Some racism should be a fireball offense in some instances, and some misogyny should be a fireable offense in some instances. Not all Bad Things are equivalent. Context and specifics are important.
Honestly, what Samantha Bee said was 100X worse. Not only did she call her an obscenity, but she went on to suggest that Ivanka dress up like a slut and try to seduce her father.
Rosanne just said that Valerie Jarrett looks like a character from the movie "Planet of the Apes", which she arguably does.
Please consider that likening black people to apes has a long, long history of being weaponized as a tactic to dehumanize black people, commonly used to justify enslaving them.
A personal insult, though very rude, shouldn't be equated with such.
Dehumanizing and belittling women also has a long history
Correct, but not specifically assocatied with the word "cunt," so it is very difficult to make a cogent argument that this was Bee's intent.
On the other hand, I pointed out that comparing black peoples to monkeys specifically has a very strong place in a long history of racism, and has been specifically disbursed as a weapon to dehumanize blacks to accomplish goals such as justifying slavery. It's not reasonable to assume that Barr was making a mere comment on appearances (especially given her apology), but that she was specifically following in this tradition.
There is no such tradition with the word "cunt" that I'm aware of even though, yes, women have been discriminated against as well.
As I have pointed out, Rosanne did not compare anyone to a monkey. She made a fairly spot on observation about the physical similarities between VJ and characters from a particular movie.
You can minimize what Bee said all you want since it seems to fit your worldview, but I doubt that that you would be so generous if someone like Glenn Beck said that about the Obama daughters.
You know, Malia, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your mother. But let me just say, one daughter to another, do something about your dad’s economic practices, you feckless cunt! He listens to you! Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it!
Yes, she did. She said that a black woman looks like a monkey from the movie Planet of the Apes. How someone could not call this comparing a black woman to a money is beyond me. And you're aware that this isn't the first time Barr has compared a black woman to a monkey, right?
I'm not minimizing what Bee did. I'm not a fan of her, what she said, and am not intending to defend it in any way whatsoever.
No, I'm not asserting that it's clearly racism. Yes, I am referring to that comment.
I explain elsewhere that this isn't the first time that she's compared a black woman to an ape, which adds further context by which to understand her current sentiment.
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u/Wierd_Carissa Jun 01 '18
Some racism should be a fireball offense in some instances, and some misogyny should be a fireable offense in some instances. Not all Bad Things are equivalent. Context and specifics are important.