Ralph Northam should just say "it was a joke"

Ralph Northam

My first thought when hearing Virginia in the news - the state, not the iron range city in Minnesota - is about the outrageously high fines for speeding there. At least, this was the case a few years ago. Politicians have to be creative to keep state coffers stoked. Robert E. Lee put the interests of Virginia ahead of the United States. That was a quite different Virginia of course.
Being from south of the Mason-Dixon Line can have its issues. When I wrote my welcoming post about Joan Gabel, the new U of M president, I noted how she had spent key stages of her life in the South. And, that this very gifted academician should now feel welcome among the "winners." I'm not sure the Southern states have ever completely rebounded from the Civil War. I remember a former Morris Chamber of Commerce executive (from way back) commenting to me, "they lost." I forget what prompted that.
Yes, my memories stretch more and more as my age gets higher. So that's why I view this whole Ralph Northam mess differently than many people might. Is he faultless? Well no, but my age-based interpretation might suggest a more nuanced reaction.
"Well, how can that be?" the people soaked in today's standards would retort. Heh, heh.
I can remember from when I was a young boomer, those early 1970s, when we could be so misguided and irreverent in our behavior. So much so, I'm sure many of my age peers wouldn't want to talk about it. We have tried to erase it from our memory, to plunge into denial. Our elders did us a "favor" by lowering the drinking age just at the time I graduated from high school. How on earth could our society have countenanced this? It makes no sense. I would agree that it makes no sense from the perspective of 2019 America. But that's what it is: a perspective from 2019 America when our ability to exercise wisdom is much sharper.
 
Sinister intent? Probably not
Governor Northam of Virginia is making the same mistake as Al Franken. Joe Scarborough on his "Morning Joe" TV program said emphatically that Franken should have argued that the offending photo of him was "a joke." Quite plausible considering that Franken was a professional comedian.
To remind, Franken was in that silly photo where he's reaching out toward the ingenue's breasts while she was napping. It was a USO tour, right? Oh my God. We see it and feel incredulous today. How offensive.
We forget how our values have changed. I grew up when Dean Martin had a TV variety show in which there was misogynistic humor. We accepted it and laughed. Oh, how offensive. Well by today's standards yes.

Al Franken

Some perspective: I have ranted a little about my two experiences getting pulled over for seat belt in Morris, once when I got a ticket, the second one a warning. The ticket got complicated because the P.D. screwed up with a clerical error in arranging for the ticket to be paid. But what really irked me was how law enforcement had become so stringent in enforcing the seat belt requirement. Could you imagine this situation in the 1970s? Heavens no.
DWI was not the kind of serious thing back then either. Not even close. An officer might come up to your window and say "are you sure you're in good enough shape to get home?"
Our society found lots of humor in references to excess alcohol use. We could even find humor in the idea of an adult man getting confused about the age of a girl and feeling attracted to her even though she's underage. My exhibit for this would be a Cheech and Chong bit from a 1970s album, I think "Big Bambu." It's uncomfortable to even reference such things today.
Our current standards seem totally defensible. In theory you cannot contest them. But my argument for understanding is this: "It didn't used to be that way." For whatever reason, it just wasn't. It is important from the standpoint of appreciating history to just acknowledge the way things were. That's what I'm striving to do here as a 64-year-old who can readily retrieve memories of past dysfunction in our society.
Al Franken should have just said the offending photo was a "joke." He should have said such things were given a pass in that past era, no matter the prima facie offense it seems to suggest. Governor Northam was a college student at the time the photo was taken that is killing him now. He was a medical school student which suggests standards should have been set higher, certainly much higher than for the state college caliber of rabble I associated with in the 1970s. One of the young men in the Northam photo wore "blackface." The other was in a KKK robe. It isn't known as I write this which one was Northam. That's odd.
 
It's a time capsule
Back in the '80s, college students might be expected to engage in the most irreverent humor. Society expected this and we would just shrug. I strongly suspect Northam has never been a serious racist. If there is any evidence to the contrary, he must be dealt with harshly. But my immediate reaction upon seeing the photo was that "this was typical nonsensical, irreverent college student behavior from a bygone time." Stupid? Well of course it was.
I witnessed lots of stupid behavior including the compulsion to drink excessive alcohol, to party late, misogynistic comments like from college football players who could be horrible Neanderthals etc. If your parents are boomers, they likely wouldn't want to talk about this. They're lucky they even survived. Ralph Northam's professional career probably will not.
 
Addendum: Megyn Kelly's swan song as a big NBC personality was her statement about "blackface" not being prima facie offensive. Oh my God! Well, let me recall for you: There was a church in the Morris area composed of the sweetest rural Lutherans you could ever find, not a prejudiced bone in their body, whose members did a skit about Harriet Tubman. I recall this was the Cyrus church with the "Godly Women" thing. To appear authentic, they wore "blackface." And no sensible person would make an issue of this because the intent was so clear and transparent, just to look authentic. But today, the P.C. forces can absolutely steamroll you. The argument is that it's absolutely necessary to wear your seat belt. For safety, right? The irony is that distracted driving increases dangers on the road far more than anything else could. People insist so much on having their electronic device distractions or phones, law enforcement cannot even come down on it. I never ride my bike on the shoulder of a highway anymore. It didn't used to be like this.
 
Addendum #2: I can share my own personal experience. At the Morris paper I once ran a photo, taken by the Morris cross country coach of all people, of a spirit banner at the state meet. Two little kids posed with the banner. The banner read "Like a bat out of h---, Morris cross country." A parent of one of the runners, a dentist in town, took umbrage and exploded with anger, at me. "Such offensive language" was his point stated with such bluster. I thought the photo was innocuous. I'm not sure the word "hell" is even profane if you want to view this on strict terms. The father tried framing me, in a letter to the editor, as some sort of disgusting human being for running the photo. Given his professional standing in the community, some people probably saw him as credible. Sometimes people just "protest too much." Maybe I feel some sympathy for Governor Northam because of my experience being a public figure albeit at a micro level. Governor Northam is in the macro fishbowl. Once people start stirring up a little flashpoint, you can be dead in the water. I survived at the Morris newspaper in spite of being nicked by several controversies, all in connection to our public school. I'm not sure Northam will even be Virginia governor by the time I click on "publish" for this post. So I'd better hurry up.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com