Whether you watched the town-hall style presidential debate last night for the issues, for the drama, or not all all, one thing’s for sure: you’ll have plenty to entertain you today. And not your standard post-debate entertainment – unmemorable lunch break chats with uninformed colleagues, or the go-to subject after a long and awkward silence with your great aunt you haven’t seen in three years – this is real entertainment.
So what exactly was so exciting about watching “Obamney” take turns answering questions and making unsurprisingly typical jabs at one another for 90 minutes? While discussing his pay equity policy publicity efforts, Romney explained that he had noticed all the candidates were males. In the hopes of winning over female voters, he claimed he had, “binders full of women” to chose from. Within minutes, the internet sensation Binders Full of Women Tumblr was born.
Upon checking out this blog, it is clear that Romney magically transported Americans back in time, to the glory days of political “memes,” the George H.W. Bush Presidency, when dedicated “memers” could actually count on the president for content galore; his speeches were packed with syntax errors, stumbles, improper grammar, and out-right offensive remarks lovingly nicknamed “Bush-isms.” As stated by the New York Times, people even thanked Romney on twitter for putting the “LOL” back into politics.
But much like during the H.W. Bush era, the humor isn’t all fun and games. According to the New York Times, some believe Romney’s blunder could be an indication that he will misrepresent women if elected. While this concern may have some validity, with memes this funny, it’s impossible for me to take it too seriously.
If anything, jokesters everywhere have learned a lesson: put a woman in the kitchen and it’s offensive, put her in a binder and it’s funny.
But how funny is it? As of 3:30 this afternoon, the Facebook Page “Binders Full of Women” has more than 302,000 likes – pretty popular right? Many twitter handles inspired by the comment were created, each amassing an impressive amount of followers in under 24 hours. @RomneysBinders, just one of the many twitter parodies that has already claimed 1,500 followers. The Facebook and Twitter profiles feature many images from the Tumblr, which is where it all began. I recommend stalking the Tumblr for yourself, but here are some of my favorites:
1. Because two internet sensations are better than one.
2. Because all powerful men have binders full of women.
3. Because it’s almost Halloween.
4. Because this is the nature of politics.
What do you think of the memes? Are they funny, offensive, or both? Are the binder memes going to be replaced by parodies of the next 2012 election blooper, or are they here to stay?
