Perfectly timed for Colonial Day, the people at Fox News decide to dip into the barrel bottom of stupidity, trying to figure out whether or not a statue could be transgender, based on the gender of the model. This level of stupid might require a brand new descriptor.
Fox News took time over the holiday weekend to assure viewers that a recent theory suggesting the State of Liberty was modeled after a man could not be true.
According to an upcoming Discovery Family channel program, French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi may have used his brother as a model for the Statue of Liberty instead of his mother as most historians believe.
[…]
But on Sunday, Fox & Friends spoke to New York University Professor Edward Berenson to assuage concerns that Lady Liberty could be a man presenting as a woman.
“Is Lady Liberty actually a man?” Fox News host Peter Doocy asked, sounding shocked.
“This guy [Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi], when he was in New York wrote his mother every single day,” Berenson insisted. “If he wasn’t going to do his mom and was going to do his brother instead, we’d have that in the correspondence.”
“This guy” … “If he wasn’t going to do his mother”. Hmmm, well that’s certainly some scholarly talk right there. They needed a professor for this?
“I just assume somebody was playing a prank on us,” Doocy opined. “Are we supposed to think this French guy was pulling a fast one the U.S., ‘Hey, I’m going to say it’s a woman but it’s really going to be a guy. And they’re not going to be able to figure it out for a really long time.’”
“I really doubt it,” Berenson comforted Doocy. “This was not a tongue-in-cheek gift. This was a real serious business. He loved the United States, he loved American liberty.”
“Is it possible the Statue of Liberty transcends both masculinity and femininity?” co-host Anna Kooiman wondered. “That it’s just a symbol of liberty?”
“I think there’s no question she’s a woman,” Berenson replied. “But she’s very powerful woman.”
“There’s no question that she’s a tough lady,” he added. “She’s a lady.”
There just isn’t enough facepalm. Fox News is a symptom. Going by the symptom, uStates is halfway down the drain. In related news, New low: Gallup poll says only 52% are ‘extremely proud’ to be Americans. What a surprise. :eyeroll:
PZ Myers says
Jebus. Fox & Friends. One of the dumbest shows on TV.
Caine says
I’ve never watched it on purpose, but someone at the Pain Clinic always has it on in the waiting room. It’s an agonizing torture.
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
I hate to break it to them, but actually it’s a great big fuckton of metal.
Kengi says
Clever. No matter how effective, their treatment always makes you feel better after getting out of the waiting room.
thebookofdave says
FOX News defends American values, takes a hard look up the skirt of Liberty.
kestrel says
Seriously? This obsession with other people’s genitals extends to a *statue*? Were they planning on having sex with it or something?
And what possible difference would the gender of the model make?
Sometimes people just floor me.
procyon says
Perhaps this is just the opening shot in a right wing drive to disassemble the Statue of Liberty. They don’t agree with the sentiments the Statue represents anyway. After all, the immigrants of the 1880s look nothing like the immigrants of 2016.
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Pure SJW nonsense designed to destroy the nation from within.
Caine says
Procyon @ 7:
Unfortunately, that fine sentiment has a history of being ignored.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267
Pierce R. Butler says
… the Pain Clinic always has it on in the waiting room. It’s an agonizing torture.
Sounds like the clinic is well-named.
Have you suggested they switch to the Cooking Channel or something as innocuous -- or would that just make them tune in, say, CBN -- and louder?
Caine says
Pierce:
No. I just take my tablet, which is loaded with my playlists and a pair of headphones. Unsuprisingly, there’s a lot of old folks at the pain clinic (I’m on of them, but older than me (58), in their late 60s and 70s) who like watching Fox.
wcorvi says
“… the Pain Clinic always has it on in the waiting room. It’s an agonizing torture.”
.
I know what you mean. At first I was thrilled with my new job in the Severe Burn ward of the hospital, but then extremely disappointed when I realized they came in already that way.
Caine says
wcorvi @ 11:
All you had to do was say you were upset. My choice of words was thoughtless and insensitive, I apologize.