How Low Will We Go?

I used to believe that if we all kept the bar high and couldn't meet our expectations, we'd at least land in the middle somewhere when we failed. Today, it's all about how low we can go -- especially if it gets a laugh, increases face time in the media, and/or revitalizes a career with a public that thinks The Jerry Springer Show is great entertainment. A staff writer may come up with the Letterman material, but it is the job of the older/wiser comedian to just say no when the material is tasteless and offensive, and his comments about Govenor Palin and her 14-year-old daughter were tasteless and offensive.

I am ashamed of David Letterman, who makes sexual jokes at the expense of a young girl who attended a baseball game with her mother, a sitting govenor and former vice-presidential candidate, to boost his ratings. There was no hint of humor in his comments, just a bully beating up on a 14-year-old girl by stating that she "banged" an athlete during the 7th inning stretch! The "joke" may have been accepted in the male athlete's locker room after the game, but it had no business being told on national TV -- other than to boost Letterman's ratings, a pathetic excuse for his actions.

In his defense, Letterman asserts that public figures are fair game, completely disregarding the fact that Governor Palin's daughter is 14 years old! Would Letterman make similar comments about President Obama's wife and daughters? or his own wife or family members? No, his comments were target-specific, which make them all the more reprehensible.

Comparing Letterman's comments about the Palins to Leno's question to well-known actor Hugh Grant, who had sex with an African American prostitute in a rental car in Hollywod, is a mismatched justification at best. Leno simply asked his guest, "What were you thinking?" Letterman accused a 14-year-old girl of banging a sexually active male athlete during a baseball game and characterized her mother's appearance as a "slutty flight attendant look."

Perhaps an adult can take care of herself, but making a 14-year-old girl the target of sexually explicit humor goes so far beyond the boundaries that Letterman owes this family much more than a stumbling, fumbling justification for his actions: it was just a joke, folks. No; they were crude, denigrating, sexually explicit remarks that reflect much more about Letterman's character than the character of his targets. It wasn't that long ago that another media bully was fired for referring to a female athlete's "nappy" hair, a common characterization of the texture of African-American hair often used by Oprah on her television talk show. Aren't Letterman's comments about these three victims equally offensive? Rather than being condemned by the media and the public, Letterman is being touted for taking it to the Palins, resulting in a huge ratings boost for his show!

Don't all victims have the right to be defended from this kind of verbal assault?

Our young people are fumbling to find their footing in a society that is crumbling around their feet. Young people don't need the host of a major TV show disrespecting women by ascribing to them sexual promiscuity with an athlete during a baseball game. These young people don't need to hear the host of a major TV show characterize an attractive woman who does her hair and wears make-up as looking like a "slutty flight attendant," whether that woman is a flight attendant, a politician, a housewife, or a prostitute. A woman's choice to take pride in her appearance in no way provides an opportunity for the kind of disrespect shown by Letterman through televised comments that he justifies as humor.

I am ashamed that when Letterman blatantly disrespects a mother and her daughter by making sexually explicit remarks about them, he again lowers the standard for the treatment of all women by all men. I am ashamed when society accepts Letterman's actions and does nothing to hold him accountable because it was just a joke.