Mad Men, Ad Men, Pit Bulls & Lipstick

I was gonna' title this entry "Read My Lipstick, No New Policies".  But I've waited too long and now the whole Lipstick thing has been eclipsed by Ike, Lehman and LA train crashes.  The world waits for no blog.

So I'm gonna' try an veer off the political for just a sec.  Every six months or so I get addicted to a TV show.  Six Feet was the start, (it was The Beatles to the Sopranos Stones in my opinion, proving that lasting longer doesn't mean better),  followed by lesser HBO fair like Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment.  

Now I'm totally hooked by Mad Men. (AMC not HBO for a change.) For those who don't know, it's about the ad industry in the early 1960's.   I work in the ad industry now, and it's surprising how many people DON'T watch the show.  I find it facinating not just for it's accuracy of the times and the business, but because it's one of those period pieces that shows you how much we've changed as a society, how much we HAVEN'T changed, and most importantly, it exposes what it is about our recent past that has helped lead us to this moment.

I don't want to write the whole episode down, so go see the latest one on pay-per-view (or you can buy it for a buck 99 on itunes.)  This episode I found especially topical in light of the "Palin" vs "Barack" vs "Hillary" crap that's going on now.  (Okay, I'm gonna' get a little political.)

In short, there are some people I know who've watched Mad Men in the past and then said they couldn't stand it 'cause it was so sexist.  I beg these people to watch this week's episode.  It really shines a light on what women had to go through 40 years ago.  But it doesn't do it in that pat "wow!  they've come so far!" way.   Again, it shows the clear bias and humiliation that woman had to go through and are STILL going through.  In both small and large ways.  

I know it's skating on thin ice when men start to talk about feminism.  But being the father of two daughters, and trying to imagine what the world is going to look like for them as they grow up forces me to really think about this stuff.  

I'm by no means bias free, (no one is), but it really irkes me when people like Sarah Palin, who want to take away a woman's right to choose and want us all to return to "family" values, start screaming about sexism.  I always supported Obama before Hillary, (yes, I admit it, Edwards was my first choice, sorry!) but I think it's great that Hillary's finally out there exposing Sarah for what she is.  Palin is not someone who's going to move woman's rights forward one single inch.  Take it from me, a white male born in 1963.  The woman's movement has come a long way since then, but it's nowhere near where it should be.  And I'll only vote for someone who's gonna' help make it better for my daughters.  Not take it backwards.  McCain, Palin and the entire Republican party, wether they're cynically trying to get the bible belt vote or cynically trying to get the "female" vote, are clearly the worst choice for woman.

So in soundbite conclusion, you can put Lipstick (Palin) on a Pig (GOP) but it's still a Pig, (Sexist).