When the prevailing social constructs are blown to hell and back with the election of a black man to the White house [sic], there are social repercussions of a most disturbing kind, namely, what the heck do we do for entertainment now?? It was totally within the realm of political correctness to poke fun at Palin, who embodied the stupid white bimbo persona to a tee, and of course we had eight years of Bush, the perfect caricature of the cowboy simpleton we’ve come to love (or not) from decades of Westerns. Ditto with all the other white males (and females) whose daily grind and spiel are immortalised in the reels of Saturday Night Live and the late night cadre of satire and wit.
But what do we do with Obama? Granted, he doesn’t provide much fodder for wit in the gaffes and boneheaded blunders department that Bush was so obliging with. But why can’t we get a good laugh at the expense of this Commander-in-Chief? As with any unchartered territory, this massive ideological shift presents extremely dangerous grounds for comedians of any color and progressives of all objections. Someone of such historical significance can be brought down for the sake of a simple joke, sure, but it’s a colossal gamble just beyond the ability of our prevailing cultural zeitgeist –just yet.
And a telling commentary on progress in race relations…
Unprecendented heights of popularity worldwide and mammoth support for Obama aside, I hope we can move past this social hiccup where comedy runs smack into race, cuz it’s only been four days and all the seriousness is gettin’ kinda dull…
.
Leave a Reply