Misguided outrage over a comedian.

I am going to need the right-wingnuts and some of the other folks who took issue with Michelle Wolf's stand up routine at the White House Correspondence Dinner to give me a break.

Since when is a comedian not allowed to make fun of famous people? Besides, pretty much everything she said was true.

It's just amazing to me that some of the same folks who defend this president and his vile and reprehensible behavior every day are now saying that this comedian went too far. She did not. She did what she was hired to do: Tell jokes. Donald trump makes fun of disabled people, and he tries to fat-shame women he disagrees with, and some of these same journalists who are now complaining about Wolf failed to cal him out for his boorish behavior. Trump himself said some pretty outrageous and dangerous things at his rally in Michigan, while Wolf was entertaining journalists in Washington, but it's crickets from America's chattering class and those who should be calling him out on it.

Katherine Timpf, writing for the National Review, had a great take on this issue.

"Wolf then continued to suggest that Sanders was a sort of “Uncle Tom but for white women.”

Sanders was visibly upset the entire time, and many people on the right rushed to her defense — saying that Wolf’s jokes were inappropriate and an outrage. Here’s the thing, though: Many of those same people have absolutely no problem with it when President Trump makes fun of people, no matter how low the blow.  

 Yes. In case you’ve forgotten, Donald Trump also really likes to make fun of people. On the campaign trail, he referred to Marco Rubio as “Little Marco” and Jeb Bush as “low-energy Jeb.” During a debate, he readily agreed that he’d compare Rosie O’Donnell to a “fat pig,” “slob,” “dog,” and “disgusting animal.” He mocked Carly Fiorina, saying “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” During his presidency, he made fun of Mika Brzezinski, saying he once saw her “bleeding badly from a face-lift.” The list goes on and on.

If you find yourself being outraged about Wolf’s jokes about Sanders, I’d suggest you ask yourself: Were you outraged about any of the above jokes as well? If not, why not?

The way it appears now is that when Trump makes fun of Mika’s face, the Right says “Chill, it’s just a joke!” and the Left says it’s an outrage. When Michelle Wolf says Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s eyeshadow is made of lies, the Left says “Chill, it’s just a joke!” and the Right says it’s an outrage. There’s certainly an element of hypocrisy on this issue on both sides, but there’s also one difference: Michelle Wolf is a comedian, not the leader of the free world, so she does deserve a bit more leeway when it comes to making jokes." [Source]

Maybe that's the problem, we can't separate the two, since "the leader of the free world" is such a joke.



  

"They use it so why can't we?"

           It never ceases to amaze me how indignant folks in the majority population can get over the fact that they aren't allowed to use the n-word. If I hear this familiar refrain again:  "They use it to each other so why can't we"? one more time, I swear I will find religion.

My views on the subject of the n word is well documented, I personally don't use the word, but I am not as offended as others when the younger generation of African Americans use it. And I certainly can appreciate it  when it is used in the context of art. "Sucka Nigga" is still one of the greatest hip hop songs of all times (RIP Phife Dawg), and I can appreciate its use in film and other forms of artistic expression as well. 

Having said all of that, given how the word was used by whites historically (and how they still, in some quarters, continue to use it today) it is never ever cool for whites to use the word in general conversation. 

This notion that they can use the word because we do is preposterous. I have Italian friends who refer to other Italians as the d word, that does not give me the right to use that word to an Italian American, and I would certainly never make an issue of the fact that I am not supposed to use the word because it is repugnant to them when it is said by someone who doesn't happen to be Italian American. 

It's really that simple, folks.  

This all leads me to Larry Wilmore's use of the word (or something like it) to close the White House Correspondence Dinner last night.

I played tennis with an older African American gentleman today who was furious that Wilmore even went there to his Oness. To him, it was disrespectful, given the historical nature of O's presidency and the fact that this was his official send off from the Washington elites. And judging from what was said on twitter and in other quarters, he was not alone. Heck even Rev Al weighed in, and he, like others, gave it a thumbs down.  

I personally was not so much offended by the word as I was the fact that the line was not particularly funny. Wilmore is a fine comedy writer, but let's face it, he is not a very good stand up comedian, so that joke, like a few others, fell flat.

Leonard Greene, writing for the New York Daily News, had a good take on it.

"That’s not to say Wilmore bombed the whole set. He managed to get off quite a few good lines, like the one about Obama’s graying hair.

“Mr. President, your hair is so white, it tried to punch me at a Trump rally,” Wilmore said. “The President’s hair is so white it keeps saying ‘All lives matter.’”

Wilmore should have quit while he was ahead.

Besides unfairly putting Obama on the spot about the most loaded word in the English language, Wilmore just gave white people, many of whom have for nearly eight years been beside themselves over a black man in the White House, license to use the N-word against the leader of the free world."

Yep. "They use it, so why can't we?"