I’m quite aware. I studied Birth of a Nation in college. Only thing is, it’s damn near a century old. Even growing up in the bible belt around tons of racists, I didn’t hear or feel a lot of they’re stealin’ our white wimmin sentiment; it’s old, and I only ever hear it these days from the people claiming to decry racism.
Bottom line is, Harold Ford, Mel Brooks, and DW Griffith aside, do you think the ad in discussion is racist? Is it a stretch to say that someone who saw racism in it was looking for racism? I don’t think so at all, to both questions.
I liken it to Bush using christian “code words” and phrases in a lot of his speeches. He rarely comes right out and quotes the bible, but he constantly slips in phrases that would be familiar to christians. I was raised in a very christian household, and my wife was not. One time we both listened to a Bush speech, and I came out of it disgusted at all the christian pandering, but when I commented on it to my wife, she had not noticed any christianity in it at all. For example, I remember Bush referred to the “power, wonder working power” of some program. Any christian will immediately recognize that phrase as coming from a popular hymn, while a non-christian will not get it at all. So the christians, without even realizing it, take away from the speech that Bush is a really devout and open christian, while the non-christians don’t see anything religious at all.
Same thing here.
And if you don’t think the Republicans would stoop to putting in coded references playing to racist fears, google “Southern Strategy.”
I’m well aware of the way racism is used as a tool - like I said, I grew up in the bible belt. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Are there ditzy black ultra-celebrities Obama should’ve been compared to instead*? And would that not have garnered cries of racism as well? What, you can’t compare him to a * white * person? Why, because he’s black*?*
*not that he necessarily should’ve been compared to ditzy ultra-celebrities in the first place, but that’s a different discussion
On the Britney and Paris thing: am I the only one who sees sexism being exploited moreso than racism? I see the ad as an attempt to cast Obama as weak, stupid, and young…what better way to do that than by grouping him in with a couple of silly, blonde women. Sure, the style-over-substance angle is there, but I think the stronger take-home message is that Obama is not a “real man”.
Oh, criminy, but that was funny! Oh, my sides are achin’ and I’m rollin’ on the floor.
And you know, you just know the media are going to take this and run with it, play it over and over and over, not just on the news and pundit shows but on the entertainment gossip shows as well. People are going to howl at her sendup of the “wrinkly white-haired guy” in a way that will be just devastating for McCain.
I’m sure the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Washington Monument were just thrown in by accident… yeah right. Hot white women plus phallic symbols plus black man. Gee, what COULD they be trying to get across subliminally?
She’s a pampered, worthless ruling class diva, and if a thought came into her mind, it would rattle about like a BB in a boxcar. But when the moment arose wherein her vapidity and shallowness could be a force for good , however briefly, she stepped up. And she actually has a sense of humor, or can act, or was subjected to rigorous, Skinner-esque behavior mod so that she could present a near-perfect simulation.
*C’est la vie *say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.
Everyone who knows her says she’s the funniest person they know, and that the whole dumb blonde thing is a front she puts on to amuse herself. Donald Trump called her a brilliant businesswoman. I dunno how true any of that is, but it’s an idea to toss around next time you see her acting like an idiot.
There’s good popular and bad popular. Obama is bad popular, the liberal kind of popular where celebrities and foreigners like you. McCain is good popular, the conservative kind of popular where ordinary Americans and God likes you. Like what Reagan had - you never saw him hanging out with that Hollywood crowd … wait a second …
Not to be one of those people who cites the Daily Show, but Jon Stewart pointed out that it’s not the Tower of Pisa, and that “it’s in the ad because that’s where Barack Obama was speaking in front of.”