The
feature about Sarah Palin in the New York Times Magazine is certainly a
human-interest piece that I can relate to. It revolves around why women can't
let Sarah Palin go.
Real
women who once supported Palin had been interviewed and asked what the change
was that made them dislike her. "She
was uninformed; she did not do her homework. Do the men who run this country
have so little regard for me?" Lisa Copeland, a former Palin supporter, said.
I
don't know what to say about the structure. I became very enveloped in the
story and with Palin's up's and down's through her political career.
I
wouldn't exactly say the style is informal, but it really gives the reader the
sense that they're following Palin. You can visualize her in her interview with
Katie Couric and hear how she was unable to link nouns and verbs.
The
part that stood out to me the most was when Lisa Belkin used the analogy of
high school to explain Palin within our society.
"If life is like high school, then today's
educated, ambitious women, on both sides of the aisle, are the student-council
presidents and the members of the debate team -- taught that if they work hard
and sacrifice something along the way, their smarts will be rewarded," Belkin
says. "This makes Sarah Palin the head cheerleader. Pretty and popular, with no
apparent interest in studying, she's the one who industrious girls were tacitly
promised would not succeed in the real world."
The way we, as a society and not just women, have been programmed with
this notion that if you work for something, you'll get somewhere. In the case
of Sarah Palin, women were outraged at the stereotype she portrayed and some
were happy to see her fail.
There are so few women in political office right now (about 17 percent
of the House and the Senate are women) according to Belkin.
Although it would have been a step in the right direction for women if
Palin had made it to a higher office, but supporting this particular woman in
Belkin's words, "also felt like a step backward for feminism."
I loved this feature, and your take on it as well. I think your feature summarized the most important points about why people love and hate Sarah Palin. She was pretty, popular, and someone you could relate to (for some women), but nonetheless incoherent and uninformed about the major issues that surrounded the 2008 election.
Also when you said: “Women were outraged at the stereotype she portrayed and some were happy to see her fail,” I agreed, but to a different degree. I wasn’t so much for wanting to see her fail. I just felt embarrassed for her and was really disappointed in her. When you chose a candidate for political reasons rather than the right (informed and qualified candidates) ones, the results will speak for themselves.
I think Belkin said it best in her article: "Those who still love her, really love her...And those who don’t love her are embracing the fact that she is someone that they love to hate." Whether you are for or against her, women, and everyone in general, can't seem to get enough of Sarah Palin.
I loved this feature, and your take on it as well. I think your feature summarized the most important points about why people love and hate Sarah Palin. She was pretty, popular, and person you can relate to (for some women), but nonetheless incoherent and uninformed about the major issues that surrounded the 2008 election.
Also when you said: “Women were outraged at the stereotype she portrayed and some were happy to see her fail,” I agreed, but to a different degree. I wasn’t so much for wanting to see her fail. I just felt embarrassed for her and was really disappointed in her. When you chose a candidate for political reasons rather than the right (informed and qualified candidates) ones, the results will speak for themselves.
I think Belkin said it best in her article: "Those who still love her, really love her...And those who don’t love her are embracing the fact that she is someone that they love to hate." Whether you are for or against her, women, and everyone in general, can't seem to get enough of Sarah Palin.