If they had dressed Obama up as a ghost and referred to him as a SPOOK

[ruggerson]

everyone of us would have been appalled.

And rightfully so.

And the fact that many of us are NOT appalled that they referred to Sen. Clinton as a "witch" shows how much partisan hypocrisy comes into play here.

What's wrong is wrong.

Even if you disagree with Clinton on everything she stands for, this is STILL wrong.

[Catherine Vincent]

1. But she was dressed as a bride.

Let it go. Next week no one will remember this skit.

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. sexism is harder to detect that racism

and so ingrained in our society. Edwards got away with attempting to minimize Clinton by reducing her to her appearance when he commented on the color of her outfight.

Backwards and in highheels, says Ann Richards.

[ruggerson]

5. It drives me

fucking. crazy.

Women are so ROUTINELY demeaned in our society. And look at the reaction on this, a supposedly progressive board.

[hlthe2b]

34. It was a "twofer"

Not only did they demean Hillary Clinton, but they also went further. By having Bill joke cruelly that "she was a witch," when Obama remarks on her being a "bride," they got to demean both Hillary and the Clinton marriage as some kind of sham. You know, even if the RW meme WERE right and their marriage was tilted towards one of "convenience" and political ambition, that does not mean there is not love and respect for each other. Any husband who would so cruelly joke at his wife's expense, (after embarrassing her with an affair that went public), would be a monster. And that, is what they are insinuating....

NOt funny, but......

[journalist3072]

3. Sadly, DU has become what it supposedly dispises. eom

[undercoverduer]

4. If he had dressed up as a ghost I don't see what the problem is. . .

. . .of course since you meant it in racial terms to turn some screws it would have been wrong. In my 39 years on earth I have never seen a witch as a damned Halloween costumes as politically incorrect. I guess we need to pull them from the stores. And as it relates to your "spook" costume (notice its the Hillary people wanting Obama people to play the race card), I have never seen it in stores. Get over you damned self. LOL

[Evergreen Emerald]

10. here you are on another post swearing at someone else

Yikes! Need less coffee perhaps?

[Tellurian]

24. I don't think undercoverduer will be with us for very long...

time to roll a troll...

[Joe the Revelator]

6. Over 5 threads on this in the last hour

Seriously, when did the email go out?

[sniffa]

8. oh, you must not be on her maiLing List

it's the Latest outrage against her because of breasts and Lack of penis.

[sniffa]

7. yeah, a nasty raciaL sLur compares

[ruggerson]

13. Dude, it's sexism. It's just as bad as homophobia.

And Obama participated in the skit.

[sniffa]

15. true, but your comparison is so over the top

if they caLLed obama the n-bomb and richarson a beaner, that wouLd be mind-bLowingLy racist. caLLing hiLLary a witch does not come cLose.

and i didn't know that witch was now somehow comparabLe to what, the c-word? sLut? bimbo?

[ruggerson]

17. I think it's a dead on analogy

"witch" is used to connote all the charasteristics men use to degrade women in male dominated stratas in our society. Witches are conniving, mean, ugly, bitchy, untrustworthy hags. Every false trait that misogynists use to push strong women back and demean them.

[undercoverduer]

21. So should the skit that kept referring to Richardson as half Mexican be discussed too?

Currently that skit is being discussed because of the way Kucinich was being depicted, however isn't the half Mexican comment worthy of outage.

[ruggerson]

23. Absolutely

if done in a derogatory manner, no question.

[undercoverduer]

27. Well where is the outrage or outrage and deragotry manner based on the number of DUers. . .

. . .who support you.

[sniffa]

22. and i disagree

aLthough that definition of witch you gave reminds me of her.

[goodgd_yall]

28. Ruggerson, you are dead on

Thanks for speaking up on behalf of women.:loveya:

[terrya]

9. Of course.

Yes, of course, if Obama was dressed as a ghost and referred to as a spook, I would have been disgusted and appalled. There is NO room whatsoever in public discourse (even on a sophomoric show such as SNL) for racist crap.

As there shouldn't be for misogyny. Nor homophobia.

[BootinUp]

11. Well, they didn't dress up Hillary as a witch, just referred to her as one

but I understand your point. On the other hand its a comedy show, and the comedy writers will surely write juvenile stuff a lot of the time. Its what sells. And calling a women a witch is not as risky as getting into racial slurs if I were to guess.

