Saturday, March 08, 2008

A Correction and Apology

When HRC won Ohio and Texas last Tuesday, The Bus posted two stickers about HRC that were derived from Tina Fey's SNL sketch on Clinton. After reading this post from Corner of the Sky, it was decided the posting was inappropriate and it was deleted. Please accept the most sincere apologiies of this blog's author. In the enthusiasm over HRC's wins, some good taste went out the window. The occurance is sincerely regretted. MH writes:

Recently on Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey made a brilliant pass at trying to put a positive spin on a hateful term. In her endorsement of Hillary Clinton, she coined the phrases "bitches get stuff done" and "bitch is the new black." She was referring to the criticism that Hillary is a bitch.

Folks, if you don't think calling a presidential candidate a "bitch" is a nasty little piece of gender bias, you need to wake up and smell the doggy doo. We have become a culture where it is acceptable to call a strong, assertive, definitive woman who knows what she wants and how to get it done a term that is synonymous with a female dog. A dog! For those that want to argue that in some contexts, "bitch" is not an insult, please answer some of the following questions. When have you ever told your female pastor that you really admire what a bitch she is? What about the last time you thanked your mother for raising you so well by being such an admirable bitch? No? Why not? In a world where we accept that racial slurs are not socially acceptable, we still relegate women to a role in which gender slurs are regularly condoned.

Let's call it like it is. Hillary Clinton is intelligent, articulate, assertive, confident, and capable. As much as I like dogs, this woman is no bitch.


As originially published: When HRC won Ohio and Texas last Tuesday, we posted two stickers about HRC that were derived from Tina Fey's SNL sketch on Clinton. After reading this post from Corner of the Sky, we decided the posting was inappropriate and have deleted it. We apologize, sincerely. In our enthusiasm of HRC's wins, we lost some of our upbringing. We regret the occurance.

14 comments:

Sky Girl said...

Thanks for the shout out. I hope the many more people who read your blog than do mine will read this and at least think about it.

Sky Girl said...

Oh, and I loved the Tina Fey skit. I think she tried to make lemonade.

Jason said...

I disagree with SG's opinions about the candidate herself but she's 100% right about the term. Using that word is like dropping an N bomb when referring to Obama.

The Lorax said...

I thought you were voting for her?

Anonymous said...

A good decision, Jim, but sorry you're still devoted to the old paradigm represented by Hillary. It is SO time to turn the page.

But more important ... who is this "we" that you refer to thoughout this post ... this is a one person blog, correct? Be careful with that phony "we" .... it's one of the quaint anachronisms associated with newspaper editorials ... bloggers are supposed to be cooler than that.

The Lorax said...

Anony-who?

I tire of anonymous people. At least get a kewl mask.

The Lorax said...

And the vote comment was directed at Jason... my fault.

Busplunge said...

Anon 10:29-- the 'we' refers to me,myself and I. I have always found it awkward to use references in the first person, singular.
I had a friend like that, after a long self-centered conversation, he actually said, "Let's quit talking about me, let's talk about you. What do you think of my new shirt?" Old lessons die hard, like capitalizing all the words in the headline. We still, excuse me, I mean I still do that on my blog posts.
I appreciate your suggestions and will take them under consideration.

Anonymous said...

>>Anony-who?

I tire of anonymous people. At least get a kewl mask.<<

Okay, Dave ... you go first!

(Just kidding!)

Anonymous said...

A friend directed me over here in regard to this post. I'll tell you what I told her:

That had to have been written by an "old" person. As Tina Fey said, "Yeah, she is a bitch. And I'm a bitch. And (Amy Pohler's) a bitch. Bitches get stuff done."

Guess what? I'm a bitch. And I'm damn proud of it. I'd be the first to thank my mom for me being a bitch, who just happens to be ... a bitch.

This is EXACTLY why Obama has the youth vote all sewn up. No freaking sense of humor from Clinton supporters and no cutting edge. Not to mention, Hillary LOVED the piece.

Bitch is indeed the new black. :)

Busplunge said...

Anon 12:21 AM: You are right, I am an "old person". I also don't think Johnny Knoxville and "Jackass" is funny either.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Knoxville or Jackass funny either. But that's not the point. The point is whether or not a 'party' wants to win and how to accomplish that.

One of my favorite political mantras, especially for Dems:

Do you wanna be right or do you want to win?

Sure, on its face, Bitch is the new black is offensive. But if it works, if it gets attention, gets VOTES, then to hell with whether it's appropriate. Democrats are often their own worst enemy. That's why they often ... lose.

Do you wanna be right or do you want to win???

Sky Girl said...

I wrote the original post, and I'm more offended that you called me old than if you had called me a bitch. Just kidding.

Anyway, refering to yourself as a bitch is your business. There are some women who I respect who would refer to themselves as a bitch.

But trust me, oh naive young anonymous one, this issue with Hillary has greater implications than that. There are many people calling her a bitch that don't mean it in a complimentary way at all. And they would never, NEVER come out and make a racial slur at Obama or publicly call John McCain an A-hole. But it is socially acceptable to call Hillary Clinton a bitch.

And that, my naive young anonymous friend, is the definition of gender bias. You better grow up and realize it before you wake up 40 years old and getting paid less to do the same job as some white guy.

Thanks,
The not-so-old Sky Girl

Anonymous said...

Bad news. I'm neither naive or young. Darn.

I totally get there are people calling her a bitch who do not mean it in a complimentary way. That's exactly what's so great about it. Hillary/Tina (I'm) taking the power away from the word.

An analogy. A man called me a 'c-word.' I was devastated. I thought it the worst thing in the world. I decided to use the word often - with my friends. The word immediately lost it's power.

That's all. This old girl needs to take a nap. ;)