A few news items have caught my attention recently and I feel the need to share. First of all, the New York Times ran a big story (do they run any other kind of story?) on the stereotype of the big sassy black woman gaining popularity in advertising, and whether this is OK or we should all feel liberal guilt about it unless the advertising in question is written and produced by black people. Fine premise for a story, especially in a slow news month like August. But the example they cite is this Dairy Queen commercial:

"In the spot, a man boarding an airplane sets his ice cream shake down so he can load his bag into an overhead compartment. As he reaches up, another passenger on the plane starts eating the Blizzard. Seeing this, the first man lets go of his bag so he can reclaim his Blizzard and inadvertently drops his luggage on another passenger’s head. That unlucky passenger happens to be an overweight black woman who lets out an irritated gasp that reminds all the passengers around her who not to mess with."


Now, that last sentence ends with a preposition which is a little annoying but I'll let it slide because I'm not that anal a copy editor and that's the sort of thing about which I can't get too upset. But this is the New York Times' standard for sassy, outspoken behavior -- someone drops a suticase on your head and you let out an irritated gasp?? Really?? Have New Yorkers turned into polite Canadians or something? Because "irritated gasp," while probably ranking a "red alert" on the Canadian hostility scale, seems would be a relatively mild reaction to having a suitcase dropped on one's head. But no, according to the New York Times this is evidence that black women are being stereotyped as "strong, aggressive, controlling," as one marketing professor is quoted as saying.

*Irritated sigh* at articles that don't back up their ledes. Ooh, I'm so sassy!

That concludes the media analysis portion of this post. Now, for international news: Spoon-wielding women seize Mexican TV station.
That has got to be the awesomest headline and protest ever. The story never really explains why they're wielding spoons, or how exactly their spoons of protest empowered them to seize a TV station, but I don't even mind because I'm totally willing to use my imagination on this one. Maybe I'll carry a spoon aboard my next plane flight, just in case some doofus drops his suitcase on my head, I won't even have to gasp irritatedly -- I can just hold up that spoon, and everyone will know I am someone with whom they do not want to mess.