Michelle Wolf and the White House Correspondent’s Association
….and the Concept of “Too Far”
Image via abcnews.com
Political humor. It’s become too much, hasn’t it? How horrifying that the body-shaming, fashion-shaming, misogynistic humor from Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf delivered on April 28th has become acceptable in our society. Frankly, we should all be ashamed of the state we’ve allowed ourselves to sink to.
The tone of humor coming out of Washington has been so low-key and respectful, it’s hard to imagine how this year’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner host, Ms. Wolf, believed anything she said was remotely acceptable. She was vile, cruel and demeaning.
At the dinner, Wolf truly went beyond the pale. But before we get to her heinous remarks, let us take some time to reflect on good, clean humor and revisit some of the great, yet tasteful jokes from the past few years so that we may note the differences.
Here we can enjoy some lighthearted, classic slapstick humor from the clever man who went on to become our President. See, as Trump and his sycophants—I’m sorry, supporters—went on to explain, this is just how he responds to everyone who mildly irritates him, and is not in any way disrespectful. That the reporter being mocked is genuinely physically afflicted in a similar manner being mocked is an accidental coincidence. A simple misunderstanding.
See, here is another example of those uber-sensitive liberals going overboard again. Donald Trump exhorting his gun-toting voting base to rid him of the problematic Hillary Clinton, suggesting she be shot is nothing more than a light-hearted joke. One that is especially hilarious given that Democrat leadership is not all that unaccustomed to being shot and crippled by angry conservatives, and given that the GOP voting base over the years has produced numerous killers targeting traditionally Democrat voters in their churches, rallies and clinics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztoFLw2E8I
Feminists are getting way, way too uptight. Especially when it comes to obvious tomfoolery regarding sexual assault. As the President has pointed out in the past, being wealthy means that women don’t mind when you grab them by the pussy. The #MeToo movement is so overblown and ridiculous, and all it’s really doing is costing women jobs because men in the position to hire and oversee employees are afraid they’re not going to be capable of not sexually assaulting their attractive female employees. Who among us isn’t afraid of being totally unable to control our own behavior? And for God’s sake, a lot of these women are obviously lying—they’re too ugly to be groped by someone of stature like Trump.
I mean, historically, it’s been cool to make fun of the appearance of a twelve-year old, provided she’s the daughter of someone you disagree with politically.
Far be it from me to dictate when something is funny. I literally wrote a whole article about the subjective nature of comedy. To each their own, and all that.
To a different audience, Republican comedy is hilarious. If right-wing ‘satire’ and humor result in people being shot at when a gunman assumes Alex Jones and his ilk are issuing earnest warnings regarding Hillary Clinton operating a child sex-trafficking ring from a pizza shop basement (a shop which, incidentally, did not have a basement) well that, my friends, is funny. Cutting edge.
To be fair, some people find Family Circus, Cathy, and Garfield cartoons hilarious, and I will never understand those people. But if it makes them happy, fine.
Family Circus is only funny to me when other people write its captions
One of the things we must admire from the right wing is their unflappable sense of propriety and decency. They are truly the guardians of American virtue, ensuring no untoward behavior is exhibited by unscrupulous characters such as our former President Obama and his family.
Remember when President Obama had the gall to wear a tan suit? Or when he ate a hotdog with spicy mustard dressing it? What about when he saluted a Marine as he exited Air Force One while still holding a cup of coffee? How about that time Michelle Obama wore a sleeveless dress? Those really put the current administration’s behavior into perspective.
Remember when wearing a dress without sleeves was a slight against God and the American people? Guys, I don’t think it was the dress.
Cheating on your third wife with a porn star while she’s nursing your fifth child and paying the erstwhile mistress to keep her mouth shut is nothing in comparison to putting your feet on the desk in the Oval Office. After all, conservative evangelical support increased after that scandal broke, so we must assume this is the sort of thing Jesus would support.
“It’s 2018 and I’m a woman, so you cannot shut me up… unless you have Michael Cohen wire me $130,000.”
So it naturally stands to reason that the jokes from the 2018 White House Correspondent’s Dinner are receiving the negative press they, and their author, deserve. The absolute audacity of Wolf calling the White House Press Secretary’s eye-makeup game perfect is an offense that cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated.
Especially given what Wolf said about members of the press fawning over the Trump administration.
The joke that some of the louder Twitter pundits (and would-be pundits) absolutely melted down over?
“I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.” Honestly, if I’m ever subject to a roast, I hope the cruelest thing someone has on offer is how good my makeup looks.
The joke that actually upset the people running the Dinner? “You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you use to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric. But he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him. And if you’re going to profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money, because he doesn’t have any.”
Because she’s right. There’s little genuine defense against being correctly called out, is there?
The White House Press Association caved and posted an apology, condemning the woman they hired to do the job she did and did well. Apparently, what they didn’t expect was that she might insult them as well. For decades, the roast-style comedy of the WHCD has been a given. Perhaps they’ve never watched their own annual event, because they have elected, this year, to condemn the nature of the very event they’ve lauded for over a century.
The result? Just check out those ratios.
When your comments outweigh your likes and retweets to this degree, it means you have seriously screwed up.
Know what that means? It means they have harmed themselves, and no one else. Rumors float around now that Michelle Wolf killed the Correspondent’s Dinner, which couldn’t be further from the truth. We hear a lot about how the left has no sense of humor, and can’t take a joke. We’re sensitive snowflakes that need a safe space, and don’t take criticism well. We’re weak, humorless whiners.
Well, who’s whining now?
Kera is a touch neurotic and thinks all of you are fascinating from a distance. She's spent a lot of time studying psychology and the sciences. Writing, however, has decided it's tired of being relegated to the dark recesses of the...
Deb Lechuga • May 7, 2018 at 7:26 am
Now this is satire I could relate to. (The parking issue, not so much). This is good, I think for me because it’s based on something real, very real. Thoughtful and entertaining. Thanks!