The Daily Background

The latest in a seemingly never-ending series. Jeralyn over at Talk Left says that those critically discussing what I’ve called Hillary’s incessant laughter at both serious and non-serious criticism is “sexist.”

Excuse me? How should a woman laugh? The inherent sexism in these characterizations should be obvious. And the point needs to be made that this is not really about how Hillary laughs because however she laughed, it would be criticized. If she snickered, “tee-heed”, gleefully clapped her hands or raucously bellowed, all would be jumped on as inappropriate. As Ann at Feministing writes, “If they weren’t using witch or schoolgirl allusions to describe the laugh, they’d no doubt be calling it “mannish.”

My criticism of Clinton’s laugh is not so much how it sounds, but rather that it seems like it’s a calculated, forced gesture that’s meant to diffuse criticism (which is sometimes very serious) by suggesting that she doesn’t take it seriously. It’s like if you have concerns about something, and if she laughs at it, your concerns aren’t worth anything.

For example, there’s a very serious question worth asking about how able Clinton would be to reach consensus enough in Congress to pass a universal health care bill. It’s not silly criticism, it’s a very serious question- no matter who has the best or worst plan for universal health care for example, what really counts is whether or not they’ll be able to get something signed into law. A plan is only worth the paper it’s printed on until it’s signed into law.

But questions about whether or not Clinton, with her history, would be able to actually put universal health care in place are consistently met only with laughter and a brush off, in such a demeaning manner that looks down on the pundit or reporter asking the question. As if real people weren’t concerned about such things. Well guess what? Real people are concerned about such things.

Earlier
Not everything’s a joke, Hillary (Part I)
Not everything’s a joke, Hillary (Part II)
Not everything’s a joke, Hillary (Part III)
Not everything’s a joke, Hillary (Part IV)

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog