Sense of Humor

Remember Canadian writer Heather Mallick, who described Sarah Palan as "a toned-down version of the porn actress look," and characterized Republican men as "sexual inadequates"? Remember that her column eventually was deleted by the CBC, which also apologized? Had you heard that Mallick this week denounced her critics?:

Extremist right-wingers in the U.S. apparently read CBCNews.ca, and within days of my column's appearance, hundreds of e-mails from Americans began landing on my personal website. Then Fox News took up the cause and it got bigger and worse, not like a rolling stone, more like a dung beetle having a field day.

Confirming that the far right, observed by the suppress-worthy FOX, believe in equality and don't objectify women, unlike the sexuality-fearing left?

Well, apparently it's all fit-to-print to the New York Times, as seen in Monday's business-section story by Ian Austen, headlined "Boss Is Not Amused After Columnist’s Humor Brings a Retort From Fox News":

Heather Mallick, an opinion columnist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Web site, is known for her use of humorous exaggeration.

Nice to know comparing conservatives to XXX-rated action is merely humor--wonder if Susan Brownmuller agrees? BTW, the Times quoted an email:

Ms. Mallick said she believed that the complaints had been "orchestrated" by Fox News and came largely from Americans.

"My problem is that I have to write with a certain kind of reader in mind, and that person is always going to be my vision of an intelligent Canadian," Ms. Mallick said. "I don’t write for Fox viewers."

And on her blog, Mallick defended "protecting writers' safety when villagers approach with torches and pitchforks," and further dissed those villagers: "Fox viewers are, like their hosts, too violently brutish to alienate." Except . . . you did alienate them, along with your "intelligent Canadian" boss--while tossing aside journalistic ethics, taste, feminism, etc.

Don't worry: it's merely "humorous exaggeration," as was "Piss Christ" and "Dung Mary," in contrast to an all-male Georgia golf club (24/7 outrage coverage required). Just ask the New York Times.

(via TimesWatch.org)