Public-ish figures start facing the times
In the same week in which speechwriter and poor decision-maker Jon Favreau (not the guy from Deep Impact) learned a lesson about posting pictures of him fondling a cardboard cutout model of his possible new boss on Facebook, some very scandalous stuff from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the sexy one). Judge Alex Kozinski has been up to no good (via here) in the last few months, sending jokes that sometimes have naughty words in them, and we just can’t have that, and I’m really starting to sound like that Carlin routine everyone thinks they’re cool for knowing. What kind of jokes?
One joke sent last spring poked fun at the Taliban, stating, “You may be a Taliban if . . .” any of the following 12 statements are true. Among the statements: “You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can’t afford shoes” and “You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon ‘unclean.’ ”
Other jokes, labeled “P&T” in the subject heading to indicate they were “puerile and tasteless,” were cruder and more sexually explicit and used language that defies quotation in a general circulation newspaper.
Good lord! What could possibly be so raunchy? Thank goodness I have the scoop:
Q: How many circuit court judges does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Fuck you, cocksucker!
Anyway trying to drag down a well-regarded judge for a handful of dick jokes is pretty ridiculous, but it’s a sign of the times. We’re at a weird point in human history: we have more means of self-expression, for vast audiences if you’re so inclined, than ever before, but we’re not yet comfortable with it. We’re in for some interesting times when we start getting ready to elect people my age for public office, what with the vast increase in interconnectivity that’s occurred within a matter of a few years, which has yet to take hold on certain social mores–namely the ones that indicate that maybe there isn’t any need to show people you haven’t talked to since elementary school the pictures of you taking shots out of a bored-looking waitress’s boobs at Spring Break on the Jersey Shore.
