Saturday Night Live can always be counted on to weigh in on the hottest topic in the news, and this week's cold opening was all about the Gen. David Petraeus scandal. But if the show was trying to bring something new to the conversation, the writers failed miserably. SNL spoofed a book reading for Petraeus' mistress Paula Broadwell and her biography of the general, All In, that was just more of the same "other woman" backlash we've been seeing for the past week.
We get it, Paula Broadwell and Gen. David Petraeus did very naughty things with one another. But what's the public's real concern here?
To watch the SNL spoof was to assume that the public figure who abused America's trust matters little. What we really care about is that a hot woman was doing something sexy, and we might be able to get all the dirty details? Just take a look at the skit:
Ah, the tired temptress tack.
I'd like to say that SNL was trying to make a mockery of America's obsession with titillation. But that could have been done just as easily with an actor playing Petraeus rather than a Broadwell stand-in.
Their decision to put a good looking woman at the center hammers home that this whole debacle has done more to shame Broadwell and Jill Kelley than it has to bring men who abuse their powerful positions to heel. Did these women make mistakes? Certainly. But theirs were of the private variety. And they were hardly alone.
Men like Gen. David Petraeus, on the other hand, stand accused of much worse, like possibly leaking public documents and wasting their on-the-job time on frivolous email relationships.
If we want to stop these sort of actions from our top brass, we need to keep the conversation where it should be: on them and their misdeeds. Let's leave the "other women" alone -- they didn't do this alone. And they aren't the real villains.
Did you think the SNL skit was funny or are you tired of all the hate being dropped on Paula Broadwell's shoulders?
Image via NBC
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Comments 5
That was terrible, but I don't really like SNL so it's all terrible to me. I bet we'd all be a lot happier if we got out of each other's business. Especially famous people.
Your title 'spoof is funny if you hate women'-- seriously? It was funny. The spoof is that fact that Tampa Socialite Jill Kelley staged herself walking out of her house in the pink dress, so that the media could get a video clip. The only video clip that every media outlet is playing-- which is why SNL replayed it over and over as part of the spoof. The actress playing Paula Broadwell was not scantily dressed-- and it was funny that she was reading her book in the tune of '50 Shades of Gray' (which is site writes alot of about... but this book is never criticized).
General Petraeus had to step down as a highly respected military leader and has remained silent on the situation. The women in this case have have started to love the limelight and the attention. They are too blame for perpetuation of this story.
I like that you completely don't get that the skits intention is drive home the fact that people care more about the dirty details of some hot woman having an affair then they do about General Petraeus or any real consiquences of his actions.