Just Because You Can Take Offense, Doesn't Mean You Should

David Letterman made a joke last the other night that went like this:



Funny? Maybe. His studio audience thought so. I personally don't find it hilarious. But I don't find it beyond-the-pale-offensive. Who does? Sarah Palin:

"Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands -- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others."

And Todd Palin:

"Any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it, and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too."

Ugh. Can I say "Ugh?" I could explain the joke, I could try and decipher the second half of Governor Palin's response, I could point out my favorite part of the Governor's statement ("an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter" - Uh, does Todd know that?), but I won't. I'll just repeat my headline and mention that this connects to yesterday's post about Israel and Obama.

Just Because You Can Take Offense to Something, Doesn't Mean You Should Take Offense to it.

Also I love the actual Fox News article that summarizes the events:

the late-night talk-show host invited the governor to appear on "The Late Show" after stopping short of apologizing for "jokes" he had made about her and her family the night before, including one that referred to her daughter being "knocked up" by New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

The news article calls them "jokes" in quotes, implying that they were in no way jokes and that only a liberal media elite "Hollywood/N.Y. entertainer" could spin them to be jokes. Fox News is so offended on Palin's behalf that it can't even refer to something uttered in David Letterman's monologue, the place in his show where he tells jokes, as a joke.

By the way, Letterman responded in the video here, in perfect Letterman style, doing it only the way he can. To sum:

"Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."

My main point: Shame on you David Letterman, for raping Willow Palin.