So, a friend of mine (THANKS, NICK!) asked my opinion of the recent Palin/Letterman spat.
For those of you not necessarily acquainted with the happenings, here's a recap. Letterman made a stupid joke about Palin's daughter during one of his shows. He said, "one awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game during the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
HAHAHA!
Ok, so we get the joke, right? RIGHT?
Palin's a conservative, morality toting, religious nut whose young daughter gets pregnant by a stranger at an all-American sporting event. In the atmosphere of apple pie, the negation of the option of contraception/abortion makes the abstinence policies that Palin's type promotes look completely ridiculous. And to think... that baseball player would've f*cked daughter right in front of the mommy who advocates for the failed policies that make the joke! Wow, Letterman, that's a good one! Dumb, but we get it. The shock value of suggesting public erotics right in front of mommy, if anything, makes it even more laughable (not more funny, but we laugh harder out of a little anxiety at that because it was a close-to-taboo joke he just made!).
This is Letterman. I don't particularly watch The Late Show, but from what I understand, jokes like this are par for the course. He has an audience he caters to. Because of the type of humor he typically uses, this shouldn't be of much surprise to anyone. Not only that, but... come on. What's all the hubbub? It's just a joke.
Just a joke...
That's where things get messy. There are advocates for the dismissal, that's right, downright termination of Letterman's employment with CBS. Why? Because when it comes to suggesting statutory rape in ANY context, especially in the case of a "joke," people get upset. I think this is understandable. Not only that, but there are a lot of people calling the joke
IN BAD TASTE.
Now, what exactly is that supposed to mean? "In bad taste." Well, to many, "taste" represents a certain by-law of codes we live by to subsist peacefully in the social realm of regular communication. Their a set of moral standards that go rather unquestioned in the popular consciousness. These are called mores (pronounced moor-ays, for those of you unfamiliar with the term). Something the feminist movement had attempted to do was to normalize the aversion to sexual exploitation of anyone, particularly women. Even if Letterman hadn't particularly suggested violence, which he didn't, the act of sex between that baseball player and the young Bristol would definitely constitute statutory rape. That falls under the jurisdiction of sexual exploitation, for sure. In any case, the point here is that he failed to demonstrate what we like to call "professionalism" in his choice to joke about Palin's daughter. The joke, of course!, was not aimed at the daughter, no. It was intended to make fun of the religious conservatives. Nonetheless, though, he did in fact **directly** make a seriously inappropriate joke about a young girl.
I said this to Nick, and I'll say it again,
I'm glad he apologized. I don't think he should lose his job for that comment. BUT, his job is a public one. Not that he must pander to EVERYBODY since that's absolutely impossible. The joke's semantic intention has been outshined by the literal interpretation of it, sure. But if he's going to keep his job, it's been made clear that he should probably save those KIND of jokes for the cigar lounge.
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