Sigh. Kathy Griffin is a comedian. She held up a prop given to her by a photographer, known for pushing the boundaries. She wasn't calling for anyone's assassination, she wasn't committing treason. She also wasn't making some bold, thought out political statement, or being brave. There was no grand scheme beyond taking some publicity photos.
To say that it's okay that she did it because conservatives have said or done things towards Obama is self defeatist. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that. But that's not the point that most people are making. The things conservatives said and the effigies they made were fueled by hatred and racism. They were despicable. They hearkened to darker times in our history, taking the image of the first Afro-American president and portraying him being lynched. It's the equivalent of portraying a Jewish political leader in a Nazi concentration camp gas chamber, and cheering about it.
Was what Kathy Griffin did in bad taste? Perhaps, but bad taste is not illegal or unconstitutional. In fact, it is one of the ideas that had been upheld by the constitution more than most any other. That's why the people that made the deplorable Obama crap aren't in jail either. The difference is, Donald Trump's ancestors(and by ancestors, I mean parents and a couple generations, not some distant millennia ago) were never beheaded or threatened to be decapitated. His people were not oppressed, or discriminated against, or spent their first couple of centuries in America as property. Conservatives also publicly called for Obama’s execution, and used his image on shooting range targets, and nothing like that happened in the Griffin incident.
That's why there is no comparison between what Kathy Griffin did and what conservatives did. Not even close. My bullshit detector is going off in regards to Trump’s comment about his kid seeing it and being traumatized. Considering that Trump is a pathological liar, I don't think I'm out of line saying that. He doesn't even live with his own wife and child, so I'm not sure how much he knows about what goes on with him anyway.
Ultimately though, I don't give a shit. I don't care whether Republicans are outraged or offended or whatever Fox News tells them to feel. know people that are conservatives, in the sense that their political philosophy is spend less and have a strong military and all. I don't hear them saying shit about Kathy Griffin. I see the other “Republicans”, the ones full of hatred and scorn, misogyny and racist attitudes, poster children for the Dunning Kruger effect. The one's that didn't even care about politics until a black guy got elected. Let me be clear about this: I don't care about the opinions of uninformed, hate-filled people about current events. I'm actually tired of hearing most people's opinion on the outrage of the day, and yes, I see the irony here. There are more important things in the world to expend your time and energy on than a comedian holding up a fake head. It's not shocking, it's not trauma inducing, it's not even that offensive. If you're that offended by it you really need to get out more and see the truly offensive things going on in the world. You see worse stuff on prime time TV.
If you want to be offended, be offended by the millions of people that will get screwed out of healthcare if Republicans get their way. Be offended that this administration is hell bent on destroying what's left of the environment and personal freedoms and basically everything we hold dear in the Constitution. Be offended that gay people are being rounded by the Chechnya with Putin’s support and put in concentration camps while protections for the LGBT in this country are being destroyed. Be offended that innocent people are still being blown up and shot by terrorists over religious and political differences in this day and age. Be outraged about real life and death stuff going on right now, as we speak, and spend the time you waste talking about some minor celebrity actually doing something worthwhile.
Now let's all go see what other truly offensive things have taken place in the fifteen minutes I've been writing this.
No comments:
Post a Comment