I don’t always follow the Daily Show anymore; there are days when it seems like Jon Stewart has kicked all the lady writers out of the room and lets his dudebros handle all the jokes. But last night’s segment on Gretchen Carlson was fantastic:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Gretchen Carlson Dumbs Down | ||||
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If you had doubts about the misogyny of the right wing, the media, and especially the right wing media: put them to rest.
What on earth does it say about this woman’s political beliefs that she purposely makes herself look less intelligent in order to be able to speak about them? (Of course, according to Wikipedia her nanny growing up was Michelle Bachmann, so…) And in case you just think that’s broadcasting, don’t forget that many of her colleagues regularly strut out how smart they are–frequent commentator Karl Rove is admired for his genius, for example–but Ms. Carlson has to pretend to have never accomplished anything intellectual before. Now, maybe that’s okay for Michelle Bachmann, who genuinely hasn’t done anything noteworthy with her brain; but for goodness’ sake, studying at Stanford and Oxford doesn’t just happen; neither does playing classical music solos on the violin. Yet one cannot help but feel that the most important qualification for her job–at least in the minds of the heads of the network–was her Miss America title, not her degrees.
But why? Why can’t she be smart and beautiful? (And conservative. It’s a free country, mostly.) Even if she’s the host of a morning show? What on earth is so awful about a woman who can think–what is so terrible that she purposely hides it?
Yes, I know. The kyriarchy. Still, funny how that thing can bite you even when you’re not looking.