Have a Nice Day, or how October was the weirdest Month

This October was a month very rich in American political culture. 

First there was Christine O’Donnell’s “I am not a witch” ad,  causing everyone who was sentient in November, 1973, to remember Richard Nixon’s speech “I am not a crook” speech, in defending himself against the Watergate scandal. The quote in Hamlet adage comes to mind: [he/she] doth protest too much. 

In Christine O’Donnell’s ad, aside from denying that she is a witch, she says she is not perfect. (just like us).  There is one line in her ad that drives me crazy, because of its grammatical flaw:

“I’m nothing you’ve heard.”  

Did she mean “I’m not what you’ve heard I am.”  or “I’m nothing like what you’ve heard”.  But to say “I’m nothing you’ve heard”  – what does that mean?  I’m convinced that the grammatical error is intentional, and meant to drive well-educated progressive urbanites crazy.    

The “I’m you” line that appears at the beginning and at the end of this 30 second ad is especially creepy.  I understand what her ad man Fred Davis, expert creator of conservative TV ads meant – she is trying to get the votes of  people who do not like what their representatives are doing in Washington.  But did she mean it in some other metaphysical or religious sense that she is like me, or other viewers?  Maybe, yes.  In a sense, we are all the same and all sentient beings, so I would agree with her.  Nonetheless, I still do not want want her to “go to Washington and do what [I would] do”, because no matter how metaphysically alike we are, I strongly suspect she would not vote as I would vote if we were both U.S. senators. 

The other really creepy thing about the “I’m not a witch” ad is her polished delivery.  She is a very fine actress, all the nuances are there, and she is great in front of a camera – very present.  She is a much better actress then Sarah Palin. Her delivery is so superb that it is scary.

Her “I am a not a witch” ad engendered many wonderful parodies on YouTube.  My favorite by a brilliant (but totally unknown) political comedian, whose real name I do not know.  His YouTube moniker is ConalCochran (no word space).  He says, among other things, 
“I’m you.  America’s a 300 pound diabetic man.”   I think he records his videos in the basement of his parents’ house.  Here’s the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ABXZcfZCQ&feature=related

Another really creepy ad that came out this month was Carly Fiorina’s “Hot Air” ad against California incumbent senator Barbara Boxer  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJKlc77K5dg  The Barbara Boxer ad is extremely slick, involves a very scary Barbara Boxer dirigible, and presents as a disaster film.  It has some subtle content – Boxer is always shown in profile.  Does she really have a large (Jewish) nose? Not in the photos I saw when searching Google photos.   There is a subtext here, definitely.  It reminds me of some of the crowd scenes in Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ  with crowds of large-nosed, ugly Jews urge Jesus’ punishment.  Are we becoming a fascist state like Nazi Germany?  There has been some commentary about this among commentators.  Here is a link to one.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment

Another video ad I ran across this month is a new political ad, titled “Chinese Professor”, paid for by “Citizens Against Government Waste”, a right-wing group funded anonymously as a result of John’s Robert’s Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision.  It is racist, xenophic and fear-mongering. It’s a apocalyptical fantasy that takes place in Beijing in 2030.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTSQozWP-rM&feature=player_embedded

The music is scary and creepy.  It is a very slick ad.   Because it’s all in Chinese (with English subtitles), it has lent itself to some wonderful parodies, consisting of the same ad, but an alternative voice-over.  Here’s one:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3am6hnuFXnw

Then, after I was recuperating from these ads, Ginni Thomas telephoned Anita Hill,who is now a mild-mannered professor at Brandeis University.  This is what Ginni Thomas said:

“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas.  “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.”

What especially got me is the “have a good day” at the end.  It’s like John Wilkes Booth saying “Have a nice day” to Mary Todd Lincoln, after he shot the president, and before leaping off the balcony.  It is so shockingly absurd to wish someone a good day, when you have just accused them of what?  What did she mean that Anita Hill should give her a “full” explanation of “why you did what you did with my husband”.  It would have made more sense if she had said “why you did what you did to my husband”.  I wonder if Ginni Thomas’ comments were written, or spontaneous, and what strong feeling smoldering inside her caused her to make the phone call. 

Some people (not me) theorized that the phone call was a product of  “drunk dialing”.  This is the first time I saw this term. But there is a Wikipedia entry on it:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_dialing, and a website devoted to it. www.drunkdial.org

Drunk dialing is a pop-culture term denoting a phone call made by a person when drunk, especially a phone call that person  would not have made if sober.  (We have all been there, so it was good to find a cultural term for it.)   There is also a related new term, drunk texting.

Ginni Thomas’s phone call (now a famous part of the American political history canon) dredged up the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991, and reminded everyone of the pubic-hair-on-the-coke-can  testimony which we had all hoped was behind us.  At the time, the coke can testimony flew around the world in pre-internet times with the speed of the internet.  American and Americans got a black eye pretty quickly.    

In case you have forgotten (or was not born then, or too young to remember), here is Anita Hill’s testimony on the coke can issue:

“He [our present Supreme Court justice]  spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes….On several occasions, Thomas told me [Anita Hill] graphically of his own sexual prowess….Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office, he got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, “Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?”

A few days later, Ginni Thomas, when asked by the media why she had put that message on Anita Hill’s voicemail, said her offer to “get past what happened so long ago” still stands and that “Certainly no offense was ever intended.”

This month, also, our very fine, dignified, thoughtful President contributed a video for the “It Gets Better” project, started by Dan Savage.  The project asks for people to post videos on YouTube to help combat LGBT suicides and encourage gay and lesbian youth to be strong against school bullying and harassment.  Recently, there have been several much-publicized hate crimes against gays, and some very devastating teenage gay suicides. 

The President’s video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geyAFbSDPVk   shows how emotionally intelligent he is, and how much he is a supporter of gay and lesbian people.

Here is an excerpt of some of what President Obama said, and my comments: 

“Like all of you, I was shocked and saddened by the deaths of several young people who were bullied and taunted for being gay, and who ultimately took their own lives.  As a parent of two daughters, it breaks my heart.  It’s something that just shouldn’t happen in this country.”

Note how the president has a heart to break.  I believe him when he says the deaths are personally hurting him.  He is truly empathetic.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on for being gay.  But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong.  It’s tough.  And for a lot of kids, the sense of being alone or apart – I know can just wear on you.  And when you’re teased or bullied, it can seem like somehow you brought it on yourself – for being different, or for not fitting in with everybody else.”

He did grow up very different – he had a very unusual background, with many strikes against him.  He must have felt this keenly.  This is how empathy is created – by one’s own difficult experiences.

“But what I want to say is this.  You are not alone.  You didn’t do anything wrong.  You didn’t do anything to deserve being bullied.”

He is clearly and emphatically saying here that it is not bad or wrong to be gay or lesbian.

 “The other thing you need to know is, things will get better.  And more than that, with time you’re going to see that your differences are a source of pride and a source of strength.”

I think what the President is saying here is that adversity makes a person stronger.

“It means you’ll be more likely to understand personally and deeply why it’s so important that as adults we set an example in our own lives and that we treat everybody with respect. That we are able to see the world through other people’s eyes and stand in their shoes – that we never lose sight of what binds us together.” 

He is subtly saying that everyone should treat gay and lesbian people – with respect.  

“As a nation we’re founded on the belief that all of us are equal and each of us deserves the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness

He says gay people have the right to pursue our happiness, including being married.

Thank you, President Obama for your support for young gay and lesbian people and for your courage in supporting the rights of GLBT people.

© 2010.  Laurie Israel.  All rights reserved.