The extremely youthful would-be comedian and unfunny hack, Steven Crowder, who has no discernible sense of humor and ethics that primarily are directed at the behavior of people other than himself, is on his high horse at Big Hollywood about freedom of speech — oh, and calling for Republicans to “grow a sense of humor” about entertainers who fantasize on TV about the daughters of people they hate being raped.
OK, Steven, if you are so brave, and humor and freedom of speech mean so much to you, then do a video of yourself performing Letterman’s EXACT SAME JOKES about Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters from June 8, 9 and 10, including the entire flight attendant rant quoted here by Michelle Malkin, only substitute the names of Michelle Obama and Malia and Sasha. Then post your video on YouTube, see if PJTV will carry it, and announce it to the world via Big Hollywood and Twitter.
But, I have some advice for you before you do: (1) make your will; (2) pre-arrange your funeral and pay for it; (3) give someone durable general power-of-attorney over your affairs and tell them where all your financial records and important papers are; and (4), give someone durable medical power-of-attorney and tell them your wishes about feeding tubes and being kept alive if you are in a persistent vegetative state due to, say, a brain injury — just in case, oh, I don’t know, your routine pisses off people who decide to “stone you old-school.”
I’m waiting, funny boy.
Update: Little Miss Attila: “One, and It’s Not Funny!,” also about Crowder’s piece telling Republicans to “grow a sense of humor,” and “Pride and Truth,” her comment on her struggle with her memories of being raped at age 14 — the same age as Willow Palin, who was targeted in Letterman’s joke about attending a Yankees game with her mother, Gov. Sarah Palin.
Remember that the old Soviets liked to commit to an insane asylum those who said unapproved things. Mr. Crowder might risk institutionalization were he to take the One’s name in vain and blaspheme Obama’s women in so Lettermanesque a fashion.
“Crowder, who has no discernible sense of humor and ethics that primarily are directed at the behavior of people other than himself, is on his high horse at Big Hollywood about freedom of speech — oh, and calling for Republicans to “grow a sense of humor” about entertainers who fantasize on TV about their daughters being raped.”
That’s funny, so where is Mr. Crowder and the left’s humor on this: http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2009/06/16/spook-presiden/
.-= Tommy Barrios´s last blog ..What Price Change? =-.
Tommy,
I haven’t checked the link you left, but as I noted for Duke, Crowder considers himself a conservative.
Cynthia
Now that my regular day of satisfying paying clients is complete, time to head home and satisfy myself: dinner and time with family, and a few more personalized FedEx letters out to the C-suites to GET LETTERMAN FIRED. Let’s keep that fire burning. Letterman’s scalp on the conservative wall will emasculate the next generation of hateful spineless troglodytes like Crowder before they get a chance to drive Palin from the public square.
Duke,
It’s worth noting that Crowder identifies himself as conservative and has a regular column on the conservative blogs Big Hollywood and PJTV. This means he is subjecting Gov. Palin on purpose for his own selfish gain to friendly fire — which I think is more deadly than being attacked by liberals. People work harder and more courageously for their team when they know their team has their back.
Cynthia
Letterman’s ratings have gone up because of this, which means advertisers will be more inclined to buy commercials for his show. Do you realize this? These ridiculous hissy-fits literally couldn’t be more counter productive.
And that’s leaving aside the fact that you have to deliberately shut your brain off and forget basic facts of American politics to believe Sarah Palin’s interpretation, which was about the cheesiest and most transparent attempt to shamelessly grab a few headlines that I’ve ever seen.
Levi,
Conan O’Brien just took over the competing show and I hear tell he’s an acquired taste and his audience needs to find him. Ratings will not save Letterman when no one wants to sponsor his show or stink up their career by coming on it. THAT is how this game is played.
I have made up my own mind about Letterman’s remarks. Also, I find your remarks extremely sexist. I do believe it is time to revive people’s awareness of why sexism is bad.
Cynthia
I have a hunch that Crowder is confusing “subversiveness” with “offensiveness.” As I see it, subversive humor is the type that crosses lines that are completely arbitrary, while genuinely offensive “humor” (if one can actually call it that) cross actual lines that are necessary to preserve human dignity.
Incidentally, I think his post is really motivated by the Republican fatalism you talked about a few days ago; in other words, he takes for granted that Letterman and his ilk will win in the long run, and Crowder, like most Republicans, would rather give up an allegedly futile battle than risk further humiliation.
