Are somethings Inappropriate to laugh at?

The New York Times published an interesting article called "Want Obama in a Punch Line? First, Find a Joke". It discussed the fact that late-night talk show hosts do not make a frontal attack on Obama in their jokes. It's like he is off-limits. The make fun of people around him but nothing personal about him. "Political Correctness" is given as the reason for this. All of the late-night talk shows are white with predominantly white audiences. The article include the following:

“The thing is, he’s [Obama] not buffoonish in any way,” said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson’s monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Mr. Letterman. “He’s not a comical figure,” Mr. Barry said.

It appears that they are either too afraid of offending people or can't find anything funny about him. Another viewpoint is that making fun of Obama too soon would ruin his chances like Gore and Kerry but I disagree. I don't think Kerry and Gore lost because David Letterman skewered them mercilously on his show.

There is this spirit around today where some people are so afraid of offending others they walk on egg shells. White people cannot criticize black people for fear as being seen as racist. The article did shortly interview David Alan Grier who is a black comedian (don't look blank, I know you remember "In Living Color") who pointed out that he can say some things the white comedians can't say.

I admit that FOX NEWS did not seem to get the memo to lay off of Obama and his family. The difference is that they are telling lies and saying mean spirited things like he and Bin Ladin should be assassinated and that Michelle Obama is a terrorist. If I saw conspiracy everywhere I would suggest that they are doing it to make Obama look more sympathetic. Who are the "they"? You know the "they" that run everything. Something strange is going on there and I don't know what the whole thing is and we may never know.

The article also has the following quote: "Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the ABC late-night talk show 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' said of Mr. Obama, 'There’s a weird reverse racism going on. You can’t joke about him because he’s half-white. It’s silly. I think it’s more a problem because he’s so polished, he doesn’t seem to have any flaws.' I have 2 comments. One, I'm still trying to figure out what Kimmel did to get that show...I mean why is he famous? Two, its sad that if a person does not seem to have obvious flaws there is a problem.

The article sums up the thought of many of the writers of the late-night television shows as follows: " Mr. Burnett of the Letterman show said, 'We can’t manufacture a perception. If the perception isn’t true, no one will laugh at it.'
Mr. Sweeney said, 'We’re hoping he [Obama] picks an idiot as vice president.'"

I think that this is the problem with FOX they have been trying to manufacture stories about Obama trying to dredge up all they can and it end up making them look bad and racist. And the hope that Obama picks an idiot as Vice President will make the comedians' jobs easier by giving them someone to make fun of in his administration.

I think the fact that the secular world can't find much leverage against Obama is interesting. The issues that they can attack him on are issues they don't want to touch. Issues such as abortion and the essentials of Christianity. These are issues that the world does not want to touch because it will mean discussing what the Bible says and confronting sin. Can't have that can we? There was a show on Iron Sharpens Iron that interviewed PASTOR CLENARD HOWARD CHILDRESS, JR who laid out beautifully and scathingly why Obama is not a good choice for president and why we can't just overlook his view of abortion. Read the introduction and listen to the program here.

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