Palin's Triumph Over Letterman Is a Victory for All Women
The feud between David Letterman and Governor Sarah Palin has ended for now with an apology from Dave on his show and an acceptance by Ms. Palin in the press. Score round one to Palin. This win marks a triumph not just for the Governor but for women and girls across the country.
It has heartening to see liberal NOW feminists and the ladies of The View as well as conservative women stand up for Palin and her daughters. Maybe it was the motherhood element as expressed by Joy Behar on The View.
Whatever it was, it was a victory for the female sex. Letterman and other late night comedians will think twice now before telling tasteless, sexist "jokes" that demean females. I never liked that term "knocked up" thinking it was degrading, implying that women are sex objects to be used by men, regardless of their age.
Let's hope it is the beginning of evolution for men as Palin referred to in her acceptance of Letterman's mea culpa. As women, it is up to us to call out sexism wherever and whenever it occurs. The fight against racism has been long and difficult and still has a ways to go, but the revelation of so-called "code words" has been very valuable in the struggle.
We need to point out sexist code phrases and we can begin with Letterman's "knocked up" and "slutty". I also felt Perez Hilton was wrong to call Carrie Prejean (the ex Miss CA-USA) a "dumb bitch" on his website after she came out for "opposite sex" marriage. It was sexist. Who cares if it came from a gay man? I am a lesbian and for gay marriage but the remark was demeaning. How would Hilton like being called the "f" word for being a gay man?
I never thought David Letterman should be fired, just called to task as Don Imus was when he made his racist (and sexist) remarks about the Rutger's women's basketball team. (I didn't feel Imus should have been fired either.)
I am all for freedom of speech, but I'm also for decency. Racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks are "hate speech", plain and simple. Sometimes they are disguised as humor. I and many others don't find them funny. In fact, they can be very damaging. It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative, people should be treated with respect. This goes for men too. It is just as sexist to call a man a "male chauvinist pig" as it is to call a woman the "c" word.
If we can learn anything from the Palin-Letterman feud, it is that speaking out for the rights of all people is not just a freedom but our responsibility. Seeing all the unrest and oppression in Iran puts everything in perspective, and I for one am glad to live in a country where we can even have this conversation.
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Oops somehow a previosu comment by someone else got posted in my windorw, I was trying to say:
"I am all for freedom of speech," says another humorless spokesperson who is anything but.
Darling, you are delusional if you think Sarah "the Loon" Palin had any sort of victory at all. The evil woman picked her battle to score political points. I for one, not only wish Dave had not apologized to the evil Alaskan opportunist, but had escalated it. But given how Palin simply handed Dave a huge ratings victory over Conan on a platter, she won nothing at all, except the further support of her lunatic fringe supporters, among whom you seem proud to number yourself. The real loser here was poor Conan. What did she have against him?
Fortunately, the women's movement is no longer overly-identified with the humor-deficient like yourself. You want "hate Speech"? Read any speech Sarah Palin has made since we all had the misfortune of having her thrust into an undeserved national spotlight. Her very existence does more harm to the women's movement than all the comedians on TV combined.
Tallulah, I appreciate your comments. However, I am not a lunatic fringe supporter of Palin's. I voted for Hillary and then Obama. I did not approve of her claims that Obama palled around with terrorists nor do I like that she allows the shooting of wolves from helicopters. But as a woman myself when it comes to defending another woman against sexism I will do it. As for being humorless, it's not true. I just don't like demeaning humor. I loved George Carlin, who colorfully poked fun at all human beings and our foibles not directed at any specific ethnic, racial, or sexual group.
Now Letterman has poked fun at gays talking about Gay Pride week in NY saying his audience looked like they could appreciate it. Comedians have and always will have a field day with us as long as we allow it.
We gays are so used to it, we don't object.
See Tallulah Morehead's Profile
Boy, I really thought this headline was a joke--Palin Victory??? Letterman's joke was off the mark and he appologized when he realized that people were being told it was aimed at the younger daughter, Willow....but how did Mrs. Palin respond? she excepted his appology for all young women and then for good measure thanked our service men and women for her freedom of speech. (Lets not forget the 14 people that called David's wife a slut and his child a bastard--shades of the threats Mrs. Palin engendered for Mr. Obama during her rallies, but that she never appologized for...
Give me a break! No one has exploited her children more than Sara Palin--dressing her baby in an elephant costume, dragging out her pregnant daughter and her boyfriend at the Republican Convention and announcing their impending nuptuals to the country. When Bristol expredded her opinion about abstinence not working, everything was turned around and Bristol found herself working for a sexy underwear company aimed at young women--only this time advocating the same abstinence she initially said was not realistic.