Cynthia,
I’m not sure you understand how the television industry works. Ratings is everything. If you have ratings, you will have sponsors, and you will have people that will want to be involved in your show. David Letterman’s ratings are going up – that means that he has more to offer advertisers and celebrities, as if an institution like David Letterman needed more to offer those people.
I’m just trying to save you some time here. I know you’re getting some play from the bigger conservative blogs and that must be exciting, but there’s a reason they’re not really pursuing this with any real effort. It’s futile. Dave has been on the air for something like thirty years. You don’t go that long on network television if you’re the kind of comedian that makes rape jokes about kids.
Also, what did I say earlier that was ‘extremely sexist?’ I’m not really worried, I know I’m a solid feminist, I’m just curious about what got under your skin.
Levi,
Yes, I do understand how the television industry works. Sponsors do not want to buy time on shows that will get them boycotted. Celebrities do not want to appear on shows that will make people hate them and get them boycotted. Those are the spigots we are turning off.
The project of moving a huge boulder is futile without the proper tools and knowledge. As Archimedes used to say, give me a lever, a fulcrum, and a place to stand and I can move the world. I am providing people with these tools. Letterman can be fired with the applcation of persistent, consistent effort. Just use my “Get Letterman Fired” Kit for 30 days.
Regarding the sexism: (1) the arrogant and condescending tone in the “shut your brain off” statement, which also was crazy in relation to the facts; (2), the clear belief that Sarah Palin has an evil agenda in defending herself and her daughters; (3), effectively calling me Gov. Palin’s stooge for defending her and her daughters as woman against attacks that are commonly used to intimitate and control women; (4), and really, claiming Gov. Palin was trying to grab headlines by defending herself is both sexist and just plain crazy — you are completely invalidating her humanity with that statement and invalidating her as a person and as a woman. These were all sexist things to do. The positive, non-sexist behaviors are to be courteous and treat women as equals, who certainly have a right to defend themselves from character assassination and the invalidation intended by ridicule.
I do appreciate that you asked. That’s a good sign.
Cynthia
You make a fine point here. I actually conducted an experiment on a less totalitarian left-wing website. Forgive me, but for it to work I will have to repeat a bit of offensiveness. I essentially posted the following:
“There is an offensive, tasteless and racially tinged “joke” making the rounds right now. It goes like this: ‘Question: which Obama family member will be the first crack w…..?.” ‘Answer: It’s a trick question. It was Daddy.’ Now how many of you Lettermen defenders wouldn’t demand that some right-wing radio bloviator be pulled from the air if that joke, which is less offensive than one about rape, were repeated by the host?”
You almost can guess what happened. Not only did the question go unanswered, but after all the vitriol was directed toward me my account was suspended. Free speech advocates, indeed. More like fascists and, as you correctly called them, bullies. This is a fight worth having.
Sharp site here. I’ll be back. In the meantime, keep up the good fight.
“There is an offensive, tasteless and racially tinged “joke” making the rounds right now. It goes like this: ‘Question: which Obama family member will be the first crack w…..?.” ‘Answer: It’s a trick question. It was Daddy.’ Now how many of you Lettermen defenders wouldn’t demand that some right-wing radio bloviator be pulled from the air if that joke, which is less offensive than one about rape, were repeated by the host?”
A couple of things. First – your joke never would have made it past network television censors because it is nothing but an excuse to be racist. Second – David Letterman’s joke wasn’t about rape, it was about two infamously promiscuous people. Third, liberals generally don’t invent hysterical little episodes for the media like this. Liberals generally have to respond to actual sexist or racist jokes and comments, and we don’t have a persecution complex that requires feeding.
Fourth, if getting banned by a partisan website is any indication that that faction is composed of fascists and bullies, then your side is far worse based on my own experience. I didn’t have to post anything near as incendiary as your dumb little ‘test’ joke to be banned from dozens of conservative blogs.
Yes, I do understand how the television industry works. Sponsors do not want to buy time on shows that will get them boycotted. Celebrities do not want to appear on shows that will make people hate them and get them boycotted. Those are the spigots we are turning off.
Look, you’re talking about mobilizing a couple of million boycotters per sponsor before you’d make any sort of impact on Letterman’s ad-buys. This story is already past its expiration date and thus far it’s only been a positive force for Letterman and those who do business with his show. And this isn’t some abstract, faceless company you’re targeting with threats of boycotts, it’s a high-profile celebrity that has one of the biggest jobs in entertainment whose career has spanned generations. Sorry, you’re just not going to make a dent.