[undercoverduer]

14. Especially when you consider the damn context of the skit. . .

. . .is a witch a long lasting, popular and up until now an accepted Halloween costume? Its only became controversial in an election year. The fake outrage is just laughable.

[Tellurian]

25. There wasn't any witch costume..

what part of that do you fail to understand?

[KittyWampus]

12. Bullshit. Back when SNL was actually funny, I could imagine them using a ghost costume

for Garrett Morris. EASILY. And it would have been funny.

Good Comedy knows no fear.

[maximusveritas]

16. I think I may have to re-evaluate my thoughts on DU not being too PC

because this is just insane. I'm going to pretend it's just because you guys are defending your candidate and not really this uptight.

[ruggerson]

18. I'm not voting for her

so try again.

[maximusveritas]

19. Well, I guess you really are that uptight then

I'm sorry.

[ruggerson]

20. Yeah, bummer, bigotry sets me off

I really have to lighten up about that.

[iverglas]

26. if every other candidate had walked up to Obama at a party

and offered him a piece of fried chicken, we would have laughed at the stupidity and unexamined racism of the other candidates.

Now, I do think the situation is somewhat different with the Clinton skit -- a parallel to the fried chicken situation might be if every other candidate had walked up to her and complimented her on the cookies they assumed she'd baked.

She wasn't just being perceived as a woman and stereotyped as a woman, she was being stereotyped as a bad woman.

Maybe if all the other candidates had backed away from Obama while clutching their wallets and drawing their womenfolk close ...

But they don't address Obama's blackness that way -- as him being a bad African-American man -- so there would have been nothing to satirize; the allegation is that they do address Clinton's femaleness that way.

I do think the point made was that no matter what Clinton does, she's stereotyped as a bad woman. Although it may be that the point could too easily be missed by people who actually hold that stereotype, who would see affirmation of their view rather than mockery in it ... that being a universal problem in satire.

[goodgd_yall]

29. Good analysis

There is that problem with satire. I guess where I would be on that is, if I thought many people viewing would not be understanding the mockery in the skit (which is a good chance on SNL), I would not perform it. And that is because stereotyping women is a big problem in our society; I would not want to add to it especially in something as important as a presidential election where a woman actually has a chance to acquire the highest office in the land. (I don't support HRC, but I'm aware of the significance her run is for women.) In a smaller venue that tended to attract more people who "got it," I would choose to perform the skit.

[iverglas]

32. that's the thing

Context - audience - is everything. I think the SNL audience is overall fairly sophisticated, and didn't likely take the message Hillary is a witch from the skit.

As I was just saying in another thread on this ... I find the feminist/lightbulb joke hilarious:

Q. How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. That's not funny.

I used the humourless feminist stereotype myself in the on-line personal that netted me my co-vivant of nearly eight years now:

Anti-social socialist, funny feminist, atheist in search of soulmate ... (with no non-oxy morons needing to apply).

But I wouldn't find the lightbulb joke funny going from the mouth of Bill O'Reilly to a few million braindead misogynists, in whose ears it would merely reinforce the stereotype. Yeah, yeah, those humourless feminists don't think anything's funny!

There have been people who truly believed that Jonathan Swift advocated eating impoverished children, I don't doubt.

If only we knew what message the broad audience actually took from the skit ...

[Chovexani]

35. I'm reminded of why Dave Chappelle walked off his show

When he was taping a skit lampooning racial stereotypes and a white crew member laughed a little too hard.

Sadly I don't think most of the audience is smart enough to laugh for the right reasons.

[Yael]

30. It was a FREAKIN' SKIT! Sheesh

Isn't 43 threads and 6 polls enough yet?

[undercoverduer]

31. Not when Hillary supporters get a hold of something

:kick:

[bigwillq]

38. I agree with ya.

That show, and many others of its kind, "poke fun" at all groups of people. Some of it's funny and some of it's not. I really don't see what was so offensive about the skit.

[Bitwit1234]

33. You are right. I bet the Hillary bashers on the DU would crap their pants.

They have been making fun of Hillary in the witch costume all day. And if they had even mention anything to do with race the board would be full.

[HuffleClaw]

36. if she'd appeared wearing a HALO some would still have found a way to be offended

personally i find it hilarious at how fast she's gone from the 'frontrunner' to a whiny 'poor me' also-ran.

[faithfulcitizen]

37. Is it possible that the skit is referring to her *behavior*, and not

the fact that she's a women? The color of someone's skin isn't within one's control. Just a thought.