The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Leave Brent Musberger Alone!

Posted on | January 9, 2013 | 34 Comments

Katherine Webb: Not bad to look at, despite attending Auburn.

If he needs a Chris Crocker, I’ll step up to defend the ESPN announcer who — while Alabama was dismantling Notre Dame in the BCS game — felt obliged to report the Neutral Objective Facts:

“You see that lovely lady there, she does go to Auburn, but she’s also Miss Alabama and that’s AJ McCarron’s girlfriend. You quarterbacks, you get all the good looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow.”

Why all the outrage? She is indeed Miss Alabama and, the last time I checked, that was what is known as a “beauty pageant.”

While Musberger’s comments may have been a bit gushy, it wasn’t as if he said anything salacious, rude or inappropriate. This involves something I’ve discussed before: Beauty is an objective fact.

Beauty exists independent of our recognition of it. However, in our sexualized “hook-up” culture, male acknowledgement of beauty is presumed to convey sexual interest, a de facto proposition. So when Brett Musberger says Katherine Webb is a “lovely lady” — which she most certainly is — many people hear that as, “I’d hit it.”

Or, as Darnell Dockett might say: “Wing Stop.” (Dockett says that when he publicly Tweeted his phone number to Webb, he actually meant to send it via DM, the kind of social-media accident Neal Rauhauser and his paranoid crew of “Weiner Truthers” claim can only be explained by a Breitbart-coordinated right-wing conspiracy. But I digress . . .)

Feminism and the concern about workplace discrimination have imposed a new sort of puritanism, a kind of neo-Victorian repression in which even an entirely innocent comment can be portrayed as harassment, as an attempt to “hit on” someone. If all acknowledgements of beauty are viewed as expressions of sexual interest (“drooling,” as some have characterized Musberger’s comments), then a sort of taboo becomes embeded in our customs and habits, and thus has radical feminism triumphed by shaming people into silence. The question is, why?

Rush Limbaugh’s Undeniable Truth #24: “Feminism was established so as to permit unattractive women easier access to the mainstream.”

ESPN actually apologized for Brent Musberger’s comments, as if he were the one sending his digits to A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend. We don’t even know if Webb or McCarron were offended.

Rather — and this is what tells you that a powerful taboo is involved — critical thought is immediately suspended and everyone simply reacts according to a culturally normative script, with people saying things they know they’re supposed to say, and everyone is intimidated by fear of being attacked if they ask, “Why all this anger? What exactly did Brent Musberger say that deserves such a firestorm? Why does this ‘controversy’ require an article in the New York Times?”

“It’s extraordinarily inappropriate to focus on an individual’s looks,” said Sue Carter, a professor of journalism at Michigan State. “In this instance, the appearance of the quarterback’s girlfriend had no bearing on the outcome of the game. It’s a major personal violation, and it’s so retrograde that it’s embarrassing. I think there’s a generational issue, but it’s incumbent on people practicing in these eras to keep up and this is not a norm.”

Yeah? Well, it may rather “retrograde,” but let me quote an acknowledged expert on what is “extraordinarily inappropriate” — Ace of Spades:

“I would hit that so hard I’d split atoms in her privates.”

Did Brett Musberger say that about Katherine Webb? No. He just said she was a “lovely lady.” Does anyone deny that she is? No.

But the praise of beauty implies a negative judgment against the less-beautiful, and this is an inequality that feminists regard as intolerable.

UPDATE: House of Eratosthenes:

If I live to be a hundred and fifty, I’ll never figure out why people allow complete strangers like Sue Carter professor of journalism, all this traffic-cop-go-and-stop authority over whether they’re allowed to notice a woman is beautiful. Why would you do that? Why would you surrender that kind of power? It almost suggests a fear of making personal decisions, even for matters of style and taste.

Some people just crave approval so desperately that they are afraid of saying or doing anything that might risk disapproval. The Left is very good at intimidating people like that, and is also good at ginning up the kind of lynch-mob fury needed to “make an example” of anyone who refuses to cooperate with the Left’s agenda.

UPDATE II: You know who’s not offended by Brent Musberger’s remarks? Attractive women, including those on Fox News:

Kirsten Powers: “He called her lovely and beautiful. People act like he was drooling and saying inappropriate things. To me, this is just Feminism gone awry.”
Monica Crowley: “When I’m watching the NFL and Tom Brady comes on screen, I have some choice words about him. He’s such a hunk!”
Megyn Kelly: “It’s crazy to me that ESPN felt that he went too far in doing what all the judges at the [Miss Alabama] competition did and millions of Americans did as well. I don’t know a woman who doesn’t like to be told she’s beautiful.”

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Category: Alabama, Celebrities, Feminism, Football, Rule 5

Comments

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    They mock Brent for being an old goat like it was a bad thing? That Brent has an eye for Rule 5 candidates is something to celebrate. What is wrong with that?

    And the lovely Ms. Webb took no offense. She does not find a 70 year old man finding her attractive to be creepy. Why should she? It was a complement. And I have made sure I have a Rule 5 post on Ms. Webb (see above, thanks for the link)(that is a complement too).

