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Michelle Wolff, Potty-Mouthed Patriot
Though the snowstorm of commentary swirling around comedian Michelle Wolf’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last Saturday night has greatly subsided, there’s still a residual flurry of opinions in the air, |
I suppose that Ms. Wolff’s White House comedy routine was actually both.
Now, I am as a rule of the persuasion that it is beneath one’s dignity and more often than not counter-productive to repay gross nastiness with more gross nastiness; rather I am disciple of Michelle’s Obama’s philosophy of “When they go low, we go high.”
Well, all right, yes, she was going low. But I don't think that skewering the Trump administration was really the point of Michelle Wolf’s off-color comic diatribe.
I believe what Ms. Wolff was really doing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was making sure that freedom of speech is still alive in this country.
It's no secret that the current President of the Unites States, though he loves to hurl gross insults at anyone who arouses his displeasure, cannot tolerate any negative commentary regarding himself. |
Donald Trump has praised murderous dictators such as Philippine President Rodrigo Duerte, Vladimir Putin, and even Kim Jong Un for their ability to control their people.
Can there really be any doubt that, given leave to do so, Donald Trump would also crack down on freedom of speech and expression in our country?
It may well be that under Under Donald Trump’s administration it’s important for citizens to occasionally publicly say the sort of things that Michelle Wolff did just to make sure that we’re still allowed to. And just to remind Donald Trump that, unhappy as he might be about being on the receiving end of the sort of mockery that he relishes slinging at others, he may in no way abridge the freedom of speech of any citizen.
I believe that what Michelle Wolf was really doing in publicly pushing the envelope far past the point of civility was testing the waters for all of us, asking the question, “Am I still free to speak out? Are we all?”
As of today yes, we still are.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/30/17301436/michelle-wolf-speech-transcript-white-house-correspondents-dinner-sarah-huckabee-sanders
om/2016/08/14/trump-threatens-freedom-press-elected-president.html