Gov. Palin tryed to make a teachable moment on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. She spoke to men saying: : men should rise up and and take a stand against the disrespect of females. She also spoke about building self-esteem in our daughters. The media missed an important opportunity.
Boy, I really thought this headline was a joke--Palin Victory??? Letterman's joke was off the mark and he appologized when he realized that people were being told it was aimed at the younger daughter, Willow....but how did Mrs. Palin respond? she excepted his appology for all young women and then for good measure thanked our service men and women for her freedom of speech. (Lets not forget the 14 people that called David's wife a slut and his child a bastard--shades of the threats Mrs. Palin engendered for Mr. Obama during her rallies, but that she never appologized for...
Give me a break! No one has exploited her children more than Sara Palin--dressing her baby in an elephant costume, dragging out her pregnant daughter and her boyfriend at the Republican Convention and announcing their impending nuptuals to the country. When Bristol expredded her opinion about abstinence not working, everything was turned around and Bristol found herself working for a sexy underwear company aimed at young women--only this time advocating the same abstinence she initially said was not realistic.
It seems that everyone that has posted is not in agreement with your perception of the above issue as having to do with women's rights. The more I read, the deeper concern I have for other issues such as freedom of speech or more specifically comedy and the thin ice on which comedians must tread.
If we can all see it the way you do, life can be easy...the comedian appoligizes, he/she :) is forgiven, a little wounded, but the victims like Palin are victorious and somehow are transformed into a bolt of lightning for some greater good (in addition to the not so greater good, the Republican party). In your view, if you listen close you can hear the blue birds singing, unless of course you are David Letterman.
There is no victory here except the one for the endless partisan sniping that seems to be sending the U.S down the drain - if Letterman had not been a liberal she would have left it alone. And incidentally, where is the media outrage at Geraldo Rivera's frequent minimizing of statutory rape by women against boys? Double standard much?
I'm still waiting for Ms. Palin to apologize for her numerous displays of "hate speech", bold face lies and incitement to riot against our President. Any idea when that might happen?
Palin's narcissistic, self-righteous behavior towards Mr. Letterman is NOT a victory for woman. She is a flagrant, self-serving, opportunist. Nothing more. When are folks like you going to STOP portraying her as a trail blazer for woman's rights???? It's beginning to sound like a sick obssession. I don't want or need anyone like her speaking for me!
This subject has been covered ad nauseam for over a week now. LET IT GO!!!!!!!
A victory for all women? Nonsense. I am a woman comedian. Letterman did the equivalent of apologizing to the heckler in the front row. Nobody should be telling anybody who and what to laugh at. That is patently absurd. This is a tempest in a teapot. NOW has embarassed me.
As a pioneer of the women's movement in the early 70's, I am dismayed and embarrassed that NOW still picks weak fights to fight and still no sense of humor. It was a poor joke told by a comedian, Not a cause.
In retrospect, we should have aligned ourselves with the labor unions and put more focus on equal pay rather than the ERA at the time.
And yes, we did do good work(rape/ violence against women awareness, reproductive rights, child care,etc).
Love, Joy and the View but not with them on this one.
And by the way, part of my disappointment with NOW is that
I never heard NOW's outrage during the 8 Bush years on Anything that I recall.
I have to agree that the jokes were tasteless. I've gotten tired of hearing Sarah Palin jokes. They are demeaning. Even when Bill Maher would make them. And I am a big fan of his. I would be outraged if they talked about my daughter that way. Especially because that was their choice. To keep her baby. What I don't like is that Sarah Palin gets away with stirring up haters. I saw her rallies, and they were scary. The people seemed like they were a lynch mob. The way they would express themselves about Obama was downright scary. So, yes I agree that maybe David went too far, but Sarah Palin has been stirrring up violence ever since she started running for Vice President. Maybe this should be a lesson to her. Be careful with "words" they can cause a lot of pain and suffering.
Your arguments are very selective. You laud NOW for going to bat against a comedian for a poor joke, that had already been apologized for!
Where is NOW's outrage for Sotomayor's belittling by Limbaugh, Liddy, Boehner, and Gingritch?
All Palin did was turn an off color joke that would not have been remembered the next morning, into a week long faux Palin outrage fest, as she extrapolated the meaning of the joke into something truly offensive;,she then all but accused Letterman of being a child molester!
Comedians tread the line between bad taste and offensive, that is where things become absurd and funny. Your percieeved offenses are yours.
Sexism, racism, all the isms, are no joking matter in the work place, the courtroom, or the boardroom, but contextually part of a comedy routine, they highlight that which is worst in all of us,
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