I’ve become painfully aware that we are a country that prefers to create context than recognize it. This is no more true than in the ‘gotcha’ moments we love trapping our media darlings in. The latest of these moments involves Britt McHenry of ESPN. McHenry is a tall, slim, blonde reporter known as equally for her physical similarities to Erin Andrews as she is for her ability to get tough interviews. Well, now she’s known for something more infamous. McHenry was caught on tape ranting at a towing company worker. The rant was impressive. There were attacks on the clerk’s looks, weight, education, etc. In short, she did to this worker what anyone who has ever had their car towed has wanted to do to the clerk on the other side of that shielded partition. Unfortunately, it cost her reputation and might still cost her job.
Freedom of speech exists in principle, but in practice if you say stuff that others do not agree with you will quickly find yourself socially ostracized. This is the true impact of a PC world. Now to be honest, I couldn’t care less about McHenry herself or the tow worker who got told off. Still, what really transpires in this video is just a tow worker being told off. McHenry was later forced to publicly apologize for having a human moment. This is not about elitism or racism or some power figure. This is about a celebrity who wound up getting towed and mouthing off to the person who had her car and, based on the video, was mouthing off herself. Now this context is lost on the general story. That story is about ‘fat shaming’ and making an example out of a pretty girl who talked down to a presumably ugly one. If that’s grounds for firing then half the population of American high schools can never be gainfully employed.
Some Thoughts:
- 1808 was the year that congress officially banned the import of slaves into the U.S. This limited the number of slave exports that Africa could rely on. It did not, however, end slavery in Africa. The African slave system exists to this day, reminding all of us that not everyone follows the same rulebook.
- Orphan Black is back and is one of a handful of shows that I still watch. The list is getting smaller by the day. That’s a good thing. TV rots the imagination, changing it from open thinking to varying degrees of simulacrum.