Sykes Shouldn't Be The Focus
Wanda Sykes angered Conservatives with her comments about Rush Limbaugh and others at the White House Correspondents dinner on Saturday in Washington D.C. Before I get to my take on her appearance, here is the video of her remarks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJSHu6Ab9M&feature=related
Now, let's be fair here. Wanda is a comedienne, hence not someone to be taken seriously. Anyone questioning that fact needs only to look at her hairdo to figure that one out. I'm not sure what look she was going for, but I think it's pretty safe to say she missed. On a personal note, if that's the best she can do I would refer her to my barber. That having been said, I wanted to place the focus where it should be.
President Obama has declared water boarding to be torture and ordered the practice halted. Kieth Olbermann has accused Conservatives of not taking the issue seriously and applauded Obama for stopping it. But notice how hard these two were laughing at the water boarding jokes? Let's be fair here. Is it torture and something to dealt with with a solemn respect, or is it something appropriate for one liners at a white collar get together? Consider this. Would Obama laugh like that at a good joke about putting Limbaugh in a Nazi conecntration camp to help deal with his weight problem? Would Olbermann be rolling at the suggestion of him being the one to push Hannity into one of Hitler's gas chambers?
So, why should I focus on Wanda here? Wanda Sykes is a professional jackass. She gets paid to be the clown and make people laugh. She tries (successfully I might add) to offend people. The key here being, Wanda employed a typical comedy strategy used by comedians who know a joke will be over the top and assume people won't laugh. That is, to tell the joke and then chide the audience for not wanting to laugh. The point here? Wanda Sykes assumed the joke was so offensive that Obama would not laugh, yet he did. So, why pick on the court jester who brought the laughs out of him? She did her job. As for Obama? Mr. President, you have some explaining to do.
If water boarding is torture, why laugh at jokes about it? How come the only time you seem to be offended by water boarding is when it is done to terrorists. Would you have laughed had Wanda suggested we water board Ahmedinijab? If water boarding is torture, and Obama truely sees it as a dark day in Americas history, then shame on him for sitting there laughing like some high schooler who is affraid he won't be the cool kid anymore if he doesn't. So get off Wanda, fellow Conservatives. She made an ass of herself because that is what she is paid to do. As for our President, what Dear Sir is your excuse?
