Sunday, March 4, 2012

So Which Word Was That?


So the wrong words you used in attacking law student Sandra Fluke, Mr. Limbaugh? Which words were those? When you mischaracterized her testimony before Congress, saying

. . . who goes before a Congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex,
what words should you have used instead? What words would have made that less than a complete lie? Because as someone may have pointed out to you by now, what Sandra Fluke said was that a friend of hers lost an ovary because she could not afford the medication that would have prevented her ovarian cysts. And the reason her friend couldn’t afford her medication is because Georgetown University does not cover that medication in their health insurance, because its primary use is for birth control.
So which words should you have used to make it clear that when you said Sandra Fluke wants to be paid for sex you really meant Sandra Fluke wants insurance to pay for medication women need for our health? I’d really like to know.
And when you said,
If we’re going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.
Which word was the wrong word then? Is there a more appropriate technical term for videos that would have made the statement more palatable? Or maybe it was the word “we”. Because I know for sure that I don’t want to watch videos of Sandra Fluke having sex online, and I doubt most other women do either, especially if we knew she was coerced into it as the cost of health care. So what was the word you meant to use instead?
I’m getting older, too, so I know how it is to use the wrong word sometimes. I have been known to ask my husband to pass the salt when I really want the butter. I’ve been known to use my son’s name when I mean my husband’s name and vice versa. I’ve been known to call D’Artagnan, my black and white cat, “Truffle”, which is the name of my Siamese cat. I have even been known to call my husband “Truffle”, although I try to pass it off as an endearment. But I’ve never been known to use the word “slut” when I actually meant “activist”. And I’ve certainly never been known to say, “Sweep the damn floor, would ya,” when I meant, “Please pass the salt.” 
So I’m waiting, Mr. Limbaugh. Which words were the wrong words?
Cause I’m thinking - all of them.

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