Feminists Take Sarah Palin's Side in Letterman Feud
Now Amanda Fortini at Salon has jumped on the anti-misogynist Letterman bandwagon, also calling out feminists who avert their eyes when conservative women are the targets. In an overall good piece just out:
If there was any question that a stubborn strain of old-school sexism persists in Obama's America, one has only to look at certain leaders of what the right wing loves to call the "liberal media" but which is sounding and acting, recently, more like the frat-house media.
There, like a virus hiding in the body before, perhaps, staging a comeback, misogyny has found a place to lurk almost undetected, at least by the usually sharp eyes of progressive feminists.
Examine the symptoms of this infection, beginning with David Letterman's comments....
Shouldn't liberals exhibit the same sort of decorous treatment we demand for ourselves? Sexist comments like Letterman's and Cimbalo's also conjure a troublingly insular, clubhouse atmosphere in lieu of an inclusive political party. What's more, the gender-based stereotypes they conjure are as stale and ignorant as any voiced by the old Neanderthal right: Pretty women are de facto stupid, sexually promiscuous and low-class....
And what's the problem with sexy women, anyway? The facile answer is to say that female sexuality is threatening in some visceral, primitive way. But maybe the deeper fact is that pretty women remind us that the world is essentially unfair -- and if the world is unfair, then the progressive quest for fairness may be quixotic and unnatural. There is no more free market economy than your average singles bar. In any case, stern conservative strength in a woman has undone the left for ages: See Margaret Thatcher. Liberals would probably contend that these women present much to argue with, propounding odious views with real-world implications -- they do, they do -- but why not attack their ideas rather than insult them?
Asking why it is that liberal women do not often take liberal men to task for these attitudes is well worthwhile. Maybe we don't want to appear shrill and humorless, unable to take a joke. Or maybe it's thought that conservative women are too ideologically reprehensible to merit a defense. But to challenge this kind of sexist talk is not the same thing as agreeing with a woman's politics. If the left is allowed to remain a refuge for this sort of misogyny, if this virus in the body politic is allowed to flourish, then it is likely only a matter of time before it is once again directed at liberal women who are threatening in some way, as happened to Hillary Clinton....
Well, I'm pleasantly surprised shocked. The National Organization for Women is at this sliver in time getting back to true feminist roots, putting women first, not abortion.
As a Biblical egalitarian and American feminist in the pattern of Susan B. Anthony, I agree with everything NOW has to say about David Letterman's misogynist jokes at the expense of Sarah Palin and her daughters. See them all here. I even agree with NOW's last paragraph:
If only NOW et al would stick to stuff like this. Tragically, its dogmatic promotion of abortion has the opposite impact on women, exploiting and hurting them in the worst possible ways.
It seems to me if NOW can think with such clarity as it demonstrates in the blurb above, it must know the truth about abortion - particularly as time goes on and consequences (such as the Asian gender imbalance) become more obvious - and is simply in too deep.
Nevertheless, NOW's shot across Letterman's bow is sure to have a quieting effect - finally - on the shameful sexism displayed against Sarah Palin and her daughters by MSM and liberals. And that is good.
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ebsarver and bhall appear to have it right on point. Sarah Palin is our best hope to have leadership less intellectual than “W” and a perfect target for late night television. After all, what is late night television without tasteless humor?
Now to off topic as so many others have:
All discrimination is dysfunctional. Sure it also creates victims, but the discriminator inevitably receives sub-optimal results by making judgment based upon irrelevant criteria. Although this is not a point that can lead to me becoming a compensated victim it is the point that makes it truly antisocial and is completely missed in our litigious society .
As for anti- abortion : why must the egg be fertilized before it becomes protected? If life is truly sacred why can’t we agree that any unfertilized egg is a potential life wasted? Every empty womb, a recourse wasted? And my beliefs and values guild your life and resources? Remember, most extremists think that they are the only rational ones. Now reflect.
Unfortunately, Jill missed an opportunity to reach out and work with another group on a common issue. There was no need to bring up abortion or any group's particular stance on this when the issue at hand is much broader. Women are treated unfairly, and though I usually find Letterman's humor funny, this time he was way off. Whether I agree or not with Palin's political views, her right to have them is undeniable. Her family should not be subjected to ridicule because of her public service. Insinuating that someone's daughter is, in so many words, a "loose women" is clearly in bad taste.
There is also a huge difference in tone with the way he joked about Hillary's pants suits in the past and saying that Palin looked like a "slutty flight attendant".
Women, usually find themselves in a no win situation. They must either be ugly and dress conservatively to have their ideas taken seriously or they must dress to be sexy and hope they have the good looks to help them.
Their sexuality or perceived lack of it, is always at hand to be used as a weapon of ridicule against them.
Conservative and liberal women's organizations should leave aside their parochial issues when the opportunity to work together in defending and advancing women's rights arises.
Obviously the joke was in poor taste and Letterman apologized. So give it a rest.
Sarah Palin is this generations Dan Quail. I hope she stays in Alaska and polar bear eats her.
Freedom of speech is making an exit from this country.
Is that feminists can't take a joke, have no sense of humor, and have an uncanny knack for turning molehills into mountains.
The author wrote:
"But maybe the deeper fact is that pretty women remind us that the world is essentially unfair -- and if the world is unfair, then the progressive quest for fairness may be quixotic and unnatural. There is no more free market economy than your average singles bar."
