Shuffle | Corrine Kenner's Tarot Blog

David Letterman: The Bad Humor Man

Like a lot of Americans, I was disgusted by David Letterman's "Top Ten" jokes about Sarah Palin last week. On Monday, he reported that the Alaskan governor was visiting New York, and that she had stopped by Bloomingdale's for new makeup to update her "slutty flight attendant look." On Tuesday, he said that the Palins had been trying to keep their daughter away from Eliot Spitzer, implying that their girls could be mistaken for prostitutes. And he topped that by joking that Willow, who's all of 14, had been "knocked up" during the seventh-inning stretch of a Yankees game. Letterman's jokes weren't funny. They're classist, for one thing. Clearly, media elites like David Letterman find that it's easy to make fun of "little people," like flight attendants. The comments were misogynistic, too. In a fair world, female politicians wouldn't be singled out -- in crude language, no less -- for their appearance or for raising families. I have to admit, though, that I was a little surprised by the firestorm of objections that followed Letterman's remarks. After all, Sarah Palin and her family have been the butt of jokes ever since she emerged on the nationwide political scene last year. Letterman's jibes didn't seem any worse than any of the countless other wisecracks I've heard at her expense. While his use of the word "slutty" might be over the top, it wasn't far off the usual mark. What's more, the jokes about the Palin kids are old hat. Baby Trig has been mocked for having Down Syndrome, and poor Bristol has suffered from a non-stop series of insults about her pregnancy. I'm also used to the double standard that was on display. Honestly, no one would make similar jokes about Democrat families. Try a quick Google search for "Sasha and Malia Obama jokes," and then compare the results you get with the findings for "Trig Palin jokes" or "Bristol Palin jokes." There's no comparison. I couldn't find a single joke about Sasha or Malia, except for an innocent comment or two that Barack Obama himself made during some of his speeches. The Palin kids, on the other hand, have been viciously skewered at every turn. So why did Letterman's routine incite such a strong response this time around? Let's check the cards. I shuffled my trusty Rider-Waite tarot deck and let it fall open in my hands -- and the card that turned up was the Fool. Clearly, David Letterman is a classic Fool -- a contemporary court jester, entertaining millions of subjects with modern versions of age-old jokes and comedy routines. Perhaps he really was "just kidding," as he claims. But maybe people are getting tired of his brand of humor, too. Maybe Americans -- particularly mainstream, middle-class, conservative Americans -- have simply had enough of people like David Letterman making fun of us. Maybe we're tired of a media that insults and offends us at every turn, and denigrates women and children with impunity. Maybe we're tired of being played for fools ourselves. I also get the sense that David Letterman has a real problem dealing with powerful women. Maybe he has mother issues: I remember how he used to set up his own mother as the focus of some of his comic routines, playfully "teasing" her for her Midwestern values and lifestyle. When David Letterman makes jokes about Sarah Palin, maybe he thinks he's speaking truth to power -- like a medieval clown, cloaking his observations in humor, when no one else feels  free to comment. Maybe he really does think that many a truth is told in jest, and that it's his job to put Sarah Palin in her place. (Again, that would be the misogynist in him.) His latest round of apologies is all over the TV news this morning, so I asked a follow-up question: Is Letterman's latest "mea culpa" sincere? I shuffled again, and the deck fell open to the Queen of Wands. I'd have to say no, David Letterman isn't sorry -- and you don't have to be a wild-eyed psychic to figure that out, either. I remember the first "apology" he offered, in which he suggested that he never meant to insult Sarah Palin's 14-year-old daughter. No: he was attacking the 18-year-old -- an adult of legal age, who really did get "knocked up," and who thereby was fully deserving of a nation's scorn. Whatever. When I first saw the Queen of Wands, though, I saw Sarah Palin -- and I suspect that David Letterman blames her for the response he's getting to his joke. Obviously, he does perceive Palin as a woman with great power, which is what the Queen of Wands represents: she's a fiery, outspoken personality. She's popular and charismatic, and a born leader. In fact, Sarah Palin is one of the few politicians who can draw crowds of thousands wherever she goes. David Letterman is intimidated by Sarah Palin, and on some level, he's afraid of her. His little court jester routine pales in comparison to her popular appeal -- and when she spoke out against his attacks on her daughter, she made him seem like a very small man, indeed. So what will we learn from this latest installment of pop culture and politics? Sadly, nothing -- as evidenced by the next card to reveal itself, the Five of Wands. The Five of Wands suggests that we won't learn anything, at least not in the short term. We'll continue to bicker and squabble amongst ourselves. Oh, maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic. After all, it is a "5" card, halfway between the 1 and the 10 -- so maybe we're at the halfway mark. Maybe we're at some sort of tipping point as a culture, where the divide between Democrats and Republicans can advance beyond petty, humorless attacks and name-calling. We'll see. Time will tell -- and so will the comments that trickle in after this post. If you'd like to comment, feel free, but don't bother telling me that Sarah Palin is dumb, or dangerous, or that she deserves the treatment she's received. I don't agree, you won't change my mind, and that's not the point, anyway. Try to keep your comments to the subject at hand, which is David Letterman and his jokes about the Palins.

