Posts Tagged ‘hypocrisy’
Brüno: Laugh At Homosexuals, Blame It On Homophobes
I’ve always found Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” schtick simplistically hilarious: Flamboyantly gay Austrian journalist travels to America’s homophobic heartland to wring laughs out of just how much those people fear and hate gay people.
But just as the hypocrisy construction allows liberally-minded people to freely ridicule Sarah Palin’s kids for having sex (because it’s hypocritical), razz Miss California for bearing her beasts (because it’s hypocritical), and make fun of Larry Craig for acting gay (because it’s hypocritical), the Sascha Baron Cohen construction allows liberally-minded people to freely laugh at gay shit—because we’re really laughing at the Southern rednecks who are laughing at the gay shit, right?
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Are Political Scandals Only Scandalous When Kinky?
In today’s Washington Post, Monica Hesse dismissed the news of Nevada Senator John Ensign’s affair with a staffer as . . . not scandalous enough. A crisis management rep provided the money quote, characterizing Ensign as “really vanilla.”
But despite the decidedly consensual, un-kinky, over-18, non-prostitutional nature of Ensign’s affair, the scandal satisfies the one usual requirement for criticism: it’s hypocritical. Ensign is a member of the Promise Keepers, a Christian organization devoted to cultivating “men of integrity”—or dudes who wouldn’t cheat. He cheated. Perfect!
So, when is hypocrisy not enough?
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Sarah Palin And the “Hypocrisy” Trap
It is a simple formula for both comedy and political commentary:
Take a public figure (Sarah Palin) who holds disagreeable views (abstinence-only education). Zero in on an aspect of her personal life counter to those views (her own teen daughter, Bristol Palin, becoming pregnant). Reveal the comedic irony and/or hypocrisy of the public/private contrast. Repeat ad nauseam on blogs, 24-hour news channels, and late night talk shows.
We should all beware this construction. Though very easy to pull off—and often journalistically and comedically sound—it is a trap. And it will render us all hypocrites. Three lessons from history, after the jump.