The project of moving a huge boulder is futile without the proper tools and knowledge. As Archimedes used to say, give me a lever, a fulcrum, and a place to stand and I can move the world. I am providing people with these tools. Letterman can be fired with the applcation of persistent, consistent effort. Just use my “Get Letterman Fired” Kit for 30 days.
Well… good luck I guess!
Regarding the sexism: (1) the arrogant and condescending tone in the “shut your brain off” statement, which also was crazy in relation to the facts; (2), the clear belief that Sarah Palin has an evil agenda in defending herself and her daughters; (3), effectively calling me Gov. Palin’s stooge for defending her and her daughters as woman against attacks that are commonly used to intimitate and control women; (4), and really, claiming Gov. Palin was trying to grab headlines by defending herself is both sexist and just plain crazy — you are completely invalidating her humanity with that statement and invalidating her as a person and as a woman. These were all sexist things to do. The positive, non-sexist behaviors are to be courteous and treat women as equals, who certainly have a right to defend themselves from character assassination and the invalidation intended by ridicule.
1. My ‘shut your brain off’ comment isn’t directed at women, but conservatives, who routinely play stupid to flog silly little stories like this. No politically informed, objective person could reasonably conclude that David Letterman was talking about anyone other than Bristol Palin in that joke. If you didn’t know who Bristol Palin was or that she’s had a baby, you’d have an excuse. Otherwise, you’re being obtuse to serve some political purpose. Be honest – do you seriously think that Letterman was talking about a 14 year old? People have been making jokes about Bristol Palin and her fertility for nearly a year now, you think he just wanted to switch things up to take it do a dark place all of a sudden? Come on, this is a fairly basic logic problem. If 99 out of 99 jokes about a Palin daughter are referring to Bristol, doesn’t it follow that the 100th joke about a Palin daughter would also be in reference to Bristol?
2,3. Sarah Palin clearly does have an agenda, and she’s also quite clearly not interested in defending her daughters as much as she is interested in exploiting them for her own personal political gain. I also don’t think this, um… ‘issue,’ would be important to you if it weren’t for Sarah Palin telling conservatives that it should be important to them. The Republican Party has a very top-down hierarchy – stooge was your word, not mine.
4. Grabbing headlines – it’s what famous people do. It’s especially what politicians do. Sarah Palin saw a confluence of factors that would make her ridiculous conspiracy theory at least partially plausible to a conservative base starving for red meat and did what Sarah Palin does best by making a big deal about it. This is classic Palin – she’s using her 14 year old as a political prop the same way she used her 18 year old and the rest of her family as political props. If anything, her little tantrum is damaging to women, that fable about the boy who cries wolf comes to mind.
Nobody buys it anyway. Dave will stay on no matter what you do.
I do appreciate that you asked. That’s a good sign.
And thanks for answering.
This is why liberals are such hypocritical maggots these days:
“Liberals generally have to respond to actual sexist or racist jokes and comments, and we don’t have a persecution complex that requires feeding. ”
So the only real slights are those liberals suffer, Levi? When a man tells a joke about child rape it is a misunderstanding, and a governor’s defense of her daughters is for political gain, but any claim by your side of racism and sexism is received wisdom? You people will be swept to sea in a few election cycles, and unlike us I see no return for you this time. This dustup has exposed your hypocrisy and soft underbellies.
Lettermanzzzz, Lettermanzzzz, you uneducated jerk. Liberals always are right. Conservatives always are wrong. When liberals make homophobic, sexist and racist remarks, they have been misunderstood. When conservatives are misunderstood, they have made homophobic, sexist, and racist remarks. When Bush ran up big deficits, it was bad. When Obama ran up gigantic deficits, it was good. When Bush ran Gitmo it was bad. When Obama ran Gitmo it was good. When Letterman joked about child rape it was good. When Limbaugh suggested he hoped the president’s socialism failed it was bad.
You need to contact your local Ministry of Truth representative. I think Levi can provide you with the address.
URGENT AND PERSONAL TO CYNTHIA
Cynthia, Please delete my posts #40 and 41 from the “about me” portion of your blog. It appears they were published without being read. You’ll understand when you see them.
Duke,
OK, they have been deleted. I e-mailed you directly — didn’t you receive my e-mail? Please let me know. I’m sorry for the distress.
Regarding your comment that my blog is loading slowly, please keep me posted. I removed three of my Amazon widgets to see if that will speed things up. Right now, the thing that seems to slow the site down is the newsfeed because I have so many sites in it. But I really like being able to get a bird’s eye view of them, so I don’t want to trim it. Please let me know if it is loading faster for you now.
Cynthia
Thanks. And no, I didn’t get an email from you though I’m not sure why.