    Andrea Dworkin, I am sure, would be offended (if she was still with us). But I am pretty sure no one is doing or going to do a Rule 5 post on Ms. Dworkin.

  • M. Thompson

    Remember, equality is for ugly losers with out a personality.

    My ex girlfriend is far from the most attractive woman in the world. But she’s got something the vapid lack: she’s a great person to be around. Oh, and she’s a ginger.

  • http://twitter.com/TBinSTL TBinSTL

    Alert Handicapper General Glampers! Something must be done…

  • Finrod Felagund

    Her parents agree with you:

    Some spectators have been critical of ESPN announcer’s Brent Musburger’s comments on Katherine’s beauty, but her dad sees it another way.

    “On one hand, you can look at it as being kind of like the dirty old man, but I’m used to this and I think if you really look into what that he was trying to say, he was trying to be complimentary, and I think they need to give Brent a break,” Alan Webb told FOX 5.

    More details at the link.

  • robertstacymccain

    “I am pretty sure no one is doing or going to do a Rule 5 post on Ms. Dworkin.”
    The very thought is enough to make me reach for the Brain Bleach.

  • http://twitter.com/TBinSTL TBinSTL

    Oh come on! This is one of my very best “obscure reference” comments ever!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MJGP4QXZ5PRW2MFA5E25CV2WNU rosalie

    I don’t think he sounds creepy or like a dirty old man. He’s admiring beauty and expressing very appropriate thoughts. And he’s right about the quarterbacks. Women do the same thing with men all the time whether they’re married or not. Now, what’s totally inappropriate and salacious is what Kathy Girffin did. Have we heard anything about her creepiness? The feminists get up in arms about a compliment but don’t think anything of Palin being hanged in effigy.

  • Amy

    So he can’t say anything about the girlfriend but Bob Costas can opine stupidly about gun control on MNF, which had no bearing on the game. Man, moral realtivism is grand!

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    It is too early in the morning to even suggest such a thing. I am sorry for mentioning the D-word.

    Here is a palate cleanser. http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2013/01/08/class-act-katherine-webb-says-musburger-not-creepy-for-gushing-about-her-on-natl-tv/ The lovely Sister Toldjah has a post on this too.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    This is a depraved thing to do on my part but here is Andrea Dworkin…

  • http://twitter.com/LongLiveDaDWEMs Long Live The DWEMs
  • Steve Skubinna

    I expect any beauty pageant participant would be outraged were anyone to comment on her appearance. Fortunately for the hapless Ms. Webb, incapable of standing up for herself against this vile abuse, Professor Sue Carter is on the case.

  • M. Thompson

    Very true. Equality of result, here we come!

  • http://wizbangblog.com/ Adjoran

    Webb wasn’t offended at all, she thought Musberger’s comment was “cute.”

    Now for something completely different: Sue Carter, journalism professor and gyno-warrior. Did you know she “led” the first all-female expedition to the North Pole? Unfortunately, they all found their way back, but still.

    They say beauty is only skin deep, which I suppose means we’ll have to skin her: http://po.st/nD0jnJ

  • http://wizbangblog.com/ Adjoran

    Sorry, I didn’t see this when I posted my own link. Yours appears to be a more recent picture. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.

  • http://boogieforward.us/ K-Bob

    I didn’t see the game. But I do have a policy of always turning the sound off when Musberger is working a game I watch.

    His idea of game prep is to pick one or two players, talk them up real big before the game, and then highlight every single move they make, as if that was all that were happening.

    “Look at the way this young man casually tossed the ball to the ref, Mike! You don’t see that every day!”

    He does it with teams, too, but anyone rooting for a team does that.

    Of course, that’s not his job, but hey. I’d rather listen to any radio guy from any sports network, rather than Musberger.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Stacy’s right, Evi!…my eyes!…my eyes!!!!!

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Be thankful you escaped. Them gingers is dangerous.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    This.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    BRAIN BLEACH STAT!!!

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    ‘First all-female expedition to the North Pole’…hmmm…about 100 years too late.

  • Quartermaster

    Amen! Preach it Bro!

  • Quartermaster

    Dost thou, verily, speak from experience? Or, did you apply the scientific method and make many observations and collect much data before forming a theory?

  • Quartermaster

    What has been seen, can not be unseen.

  • Quartermaster

    She wouldn’t look too bad wearing a pair of oven mitts and holding a fresh pan of cookies for the grandkidlets. Outside of that she’s just another raving harpy we can do without.

  • Pingback: Excuse me, but what exactly DID Brent Musburger say that was so wrong? « The Daley Gator

  • FOAF

    I’m late to this, only just watched the clip. I would say “I can’t believe this is an issue” except there is nothing too ridiculous for the PC police. Though I agree with K-bob in general about Musberger, never liked him.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Both.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Call me Oedipus…

  • Steve Skubinna

    A friend used to have a thing about psycho redheads. I mean, perpetually angry ones. I asked him why, and he said the sex was great.

    I said “Okay, but then what? You spend the rest of the day counting the steak knives and never turning your back?”

  • http://twitter.com/LongLiveDaDWEMs Long Live The DWEMs

    no need to be sorry – the more information the better

  • http://twitter.com/LongLiveDaDWEMs Long Live The DWEMs

    lol

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