Andrew Sullivan needs a get-a-grip friend. You know the kind. These are the friends we all need who tell us that we should dump the horrible person we’re dating, or that yes our ass really does look fat in those jeans, or that we should drink less at office parties if we thought “I Touch Myself” was a good choice for karaoke.
I know that an unfiltered conduit into Sully’s id is both the joy and the despair of reading the Dish, and that it’s to be expected that he will say outlandish or nettlesome things from time to time. Regular readers know far more about his proclivities than they might otherwise choose, and learning that he’s really into bears (not the kind that steal picnic baskets) or whatnot is part of the deal. Lord knows, the one time he linked to one of my pieces I was tickled pink, so I’m not going to affect a pose of elevated disdain. He has a gajillion readers and I don’t and he probably doesn’t care what I think.
But man, he sure could use someone to read his posts, cock an eyebrow and shake their head. We might lose some of the unalloyed Sully-ness of the Dish, but we’d also be spared some of his more regrettable choices as well.
In the apparent absence of such an individual, I will offer my own unsolicited (and almost sure to be ignored entirely) advice — finding horrible things to say about Kim Jong-Il on the occasion of his passing should be like shooting fish in a barrel. He was a monster and a blight on humanity, and there are innumerable excoriations to hurl at his lifeless carcass. It is pointless, juvenile and cheap to use the moment to make fun of the way he may have spoken English, and by extension to insult countless other Asian people. It is embarrassing to read.
You should do better.
I would have taken on Kim Jong Il’s awesome origin story and superpowers.
I read a story that explained that the North Korean people are taught that Kim Jong Il can control the weather. I’ve read another that said that Kim Jong Il regularly gets 3 or 4 holes in one when he golfs. I read another that explained that they are taught that Kim Jong Il does not need to poop.
Kim Jong Il is a tyrant who deserves the worst send-off we could possibly give anybody:
We just need to tell the truth about him. (And, no, not make fun of his accent… of all the dumb stuff to mock him about…)
Exactly. So much perfectly legitimate fodder for mockery and well-deserved vitriol. Making fun of his accent is just laziness.
Cheap ethnic jokes are the staple of hack comedy.
My cousin, wondrous wit of the world, posted on Facebook that “hey, did you know that Kim Jong Il regularly had 3 or 4 holes when he played golf??”
I’m all, “I know about the crazy hooker parties but I’d have thought he had more discretion than that…”
Is the entire country of North Korea a cult? Hard to see a whit of difference between Jonestown and The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
Agreed. Totally.