Laura Ingraham says some stupid shit

Okay, so I am not originally from Wisconsin.  Therefore, I am willing to admit that I will most likely never be able to fully comprehend the enormous passion and love Wisconsin residents seem to have for their football team (read: Brett Favre).  But I will say, after watching an emotional and crying Favre at the press conference announcing his retirement a couple weeks ago, I was quite moved.  Yeah, not so much for conservative talk show host, Laura Ingraham, I guess.  Instead, she had this to say, calling Favre a “woman” (as if that’s some kind of jab…pshhh):

“All these years, and I didn’t know there was a woman quarterback in the NFL,” said Ingraham to start her Friday show that aired on replay on Monday at 2:00 a.m. on Newsradio 620 WTMJ.

“Brett Favre…we’re watching this in the studio, obviously retiring from the NFL, great quarterback, handsome 38-year-old man, he gets up there and he does this press conference that was frankly one of the most embarassing things I have ever seen.“That’s a great message for young boys. ‘Get up there and act like a girl and start blubbering like a baby.”  

Then, in her best impersonation of a crying toddler with its favorite toy taken away, she wah-wah-wah’s while uttering in a mocking tone, “It’s about me, it was never about me, but it is about me, bla, bla, bla” before returning to her regular voice and stating, “I could not believe what I was seeing.”

Oh Laura (and the rest of you wingnuts), you never cease to amaze me!  Wow, I just don’t get how one can be so self-hating.  Has she checked her genitalia lately!?  She worries about the message Favre sends to young boys… how about the message she and countless others send to young girls and boys on a daily basis telling telling them they must act out their “natural” gender or they are weird and abnormal.  Yep, boys, you have the parts that make you male but you must continually prove your “manhood” through your actions.  Have you “hit” your masculinity quota for the day? Make sure you don’t cry! Act chivalrous, play with trucks, beat your chests, protect your woman, use the threat of force, and if necessary, use force!  Bonus points for winning a fist fight!  Come on people, I thought we were moving past that.  I mean, I know we are making progress and change like this takes baby steps, but really Laura??  The sad thing is that while most folks are in an uproar over this, it’s because they feel bad for Favre and don’t think he should be ridiculed this way.  It’s not because the comments are outright ridiculous in themselves (which they are).  The mainstream reply is that surely Favre has earned enough masculinity points to shed a few tears now and then!  But wait, why aren’t we questioning why it is such a negative thing to show emotion in the first place (especially in instances like these where one would expect at least a little show of emotion!)  Oh wait.  I know the answer.  It’s because emotion is linked with femininity and females are weak (duh); thus, the showing of emotion is an undesirable trait.  Real men are never weak or vulnerable.  Hmm, I must have forgot all this after being indocrinated with feminist thought.  Good thing Ingraham straightened me out.  *Destroys keyboard by incessant head-banging*  nfdkalfjdskl;afj…  Anywho, if you want some good reads on this subject, I’d suggest Amanda Marcotte’s take on the sitch over at Pandagon and Teh Portly Dyke’s more general ruminations on the subject of men, sexism, and masculinity.