Djelloul Marbrook

Sexism, racism, agism, smoothies, bumblers, swift-boaters, dreamers—all  flavors in the great American apple pie. As we learn to avoid trans fats so we learn, ever so slowly, to wean ourselves from misogyny, racism, agism and all those other nasties.

The late Democratic primary had plenty of misogyny and racism to go around. It arose among the pundits, the voters and the candidates. But there were triumphs. As Senator Hillary Clinton said in graciously conceding the fight to Senator Barack Obama, there are now eighteen million cracks in the glass ceiling, and none of us will forget it. Bless you, Senator.

There is talk in the press of examining misogyny in the coverage of Senator Clinton’s historic run, but the truth is the misogyny stood out in all its squalor in talk shows, late night entertainment and coverage as starkly as racism stood out in West Virginia. Self-examination is good, repentance is better. But, as we all know, the press repents of little.

This election offers us many opportunities to mend our ways. New York voters had already put aside misogyny in the interest of granting themselves a competent and caring senator. There have been thirty-five women senators in our history. The time has long since passed to put a woman in the White House. And an African-American. And a Hispanic. And a Native American. Well, you get the picture.

The more we succeed in raising the level of discourse, the less agism, sexism and racism will matter. Smear of any kind poisons the political atmosphere.  The press is like the rest of us: the majority try to be fair, but we fail, we tell ugly jokes, we mock, and we sneak our prejudices into our efforts at humor.

We can do better, and the wonderful truth about the now ended primaries is that for all their disheartenments they have elevated public discourse and struck telling blows against our worst prejudices, and we have Republicans and Democrats alike to thank for that.—DM