misinformation

Why Are So Many Pundits Buying Into Obama’s Inactive Advocacy?

So we’re pretty sure Joy Behar wants you to be her for Halloween. How do we know? ‘Cause of the big hair, and the way she’s been going after the gays. First Christian Siriano, and on last night’s show, Mad Men‘s Bryan Batt. Too bad she’s misinformed about the current state of gay affairs.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Also too bad: Batt doesn’t correct her. What was so great about Batt’s scene this week — where he was fired for, uh, refusing the advances of a client, but mostly for being gay — was that it showed how nothing has changed between the 1960s and today. That is, you can still be fired for being gay. But not on Madison Avenue, exclaims Joy, because the advertising industry loves the gays! Batt agrees. They are both wrong.

Working in web publishing, we’ve got a few friends who work in advertising, from the executive level to copywriters. And let’s make one thing very clear: In many halls of advertising, homophobia still runs rampant, and any hint that you’re too fem to play in the Big Boys Club will have you relegated to processing spreadsheets for a cement client.

Okay, that’s done.

Enter Dan Savage, who reminds folks like Joy that her very talking point’s assumption — that Obama actually is working to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, among other things — is flat wrong. We actually have no idea how hard he’s working behind all his platitudes. And that’s where the conversation should be.

Obama says he’s working for us, and that line has been fed to the punditry who knows no better. We call this class of talking heads the “casual couch crowd.” From chats on The View to one-off packaged segments on local news broadcasts, this lazy approach to the debate can be infuriating for those on the inside.

And from the CCCs, it’s spread. We’re sure that many of you, like us, have had endless conversations with heteros (and gays not in tune with the current legislative climate) who wonder why we’re fussing when Obama is on our side — and we spend an entire dinner conversation explaining why that’s a farce.

But we’d rather lose out on enjoying an entree than let one more person traffic in spin.

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