ESPN: The Worldwide Leader of Political Correctness
Hannah Storm may be approaching her fifties, but no longer is that akin to walking the plank. After all, 50 is the new 34! For the sake of social justice, males must purge themselves of their actual preferences and conform to society’s dictates about what men should find attractive about women. By dressing like a slinky girl in her twenties, Ms. Storm empowered not only herself but every woman within a four-thousand mile radius. Tony Kornheiser had to be shamed for his attempt at oppressing her.
Yes, as Pajamasmedia.com readers can already intuit, I’m being facetious. All of these cultural dictates are total nonsense and aberrations in the combined history of our species.
Many of Kornheiser’s fellow sports journalists approved of ESPN’s cowardice. One even observed: “That stuff might play on the red carpet, but not at the Worldwide Leader.” Well, it would play if freeform discussion revolving around sports — which is precisely what the program Pardon the Interruption is predicated upon — was their top priority. Instead, political correctness is the top priority and ESPN has illustrated this truth time and again over the years.
Sports should be a sanctuary of freedom and immune to political control, but ESPN kowtows to pseudo-liberal orthodoxy at every opportunity. This is perplexing on its face given that the network’s demographic support is 94 percent male. If any media outlet should have the right to ignore PC it is ESPN, but they eagerly embrace its every tenet.
To them, Ms. Storm is not Mr. Kornheiser’s equal. She is his superior and deference is to be expected. This exemplifies what most of us already know. Women are not held to the same standard as are men in our society. The old saying, “if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen,” is completely passé. Nowadays, if women cannot take the heat we close the kitchen for them.
Obviously, no one believes that ESPN would have suspended Kornheiser had he derided a fellow male’s clothing or said anything negative about Mr. Wilbon. This is irrelevant though. In the public arena, sensitivity trumps truth. Nowhere is this more evident than in our treatment of women. It has become a national pastime to laud them whether they are deserving of accolades or not.
Much like racism — or all the other “-isms” for that matter — sexism has been so thoroughly dispelled from our land that grievance artists have made a caricature from charges of discrimination.
If a man doesn’t like what a woman wears (or anything else) he should be free to tell her even if he is a host on ESPN.
The Kornheiser incident proves that women are the equals of men … except for when they’d rather not be or if privilege is involved. The rest of us should learn a lesson from this which is that chivalry and women’s empowerment are mutually exclusive concepts. As a society, we must collectively decide whether women are deserving of special advantage or whether they are regular folks who possess the same virtues and vices as do men.
This commentator would advocate for the latter interpretation. Let’s start treating everyone the same and apply the Golden Rule — treat others as you wish to be treated — to our interactions. Women are just as intelligent, able, and hardy as men, so there is no reason to continue legal preferences like affirmative action or pretend that they are dainty mimosas who must be sheltered from some oddball’s random speech. Equality means … well, equality, and the first step in becoming equal is renouncing privilege.
Rather than accept condescension from politically corrupt organizations like ESPN, American women would do well to internalize a piece of advice. Always remember, you’re special, just like everyone else.
Kornheiser is a liberal who has just been mugged. Time for him to jump to Fox Sports and tell Disney owned ESPN to pound sand
Mr. Hennessey once asked Mr. Dooley what he thought of equal rights for women. The reply, “If I could fly why would I want to walk?”
Fortunately Mr. Chapin gets it: Women are strong, proud, and independent–except when some man makes some offhand remark in which case they collapse and need to be cosseted. Women are the equal of men and entitled to the same jobs, same pay, etc.–but if a co-worker says something that disturbs their equanimity the co-worker should be hung out to dry. (I have a feeling if Ms. Storm had made a remark about Kornheiser’s suit no one in the ESPN management would have thought anything about it.)
This is the rough equivalent of what one woman told me once: “I want to be treated equally at work but like a lady after work.” I want to eat my cake and have it, too.
It would have been nice if Ms. Storm had said something like, “Look, I’m a big girl [oops, "grown-up adult woman"], I can handle myself, and I can take joshing from a colleague.” If she had any reaction I haven’t seen it.
If I weren’t the sensitive, liberated chap that I am I’d be tempted to tell her, “If you can’t stand the heat get back in the kitchen.”
