Colin McEnroe Show: Elena Kagan And The Media
Should Elena Kagan's fashion, age and sexual orientation be an issue?
Published: May 25, 2010
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Colin McEnroe Show: Elena Kagan And The Media
Every time I think we are done with one of the skirmishes of our culture wars, it turns out we're are not.
For example, I thought there was some kind of armistice on the Vietnam war stuff, especially the question of who got into what non-combat unit. I thought there was a meeting somewhere and we all decided not to argue about that anymore.
I found out last week that's not the case.
And all the speculation about Elana Kagan and what side of the plate she hits from seems, to me, very, very retro.
It's all very Don Imus. Very 1992.
But maybe the Supreme Court doesn't really exist in time. It's like "LOST," a sideways parallel universe where the sequencing of events is a little different. The appointments are for life, and the seats therefore don't turn over fast. So the questions seem to have arrived on the back of a carrier tortoise sent out 30 years ago.
You can join the conversation. Is all the talk about Elana Kagan's fashion, sexuality and youth a non-issue? Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
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We have this notion that singlehood is anathema in this country.
-Dahlia Lithwick
Comments
More nonsense. After going
More nonsense.
After going on about how meaningful Sotomajor's nomination hearing was to young Latinas the panelist goes on to talk aout how we live in this post-racial society.
We don't. Representation counts. Someday we may be beyond race, sex and religious values and all hold this great wonderful view of Federal Rights over States Rights.
I'm not holding my breath. The 2008 presidential elections was less than two years ago.
Every generation of youth has this blissful idealism. Then they devolve to the Big Chill generation and worse.
Usual sexist crap propogated by women about women
Men aren't the ones writing those style columns or perpetuating the style thing via talk shows. Hmm....this show might be an exception.
Is religion important? Yes but it is discussed by proxy. The religious Right or religious Left are usually defined as abortion, gay rights, and on church separation issues. A candidates view on states rights can be derived based on these 'litmus test' issues. In this sense, race, sex and religion are important as influential factors on value judgments.
A good candidate can field those issues; a bad candidate can't.
The other two important litmus test issues are the activist or textualist issue and the experience issues. Both of which are better dicussed by men these days as most men don't much care about her fashon sense. Female media types are too easily distracted by the feminist things which most male journalists and their audience view as a variation of discussion about female toiletries.
I'm pretty sure we won't devolve to the lynchstress Anita Hill's last-minute recovered memories and Long Dong Silver thing this summer. If we do and Kagan has a Long Dong Silver moment then at worst we will be entertained for the summer. The sexism and racism of the Thomas confirmation hearing still sets the standard. The Left is as adept as the Right in that respect.
Listener E-mail from Chitra
Just tried to call into the show but was not successful. I wanted to make a comment regarding the discussion that the younger generation doesn't find race of sexual orientation particularly important issues to discuss. I think that is absolutely true, and wonderful, but i would suggest that gender is still an issue upon which it is worth understanding the views of the younger generation. I say this because I don't think younger men are any more forgiving of successful, formidable women, than their earlier counterparts. I could be wrong, but I would find it an interesting point to discuss. I base this on my own observation of high school and younger kids and their views/attitude to brainy, Type A girls in co-ed schools, especially given the awful role models of young women in the media (in general).
Best Regards, Chitra
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