There Are More Important Things To Worry About!

That’s a line that probably every political blogger has heard, especially bloggers who give any time and attention to issues like sexism, homophobia, and racism. What’s the point, so the thinking goes, of worrying about a sexist t-shirt when there are people starving in the world, or worrying about the employ of an Asian stereotype when we’re at war, or worrying about a phrase like “that’s so gay” when our very Constitution is being destroyed?

Here’s the point.


That’s Keith Olbermann, unquestionably a reliable champion of civil liberties and a nearly lone voice in the mainstream media in aggressively challenging the Bush administration and right-wing shill machine, reporting that Paris Hilton has "had worse things happen to her face" than being punched above a banner reading "A Slut and Battery."

As you can imagine, making a thinly-veiled reference to a woman having her face ejaculated on, and overtly suggesting that’s somehow worse than getting punched, along with calling that women a slut, does not sit well with a lot of women. Look, I’m about as far away as you can get from a Paris Hilton fan, but that’s beyond the pale. And I’m not only pissed off at Keith for doing it just because it’s flatly wrong, but for potentially alienating women (and men) by airing such swill, when he’s got so much other stuff that everyone needs to hear. A good message can be undermined very quickly by a rotten messenger.

That’s why it’s important to multi-task, to care about the “secondary” issues along with all the rest—because if we can’t communicate necessary messages about equality and civil rights without including expressions of sexism, homophobic and racist epithets, fat jokes, “retard,” and all the rest, the messages we send is “rights for me, but not for thee.” And no one listens to a hypocrite.

Giving Keith a pass on sexist garbage because he mostly says stuff worth hearing is thusly not a great solution. But, because he does say stuff worth hearing, I don’t think throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a great solution, either. So how about we politely email Keith and kindly request that he refrain from airing offensive and possibly alienating segments during a show we value precisely because it generally aspires to more.

(More at Feministing and Feministe.)