Harperson The 'humourless Feminist' Goes Too Far?

[youngmafbog]

Why do those on the Left seem to think they have the God given right to accuse people of things that they THINK they might do or say?

Not only that but inference is that it is the truth when it is only in their head?

Nice slap down Andrew though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5046179/Harriet-Harman-rebuked-BBC-s-Andrew-Neil.html

[andy-hughes]

Ms. Harman really doesn't get humour does she?

She wheels out an ancient rag-mag joke as an example of the sort of thing she used to 'slap down' - which got her accused of being a humourless feminist.

In that case, she would have been better recounting a sexist joke, which would have been unlikely to cause such a furore, given that anti-Semitism is probably just a tad higher in the Labour alarm scale than sexism, but it does depend on what day of the week it is, or something like that.

She is humourless, because part of having a genuine sense of humour is knowing where, when and how to exercise it, and on this occasion, she fell down badly on all three counts.

Suggesting in advance that your audience is going to be amused is either the stance of a professional comedian, with a tried and trusted set of jokes that are going to work.

Saying it as a politician on a live TV show demonstrates serious lack of judgement, and underlines the accuracy of the accusation - Ms Harman is indeed devoid of a sense of humour.

That rarely did Margaret Thatcher any harm, but at least she had the sense to keep 'humour' out of her public encounters.

You can get away with saying things like 'Every Prime Minister needs a Willie ... ' as MT did referring to Willie Whitelaw, because she was too humourless to see the amusement in what she said.

But trying to be double-bluff clever as Ms Harman did, shows not only an absence of humour, which is allowable in a politician, but an absence of judgement, which is not.

[Kromovaracun]

Erm, we live in a culture where massively popular movie and game franchises depict Nazis as wizards and/or living on the moon. I think we're at a point where "too soon" no longer applies to holocaust jokes. They're healthy.

My preferred joke on the theme is actually best reserved for when someone else makes a holocaust joke.

"You know, my grandfather died in those camps."

"Oh..."

"Yes, he fell off a guard tower."

As for whether Harmann should have said the old ashtray joke on TV - well, she's a politician. She should really have known better even if she was just trying to illustrate a genre joke. Personally I find Andrew Neil's grandstanding about it to be a bit performative, but he's entitled to take whatever stance he likes as the "aggrieved" party here.

While we're on the subject, the whole "Well you would say this... [and therefore you are a hypocrite]" is completely idiotic and has for some inexplicable reason become a staple of British political discourse (it happens frequently on this very site). I really wish it would go away, and it's kind of satisfying to see HH getting roasted over that considering she's such a big fan.

[Old_Geezer]

There's nothing wrong with providing examples of something in order to explain something. Regardless whether it's normally considered bile. The fuss over it is unreasonable. Neither is expressing the belief on how another would react. The other has a right to reply. The weird thing is how abominable the "joke" was. Took me a while to work it out. If giving an example it should be a good example or it fails in it's purpose.

[Old_Geezer]

...vile...

Like I ,';)-_- typed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!