We learned all we needed to know about ESPN in the two events involving Rush Limbaugh. When your ranks are stocked with graduates of such pillars of PC as Duke this is what you get.
Well said Mr. Chapin. This mirrors my own PJM article of a couple of years ago: The PC Speech Police and ‘Gotcha Politics’. I suspect it won’t be long before we won’t be able to call little children “tykes” or “rug-rats” because it will harm their growing self esteem.
One would have hoped that in the last 20 years PC would have gone by the wayside. One would be wrong.
Of course the network has to come out and defend Hannah Storm. They are likely condoning the outfits she wears. Put a “babe” in a sexy outfit and you expect your viewership to increase.
That’s one issue I have with women sportscasters, even though I thought that would be a neat job to have when I grew up. They are given special treatment. Even though I am a sports fanatic and a woman, I do not want to get my sports news from a woman, unless it’s a woman’s sport. Does that make me a misogynist? Let the men report on the men, the women report on the women.
Interesting. I googled Hannah and it didn’t take long to find a pic of her in the described outfit. If it’s the same one Tony saw her in, he’s right and wrong. In the pic I saw, her top half did not even remotely look like a sausage. Hardly the ho he describes. However, the outfit was awful. Ugly plaid IMO. Red carpet fashionistas would have had a field day.
Absurd on many levels indeed. His comments were absurd as well as ESPN’s reaction. But one has to wonder, would Tony have said something similar if she was younger? Probably not. He wants ‘older’ women to dress ‘their age’ but probably has no problem with young girls (you know, teens) dressing above their age
Yes, the old hypocritical double standard is alive and well in our modern world. I believe it was the great Roman senator Cicero who observed, “make a woman your equal and she will soon become your superior.” Nothing new here, problem lies with our educational system, at least in the ancient world the foibles and perils of dealing with the female were discussed and understood for the dangers they entailed, in today’s world political correctness trumps truth and understanding every time.
“Look, I’m a big girl [oops, "grown-up adult woman"], I can handle myself, and I can take joshing from a colleague.” If she had any reaction I haven’t seen it.
Mr. Chapin, a fun article indeed.
Kornheise is PAID to give his views for goodness sakes! Every viewer of PTI knows this and is why they tune in.
Not to mention this ‘cougar’ like rose colred glasses approach to today’s post-menopausal women as 20-something’s is a joke.
A few examples. 45 year old actress Sandra Bullock portraying a 31 year old (Whhhaaaa?) business woman in ‘The Proposal’. Don’t get me wrong, Sandra looks great for her age. Though attempts to sell her as one 14 years younger is insulting to people who are ~ that age! Loom closely at Ms. Bullock and you can see her chicken neck.. perfectly acceptable for a post-menopausal woman closer to 50 than 40 today. Botox and pulling her hanging skin behind her ears won’t make her image any younger, but more man-face-like, IMO. I believe Sandra has gone this route. Her cheeks used to be full, today those cheeks are gone.
Other examples are Courtney Cox (of the aptly named ‘Cougartown’ series – can she get any thinner? yikes)), Jennifer Aniston (great figure still for 40 though she too suffers from man-face features), Sheryl Crow (I can’t think of anyone whose gotten more mileage, faux accolades for this untalented ‘musician’), Gweneth Paltrow (she may be a yoga/ diet guru but she is definitely beyond the young, perky roles she attempts to play presently) Marg Helgenberger (The redhead/ blonde/ strawberry blonde, dirty blonde actress from the original CSI series. She is just SCARY to look at!) etc.,
There are plenty of men as well who fall into this genre as well. Though this article touches on out-of-touch, refusing to accept aging gracefully women.
I wonder if Mr. Kornheiser will have to spend four days barefoot in the snow outside of the ESPN offices like Henry IV at Canossa before being allowed to make final penance. Really, the pieties of political correctness have genuinely taken on a medieval and inquisitional quality where “There is no salvation outside of the Church.” I wonder if Tony will scourge himself on the air when he comes back to PTI or will have Wilbon do it for him.
I was interviewed by Mr. Kornheiser many years ago when he was working as a general reporter for Newsday.
He impressed me as a liberal dork then.
My first impression was not wrong.
