I swore off The View awhile back but every so often I'll be on the elliptical, flipping the channels, and there it is--a train wreck that I can't turn away from. As was the case this morning, October 1. Whoopi, Joy, Sherri and Elisabeth trekked out to the table to discuss the hot topics. First up, the previous night's 60 Minutes interview with Justice Clarence Thomas. The ladies started yakking, opining and lecturing--and completely misinforming the American public about the segment and Justice Thomas' statements.
I don't agree with many decisions Justice Thomas has made on the court so this is certainly not an "in defense of" Clarence Thomas rant. Instead, this is about my growing frustration with the women on The View who do not understand that listening is a verb. It is active. It requires energy and thought. Judging from their comments, it felt, as if, they decided what they were going to say about Thomas sometime Sunday morning and may or may not have watched the actual interview. The danger in this is that so many people actually get their "news" from hot topics (It seems Sherri Shephard does as each day she finds a way to seem more clueless than the last).
So...let's clear up a few things. Whoopi started off talking about how Clarence Thomas is against affirmative action. Joy jumped in to say how hypocritcal that is considering that he used the system to get where he is today. Elisabeth rambled on about her inability to form an opionion on this issue. And Sherri made it clear she knew nothing about the subject. Again, I am not supporting the Justice's opinion here, but no one on the panel bothered to point out that Thomas addressed the issue in his interview. He talked about graduating from Yale Law School and not being able to get a job because employers felt his was "let in" to Yale instead of earning a spot there. To this day, he has a 10 cent sticker on his degree because it felt worthless to him after graduation. He also pointed out that he does believe in programs to help "the disadvantaged" have access to opportunities but that he does not believe disadvantaed is the same thing as being black. And again I will state, I am not siding with the Justice but for the women on The View to have had an educated conversation, someone might have mentioned this.
When it came to the hot hot topic of abortion, Joy started opining about how the Justice believes the states should have the power to decide this issue and not the court. Joy turned to Elisabeth and asked something to the effect that if Thomas thinks abortion is a sin, what's the point in having the states weigh in? As a strong supporter of Roe vs. Wade, I listened carefully to Thomas on 60 Minutes. He never said abortion is a sin. He is extremely conservative in his interpretation of the Constitution and therefore believes that abortion is not a right given in the Constitution. Instead, he insists that the state's should have the power to decide this issue because the people of each state would then have the right to vote on the matter. Once again, I don't agree with this but I, at least, HEARD what the man had to say.
It's unfortunate that Elisabeth who is supposedly the "conservative voice" never has anything useful or informative to offer in these conversations. Joy is much more articulate and passionate and therefore dominates the table with often one-sided thoughts. Sherri, while a seemingly very hard-working nice person, is useless in any debates as it has become clear in the first few weeks that she is not the brightest blub on the marquee.
So what's my advice the women of The View didn't ask for...
Ladies, if the audience is going to take the time to listen to you talk and rant on a daily basis, is it really too much to ask for you to start truly listening to what others have to say?
