On his radio show yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson made fun of Air America host/MSNBC analyst Rachel Maddow, playing a clip that says "Ooh, lesbians! Yummy!" after airing audio of her discussing media coverage of Jeremiah Wright. Maddow is a lesbian.
I should admit to having a soft spot for Rachel Maddow. A frequent guest on MSNBC's Countdownwith Keith Olbermann, I've always found her analysis to be intellectually honest and spot on. The fact that she happens to be a lesbian is...well, it's a total non-event for me, really. And why should it matter? Why should Maddow's sexual orientation render her opinion and analysis somehow less valid or worthy of consideration? And who died and left John (&^%$#@ Gibson as our nation's moral/ideological arbiter?
I'm sick to death of those who think that they have the perfect right to denigrate and ridicule those who don't think and live as they do. The idea that ignorance and prejudice can and should be allowed to determine whose viewpoints are acceptable and who's worthy only of being treated as second-class citizens is something I find abhorrent in the extreme. Frankly, in terms of intellectual candlepower, Maddow makes Gibson looks like a blithering idiot...which, come to think of it, he really is. Then again, I suppose when you can't argue on the merits, insults and bigotry are probably all you've got left. Yes, John Gibson and Fox News Channel were made for one another.
"Fair and balanced", indeed- as long as you're an ignorant hater who despises anyone whose lifestyle, viewpoint, sexuality you happen to find sinful and abhorrent. Apparently, it's much easier to denigrate that it is to figure out how we might all just get along.