Uh, oh. I better hold the door because The False Equivalency Police — those guys who batter down the door if someone points out that what their side has done is what their side decries in others — will storm my condo as soon as they read this:
If you want to see a sign of how utterly cheap our politics has gotten, where because you don’t like someone politically you take a cheap shot that illustrates thinly veiled disdain and contempt because someone has a different party label, don’t just look on the right. (Uh, oh, after getting emails saying I take money from George Soros or that my “liberal mother should have known better” now I’ll be accused of taking money from the Koch Bros. True, TMV will soon launch a fundraiser but I don’t think those two will be donating). MSNBC, which seems be undergoing a disease spreading among its talk show hosts that makes them say things that make them look bad when they get angry or try to appear clever has struck again. This time the offender is Melissa Harris-Perry:
On MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry on Sunday, the panel was discussing several topics of the “of the year” variety. In the below clip, panelists are shown photos ‘of the year” and asked to offer humorous captions. Host Harris-Perry shows a Romney family photo that includes his adopted grandchild, who happens to be black.
The panelists start laughing the moment the photo is on the screen, because obviously. Then the first response is Pia Glenn off-camera sing-songing “one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same” and the rest of the panel chuckles along. It’s funny because Romney is white and his grandson isn’t, which is obviously hilarious. Because as everyone knows, the races should not mix.
But it’s even better than just hilarious, it also makes you think! Because, as the final comment from the panel tells us, this pic is a microcosm of the GOP. “It sums up the diversity of the Republican party and the RNC, where they have the whole convention and they find the one black person.” Ah the never tired accusation, borrowed from every single left wing blog and talking head during every gathering of two or more (or fewer) Republicans: He’s not a child adopted by loving parents prepared to provide him with a better life in keeping with the family’s values. Nope. He’s just a token. A punchline, not a person. But it’s funny, because Republicans are racist, see? So it’s all fine!
The segment:
Now let’s make sure we answer what is sure to come:
Yes Republican on talk show hosts and Fox indulge in this kind of snark that would never have been allowed on television except on fringe channels in the 60s or low rated cable shows 20 years ago. (Uh oh, now we will get commenter and blogs saying “But they never picked on a family member!” but smelly political contempt for the other party has the same aroma even if the rotting garbage is different.)
Because “the other side does the same thing or more” merely means you’re now as bad as the other site. No matter how your side defends it, or tries to spin it, or tries to point to the other side. Democrats and Republicans do this all the time (uh, oh, I hear something at my door…).
It’s irrelevant what the other side may say and how they may say it. If you want to claim higher ground then stand on higher ground.
Democrats and liberals always decry Fox News, Rush Limbaugh. Someone trying to be or cute or clever is no defense (aka Martin Bashir) not quite meaning how it came out doesn’t erase the asssertion or the damage to your side in the eyes of those who are not partisans.
Either you have higher standards of talk and politics or you don’t.
And to those who defend Harris-Perry, FYI she has apologized on Twitter. Here are the tweets, starting with the first until the most recent:
I am sorry. Without reservation or qualification. I apologize to the Romney family. #MHPapology
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) December 31, 2013
I work by guiding principle that those who offend do not have the right to tell those they hurt that they r wrong for hurting. #MHPapology
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) December 31, 2013
Therefore, while I meant no offense, I want to immediately apologize to the Romney family for hurting them. #MHPapology
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) December 31, 2013
This incident, the Martin Bashir incident, the Don Imus incident, the Ed Schultz incident, the Rush Limbaugh series of incidents — all of them reflect the cheapening, dumbing down and vulgarization of American political discussion. And it doesn’t seem to be trending towards more lofty, thoughtful, serious discussion as we head further into the 21st century.
CNN’s Don Lemon (who is often on the the same wavelength as TMV) ripped into MSNBC’s “smug…mean” segment.
I think TFEP are at my door now.
I won’t recant.
And I’m STILL waiting from those donations from the Koch Bros and George Soros.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.