Joan Ball is a business professor at St. John’s University in New York and the author of Flirting with Faith: My Spiritual Journey from Atheism to a Faith-Filled Life.
When I first heard Wanda Sykes’ jokes about Rush Limbaugh this last weekend ( “I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight,” “I hope your kidneys fail”) the inner me cheered “Whoo!” After all, I’d been subjected for years to his tirades against almost everything I believed in and everything I am. My hometown is his hometown, which made me an unwilling audience to a hometown fanbase. Throughout this, all I could do was shake my fist futilely at the radio, TV or newspaper.
So he got his just desserts at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Take that, Rush!
But…
I somewhat ashamedly admit that I’ve been chastised in the past for enjoying revenge just a little too much.
Is this just such a case? Perhaps. There are two subjects at play here – tasteless jokes (hoping people die definitely falls under this heading) and the ethics of revenge. I’m focusing solely on revenge, because personally, that’s the hardest for me to come to grips with.
When Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind,” I don’t think he meant to exclude Rush Limbaugh. Sadly. Darn. But for the most part, online chatter on this topic seems to run in two directions – accusing Sykes of incredibly bad taste or defending her comments as retaliation for all the horrendous things Limbaugh has said in the past.
I’ll never advocate for censorship, but I needed a little reminder that keeping a scorecard on bad taste is completely useless, only serving to drive one deeper into a black hole of vindictiveness.
Push me off my high horse if you will (actually, please do, I hate it up here), but if we truly want to approach this from an ethical standpoint, revenge and retaliation has no place, does no good, and is indefensible.
I don’t think jokes wishing death upon people are particularly funny, by normal standards. So however much it hurts to say, that goes for Rush as well. We gotta rise above it, people.
Sadly. Darn.
posted May 12, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Why can’t we all just get along?
posted May 13, 2009 at 12:03 am
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Limbaugh will get his comeuppance, but it shouldn’t be as the butt of a bad 9-11 joke. However, I’m less sorry for Rush than I am anyone personally affected by 9-11, which obviously wasn’t Skykes.
posted May 13, 2009 at 12:33 am
Wanda Sykes in a comedian, people. Grow up.
posted May 13, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I feel that comedy crossed the line. I can’t stand Rush Limbaugh
but I would not label him a terrorist. Only God can judge him.
his judgement day will come and that is where is comeuppance will happen.
posted May 13, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I agree with Harriett — Ms. Sykes is a comedianne. They knew she was an edgy comedianne when they hired for this gig, which the WHC Dinner has been known for booking such edgy comedians. So no complaining after the fact. I do think that perhaps that WHC Dinner should rethink their booking of controversial entertainment. One question, will 9/11 always be a sacred topic for comics, or is it just too soon?
posted May 14, 2009 at 3:41 am
Wanda Sykes made some jokes at the expense of a man who belittles and terrorizes anyone that believes differently than he does. And what’s worse is that he has made all of his millions by capitalizing on the great divide that’s been created between the two political belief systems in our country. He contributes nothing that is positive or valuable to Americans; he simply tears us apart. He could’ve taken his experiences with addiction and decided to do something positive with his life, but he hasn’t. I really don’t feel a bit sorry for him at all.