(Credit: CC Mike Baird/Flickr)
Chris Matyszczyk commented in a recent CNET News Blog Post:
“Jokes are funny things. Sometimes the same joke works with one person and falls flat with another. Sometimes, though, the joke just isn't funny at all.”
There are jokes and then there are jokes. Just ask David Letterman after his untoward comments about Sarah Palin’s daughter(s). But, here’s a joke lobbed at the First Lady that didn’t receive the same kind of national attention.
Rusty De Pass , a prominent Republican Party activist, happened to see a Facebook post by an aide to state Attorney General Henry McMaster. The post described an escape by a gorilla on Friday from the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. DePass, once a state Senate candidate, responded to the post with these words: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."
After the post was discovered and word spread, De Pass reluctantly offered an apology. "I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest."
Columbia Mayor Bob Coble appears to have seen no clear jest at all:
"You know, I think the comment is inappropriate. It's a racist comment."
DePass also reportedly suggested that it was the first lady who initially made the comment about everyone being descended from apes. However, media organizations have tried to find these comments, without--at the time of writing--any success.
As crude and tasteless as De Pass's comments are, they pale by comparision to some others. Take an example of fear-mongering and hate-baiting during the 2008 presidential campaign.
A post from Michelle Obama Watch sums up my feelings:
No, your eyes are not deceiving you, that is Michelle Obama’s photoshopped face in the photo. A DailyKos diarist named ONECITIZEN created this. I get the point they were trying to make, Michelle Obama is being criticized by the GOP for numerous things, but really what was going to your mind when you imagined Michelle Obama being tortured by the Klan and being branded with a hot branding iron that reads “Uppity Liberal?”? SECURITY CALLING SECURITY! To be clear, REPUBLICANS did not create this, a liberal “progressive” blogger created this foolishness. A DailyKos diarist named ONECITIZEN created this. (Note the “sponsored by the David Duke Fan Club” wording on the photo.)
How did you fix your mind to convince yourself that putting this image up was a smart or persuasive thing to do?
I had decided not to post the Michelle Obama torture photo, thinking it did no good and only spread hate and deviseness. But, when I saw the news of De Pass's comments, I reconsidered my decision. I believe that there are people out there that share the thoughts depicted in the aforementioned photo and in the substance of De Pass' "joke". These hidden racist thoughts make their way into actions as seen last week in the slaying of a security guard in the assualt on the Holocast Museum in Washington, D. C. by a life long White Supremist activist. My final thought is that maybe these type of things need airing to keep people awake.
Sources: Michelle Obama Watch
Technically Incorrect, CNET NEWS
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