On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 3:52 PM, PGage<[email protected]> wrote: > > Since my jones for a good argument is unsatisfied, I will go trolling for > one with Kevin - always a good argument slut (sorry if I offended you with > that Kevin). The distinction between public and private figure gets close to > what I think is the difference between Baldwin's joke about Filipino mail > order brides and Dave's joke about Palin (mother and daughter). One way of > saying this is that within very broad limits, comic's do not, and shoult > not, take into consideration the "feelings" of public figures, or worry > about "offending" them (Public Figure is a fuzzy category, but at least I > mean celebrities and especially political figures). Lots of jokes were told > about Mike Tyson over the years, including about much of his very bad > behavior, and we don't care if it hurts his feelings - but I assume most > comics did not tell jokes about the tragic recent death of his young > daughter. If Bill Clinton were to make a speech in which he said that he > suffers from a very difficult and painful sexual addiction, and he found it > offensive, insensitive and inappropriate that David Letterman has made so > many jokes about it over the years, he would be (and should be) roundly > ridiculed. But if Dave just started telling jokes on national TV about his > next door neighbor who keeps banging every young woman who comes through the > door to the great pain and humiliation of his wife and children, then it > would be Dave who would be (and should be) widely condemmed. Baldwin's joke > was different from this, in that it was not about any particular person (or, > if it was, it was about himself) - but in telling the joke he invoked a > phrase that, completely unintentionaly, offended a group of people, so he > apologized, I thought appropriately. Now, had Baldwin (for some reason) been > telling a joke specifically aimed at making fun of mail-order brides, or > people who use mail order brides, or people who become mail order brides, > then I don't think he should have apologized, no matter how many people he > offended. As it was it was the equivalent of farting in public, and he did > what many of us do, which is apologize (well, I just blame my younger > brother, but same thing).
People magazine and Us magazine work with celebrities and their publicists. Anybody who appears in those magazines willingly gives up his or her privacy. Bristol Palin can't both be on the cover of a celebrity magazine and claim her privacy. On his Wednesday night Late Show, Dave invited Gov Palin to be a guest. Why shouldn't she? Late Show appearances have helped candidates through the years, and post-election appearances by Bob Dole, Al Gore, and John McCain all went well and made those politicians look good. Instead the Palins have chosen to show paranoia and that isn't what the electorate looks for in candidates. Tom W --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
