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.

Well, If Obama is Insulting Israel, You Have to Respect His Subtlety

According to the CBS News World Wide Blog:

Israeli TV newscasters Tuesday night interpreted a photo taken Monday in the Oval Office of President Obama talking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an "insult" to Israel.

What is this scandalous photo in which the president is so obviously slighting Israel? Well, it's this one:


How dare he sit like that while... showing his wrist watch? Wearing a tie? Pretending to give a purple nurple with his right hand? Okay... I have no idea.

Apparently what is driving the Israeli newscasters interpretation is:

They saw the incident as somewhat akin to an incident last year, when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush in Baghdad. It is considered an insult in the Arab world to show the sole of your shoe to someone. It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.

That another person throwing a shoe at the US president is exactly the same as a US president getting photographed from an angle that displays the bottom of his shoe to the camera lens - while at the same time talking to the Israeli Prime Minister - is obvious. Those are completely equivalent. There is no way to argue those facts. It would be like arguing about gravity, the existence of snakes, or that fedora is a funny word. That's all reality. And it's nonsense to take a contrary position.

What confuses me though is the next part: "It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too." And I am confused in two ways -

1. It's not that it's not a Jewish custom necessarily, it's not a Jewish custom definitively. In any possible way.
2. "Israel feels enough... to be insulted." Is that the barometer for when to be insulted? "Well, it's within the realm of possibility to offer an interpretation of your words that I would find insulting, so... HOW DARE YOU!?" Why would that be the litmus test? I know some Jews don't use razors, but I didn't know that extended to Occam's Razor.

The only thing that comes to mind in regard to shoes and Jewish tradition is the commandment of chalitzah, which is a ceremony in which a widow unties the shoe of her brother-in-law (and spits in front of him) in order to absolve him of his requirement to perform levirate marriages.

Well, if Obama is saying he doesn't want to marry Israel... Sir, I am insulted!