and the lily-white boys down South who adopted the faux tough prison veneer in lieu of their own boring environs.

I’m glad that Mr. Imus is gone, but not for this particular incident of calling the Rutgers female basketball players names I won’t repeat. You will find the words on T-shirts that just went on sale. Isn’t America beautiful? It would have been preferable if Mr. Imus had lost his job because the public had become tired of his rants and stopped listening. Who am I kidding? The 2005 Academy Award for best song went to a rap song with worse lyrics, and the crowd cheered.

The cry from the right side is just plain lame. Tom DeLay, the former representative and House Republican leader, is pushing to remove Rosie O’Donnell from “The View” because of comments she made insinuating that the Twin Towers could only have collapsed if explosives were involved. Clearly, she and other Hollywood figures like Charlie Sheen have bought into the conspiracy theory that the Bush administration engineered the September 11 terrorist attacks to start a war for oil. Funny, but I didn’t see any sign of George Bush lurking among the sheiks, and considering that the plot was hatched before Bush was even president, where do these mentally challenged celebs get their inside info?

Rather than remove Ms. O’Donnell from the air, why not have someone with a modicum of sense on hand to expose her ignorance? “The View” needs to have more balance with a telegenic conservative like Laura Ingraham to counter Rosie’s utterly inane utterances.

Nor does Bill Maher have anyone to refute the bald-faced lies with which he ends his HBO show. I was astounded at his supercilious summation of the Valerie Plame/ Joseph Wilson saga. Mr. Maher spoke indignantly of Ms. Plame’s career as a CIA operational officer. He said, “That’s what she devoted her life to, staying under cover for 20 years. Maintaining two identities every g*ddamn day.” Sorry, Bill, but Ms. Plame’s cover had been blown in the 1990s by a Russian spy in Moscow and in documents secured by the Cuban government. She was therefore considered unlikely to return to covert status, and that’s why she had been working back here for years. Bob Novak got her name from “Who’s Who in America,” not Scooter Libby. In addition, it was her husband, Joe Wilson, who told the lies about his mission. But why expect any cogent thinking or speaking from a comedian who can’t tell the difference between real humor and derision? Competition, not censorship is the answer.

The right is also charging hypocrisy involving the Duke lacrosse players, who were wrongfully accused by a black stripper of rape and assault. There certainly is a double standard, but why hasn’t anyone asked the exonerated athletes, “What have you learned from this experience?” How about pointing out that college athletes have no business hiring strippers — period? Parents, where were you?

Our culture is sick, but unless we look in the mirror and ask ourselves how much we’ve contributed to that degrading by supporting all the trash out there, we’re the hypocrites.