ESPN has become unwatchable because they choose a large percentage of their commentators based on political correctness rather than knowledge or talent. Too many ex-athletes specializing in malaprops and making observations like “you know, it is what it is”. Too many women who do not really know sports and put the emphasis on the wrong words or phrases while reading their material. Who cares what they look like or what they are wearing.
Kornheiser went too far- it’s one thing to good-naturedly rib a colleague; it’s another to really dive in with both feet and embarrass someone. That said, Kornheiser has always been an over-bearing loudmouth in love with the sound of his own voice- it’s his schtick- and I’m glad it has finally bitten him in the tuches . Also, his departure from MNF has been a godsend! I can watch with the sound on now.
also- do we know if hannah chooses her on-air wardrobe, or is that done by production/stylist type people at ESPN?
# 13 JONES Everything you said about Kornheiser may or may not be true, that is not the issue, the P C reason for his punishment is the issue.
Outstanding article, one of the best I’ve seen on the topic of PC generally
Are you surprised that we women aren’t jumping in to defend Hannah Storm? It’s because we DON’T CARE! We want women to have equal opportunity and equal rights & pay…not special priviledges. We want Peggy Fleming to discuss figure skating…not the NFL or NBA. We were repulsed by the hiring of Phyllis George and then Jayne Kennedy in the 70s. Now we absolutely detest Erin Andrews! We want women promoted for their skills…not their breast implants & skimpy clothing.
That’s why we’re not attacking Kornheiser.
Mr. Chapin, a direct question for you: Would the U.S., or the world for that matter, be worse off with fewer television stations or networks?
Though I could care less what Kornheiser said about Hannah Storm, I still agree with John Riggins when he called Kornheiser a “doo-dad licker.”
ESPN became unwatchable over 10 years ago.
This is no new phenomenon and a real pet peeve of mine. I’m glad it is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Sports Illustrated started straying from sports years and ago and investing themselves as political pundits, then their circulation dropped like a rock and they backed off a bit – never mind their S.I. swimsuit edition (hypocrites).
I can name three sports journalists, two who do work for ESPN, that are borderline idiots, Obama cheerleaders, and absolutely putrid progressives in virtually every article: (1) Mike Lupica (a weasel and wimp), Jeff Pearlman (a punk and idiot), Ron Silver, NFL “expert” for Yahoo Sports and brainless Bezerkeley bozo (a hall of fame pompous ass). Let’s not forget the number one MSNBC flunky Keith Olbermann got his name recognition from ESPN.
I would care to wager that sports journalists when considered as a whole as more left than the typical political pundits of the MSM or the airheaded Hollywood crowd.
I quit watching ESPN years ago, when they started hiring the likes of John Kruk, Rob Dibble, Stuart Scott, etc., etc. The network has become a joke.
As far as Kornheiser goes, I’ve never liked him (what little I’ve seen of him). Big deal if he makes some off-the-wall (but not off-color) remarks about a female co-employee. As other posts have pointed out, these females aren’t there for their brains nor their sports acumen. They are there for their body parts, and the enticement they supposedly bring to the male-dominated sports audience.
It’s all about image, not substance.
There is no greater confirmation of Storm’s smallness than the network silencing Kornheiser, and her silence. Political correctness perversely allows the weak to become weaker.
Don’t watch ESPN, like CNN, old political correct news outlets.
Plus, ESPN has Dick Vitale on Basketball Games, this is one single reason not to watch ESPN,
I wonder if the author would extend that ‘equality’ to Jews???
I didn’t think so.
Protected Groups in America.
Gays
Women
Blacks
Jews
Hispanics [under certain circumstances]
The Blind and Crippled
Unprotected Groups
Young White Men
Old White Men
the French
Muslims
Christians
I agree with #22′s main point. Much of ESPN has become unwatchable. But not because of PC attitudes, although that is annoying when it pops up. It is the juvenile conduct of the announcers and the high velocity presentations that bring on nausea. For those still interested in getting a sports fix occasionally may I suggest some of the sports specific podcasts at ESPN. Since I am an ex-pat and, thus, live in a soccer world I enjoy listening to the Brits on the soccer podcasts. Definitely worth a listen are the two very enjoyable commenters – Ivan Maisel and Beano Cook – who produce a college football podcast every two weeks and weekly during the season. Some of the other podcasts, while not as serious and informed as these, will still stick mostly to the specifics of the sports, rather than try to “entertain.”