The joke that keeps on hurting?
March 27th, 2008 by Wiley CodyJohn Lewis is still hurting (on behalf of children, of course) from the fallout of The Joke. I’d love to sit in on that doctor’s appointment.
JL: Ow, doc. It really hurts.
MD: Interesting. Does it hurt when I do this?
JL: It hurts no matter what you do. Oooh, the pain. Can you give me something for it?
MD: Well, ordinarily I’d suggest a strong dose of “getting over it” but my diagnosis is that you addicted to the attention and the so-called pain is just a mental construct for your next fix.
JL: For the children, doc!
But let’s for a second assume that Lewis is really experiencing the pain he says that he is - and that this isn’t just political theatrics. In that case, the cause of that pain is the content of the joke (that has been interpreted in some way that I fail to comprehend as an insult to the gay community). This presumption holds that the joke is quite damaging to the gay community in Montana which begs the question: why is Lewis the only one still sending letters to the editor to remind everyone of something that he himself admits would otherwise be forgotten?
Would a restaurant owner send a letter to the editor reminding people of a health code violation? Would a celebrity send a letter to the editor reminding people of a bad review for a movie she was in last year? Of course not because those reports are legitimately damaging and bringing them back into the forefront of public discourse would re-open the wound.
The way I see it, Lewis is either very dishonest or very stupid. If the joke was truly damaging and he keeps bringing it up, he’s stupid. But smart money is on dishonesty - his outrage is feigned.
Is to too much to ask Lewis to shoot straight with Montana?
