Cackle away
Over at Talking Points Memo, they criticize CBS for this piece:
But the don't criticize it for the use of the word "cackle." Now, in my experience the only creatures that cackle (apart from egg-laying hens) are witches and ugly old biddies (think witches cackling over the boiling cauldron in Macbeth), so it strikes me that the use of this term to describe Hillary's laugh is both sexist and totally inappropriate for a supposedly unbiased news organization.
But, then again, the right wing seems to be controlling all our media these days, so I guess we can't count on them being unbiased.
During the twelve-minute interview, the former first lady chuckled in response to Olbermann. But she never unleashed the highly-scrutinized, overly-analyzed belly laugh known as "the cackle" that has been the focus of national media over the past few weeks. Which raises the question: Has the tightly-managed Clinton campaign put the kibosh on the cackle?
But the don't criticize it for the use of the word "cackle." Now, in my experience the only creatures that cackle (apart from egg-laying hens) are witches and ugly old biddies (think witches cackling over the boiling cauldron in Macbeth), so it strikes me that the use of this term to describe Hillary's laugh is both sexist and totally inappropriate for a supposedly unbiased news organization.
But, then again, the right wing seems to be controlling all our media these days, so I guess we can't count on them being unbiased.
posted by walldon | 4:28 PM
2 Comments:
"Cackle" is a sexist term because, as you pointed out, it is not used when speaking about males. Many people think sexist language is acceptable, and they criticize those who object to it. It is easy to become so accustomed to hearing it that one does not even notice that it is sexist. Thank you for clearly stating that sexist language is incompatible with fairness.
Great point. I don't think anybody else has said this, and most had been so focused on the subject matter as inappropriate, and typical of what the media does to Democrats, as was I, that we missed this important angle.
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