The progressive quest for fairness is quixotic and unnatural. Man can't force nature to deliver fair outcomes. Therefore, the only way to make outcomes fair is to redistribute them according to some standard of fairness that is unnatural, i.e. a figment of the human imagination.
Smoking hot babes get more attention from men than ordinary looking ones, so the latter (and their sympathizers) falsely accuse the former of stupidity and loose morals to level the playing field, i.e. make it more fair. False accusations launched to lower the lofty to the same level as the false accusers is an ugly means of redistributing social status. (I might also add that it violates the 9th Commandment.)
Since this is what Letterman and leftist feminists have been up to since Mrs. Palin was nominated to the McCain ticket, I'm surprised it's taken this long to call out the wrongdoers. But why are they still playing at this game more than 8 months after her electoral defeat?
Comments like owl's come through as full of hate and distortion. I don't get where he comes from accusing Palin of not being concerned about her daughter. Every action of hers contradicts his contention. She supported her daughter through the pregnancy . I have watched interviews with both of them without the cynical eye we constantly get from people like Owl and was proud she accepted what had happened without trying to hide it from the public. People like myself get pregnant despite the beliefs of my family and that doen't make them hypocrites..it makes me responsible for my behavior. I find the phrase "knocked up" a crude substitute for" getting pregnant" and am tired of codes of behavior and hypocritical standards of morality
that degrade women. Whether Letterman used the word rape or not doesn't justify the crudeness of his remark and it's implication that these attacks on families of politicians is ok. Would Owl feel the same if Letterman had accused A-Rod of"knocking up " one of Obama's daughters, since he also brought his children into the political spotlight. And how about some outrage that he branded A- Rod as a predatator. I find that equally unpalatable.
Letterman made a bad joke, which he indirectly and then directly apologized for. Palin, on the other hand, chose to broadcast the image of her 14 year old daughter "having sex" to be generous, or, to be ungenerous: either being raped or having consensual statutory rape sex with A-Rod. She then proceeded to keep this image on all of your filthy minds for 2 weeks. You really dont' get how played you are. You are being played. You are allowing a political whore to abuse her children in order to tar your opponents with what: ASSOCIATION WITH DAVID LETTERMEN????? WTH are you talking about? We have real issues to address, and your puerile desire to "feel for Palin" on this "issue" and then think that "Liberals make rape jokes," is so far from reality and the truth, it's hard to fathom where you are coming from. Liberals spend time figuring out how to build highways, pay for schools and protect women's rights. The " pro-choice " movement is about WOMEN'S RIGHTS. Think of it like this: who is more likely to make a stupid joke about girls??? Your right wing football jar head friend, or your LIBERAL GEEK FRIEND???? WAKE UP, YOU ARE BEING PLAYED.
Not much need be said about Owl's comments. A person filled with hate, paranoid, unable to view Palin from an unbiased viewpoint. The comments revealed a singular dislike of her from a personality viewpoint. I would suggest clearing out the bias and look at some of the facts of her political career.....routed out corruption in her state, managing a state and it's budget positively, succeeding in reducing citizen's burden by taking on the oil companies. I know those are facts and that makes it hard for people like Owl to deal with...instead relying on unfounded emotional bias and paranoia.
So what, Palin, in the richest state in the Union, "takes on oil ," whatever that means. She also abused her power to try to get an investigation of an ex, and when that didnt' work, she fired the chief of police because he wouldn't break the law for her. Then, she exacerbated it by continuing in the same vein with the next police chief. She had zero experience coming into the governorship, her job in her home town consisted as mayor of meeting once a month to sign paychecks. As governor, she has a spotty record, and before being governor she supported States' Rights so vociferously that she was noted as being "pro-succession" for Alaska. You claim she's good for Alaska, well, maybe, but her basic concept was "Alaska for Alaskans," not a very patriotic or politically intelligent decision, and one that, imho, is bad for Alaskans and, if you support it, why are you here in America arguing? Palin is opposed laws governing fair wages, laws protecting minorities from hate crimes and laws protecting women from age and sex discrimination. If you think that the Republicans, or Palin, represent your interests, good luck! You can "love" miss "break up the US and make it a theocracy" all you want, but frankly, I find her life story and her family story pathetic, and if it was a black woman, all you Republicans would spend 28 hours a day castigating her for her "lousy morals, her lousy children and their sins, and her lousy marriages." SOUND FAMILIAR??? The only difference: BLACK FOLKS LIVE IN POVERTY AND HAVE AN EXCUSE.
Granted, Lettermen is tasteless, but we all knew that. Palin, on the other hand, has zero concern for her daughter. The basic truth is this: if Palin had sent a letter to David Lettermen, telling him she was offended, he would have probably apologized, without mentioning the joke, the next day. Instead, Palin chose to SEAR THE IMAGE OF HER DAUGHTER'S RAPE into our national conscience. In fact, Mr. Lettermen never ONCE used the word "rape" in his monologue, he alluded instead to consensual sex. Palin, on the other hand, has no compunction about parading her already embarassed and sinful family in front of the national cameras, again, in order to maintain her own spotlight. How very trailer trash, queen of the high school promesque that really is, and, if "feminists" feel like hitching their wagon to this caricature of the most base, vile and disingenous parts of our culture, then, you really need to re-examine your connection to "femninism," because I think you are getting a little off track with your latest "victim."