Meet and Greet the Media

When I was at the Readers Studio tarot conference in New Jersey last week, I spent some time with the beautiful Sasha Graham -- a publicity-savvy tarot reader from New York City. We traded tarot readings, and she told me that I really need to be more proactively available to the media. A part of me dreads media relations, despite the fact that I was a newspaper reporter and media relations consultant myself, for a long time. Being media is easy -- but being the focus of media attention makes everyone feel self-conscious. Especially when one is afraid of one's double chin being exposed for the whole world to see. I took her advice, though. I agreed that I would give it a try. And when I got home, I stumbled across a posting for a "Meet and Greet the Media" cocktail event at the Mall of America, three miles from my house. Tonight, I was all over that cocktail party, in a new outfit from the discount rack at Macy's, passing out my ginormous photo business cards, and ... Well, I don't know what will come of it. I actually had fun, though. I met a few PR people, and I met a few media types, and I came home with a purse full of business cards. Tomorrow I'll send some follow-up emails and see what happens. I'll do that after I finish a 5 a.m. radio interview that also rolled in unexpectedly this week. This is what happens when you agree to cooperate with Sasha Graham and a few tarot cards.

Easter Cards

Yes, I know the Roman soldiers cast lots at Jesus' crucifixion. I didn't realize, though, that gambling is apparently a modern Easter tradition, too -- until I spotted this display at my neighborhood Walgreens:

The sign above the cards says, "A little chick told me It's Easter Sunday, April 12."

Tarot in the Great White North

My sister -- a landed immigrant who lives slightly north of the 49th parallel -- just sent me a link to this ad, which ran on the back page of Canada's Macleans magazine.

It's not a real tarot deck, but the artist seems to have based the work on the Robin Wood Tarot. The beams of light on the third card and the title bars look like the cards from that deck, don't you think?

Thanks, Claudine!

Hello from Heaven

This is neat: Australians are getting a big hello from the heavens as Venus, Jupiter and a waxing crescent moon combine to create a celestial smiley face.

Photo source

An Ancient Chariot

My friend Nancy told me about this recent find: an ancient chariot unearthed in Bulgaria. A few years ago, when I was working on one of my books, I tried to find information about the mechanics of ancient chariots. For some reason, I wanted to know what the "dashboard" was called ... I never really did find out. At any rate, chariots do interest me, especially from a tarot perspective. I like how they symbolize two seemingly opposing ideals: they're weapons of war, but they're also a way to form links with other groups. (Even if you have to conquer them first.) What's more, chariots embody an ancient connection between defense and self-preservation, both militarily and economically. They're an early relic of the military-industrial complex that plays an important role in our society to this day. And if nothing else, they're neat to look at, and it's fun to imagine riding in one. Chariots were fast. They were dangerous. They were vehicles for brave young men ... they were the fighter jets of their time. Here's the article about the archaeological find:

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Archaeologists have unearthed an elaborately decorated 1,800-year-old chariot sheathed in bronze at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Friday. "The lavishly ornamented four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century A.D.," Veselin Ignatov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the site, near the southeastern village of Karanovo. But he said archaeologists were struggling to keep up with looters, who often ransack ancient sites before the experts can get to them. The bronze-plated wooden chariot is decorated with scenes from Thracian mythology, including figures of a jumping panther and the carving of a mythological animal with the body of a panther and the tail of a dolphin, Ignatov said. He said the chariot, with wheels measuring 1.2 meters (four feet) across, was found during excavations in a funerary mound that archaeologists believe was the grave of a wealthy Thracian aristocrat, as he was buried along with his belongings. The team also unearthed well-preserved wooden and leather objects, some of which the archaeologists believe were horse harnesses. The remains of horses were uncovered nearby. In August, excavations at another ancient Thracian tomb in the same region revealed another four-wheel chariot. Daniela Agre, a senior archaeologist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, had said at the time that it was the first time a completely preserved chariot had been found in Bulgaria. She said previous excavations had only unearthed single parts of chariots — often because ancient sites had been looted.

The rest of the story is here.

The Hanged Man of New York City

David Blaine has suspended himself upside-down in New York's Central Park, where he'll hang for three days and two nights. Like the Norse god Odin, he risks blindness as a result.

It's kind of amazing how often tarot imagery and myths play out in real life.

PS: Read the news stories, and you'll discover a new interpretation for the Hanged Man card: sinus pressure!

Death by the Sword

Remind me not to go to Saudi Arabia on my next book tour.

Saudi Sheikh: Kill Hosts of Horoscope Programs

Member of the High Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Salah Al-Fawzan, has called to kill the hosts of TV horoscope programs on the grounds that they "practice magic." Al-Fawzan contends that, according to Islam, they are guilty of "a crime whose perpetrators must be put to death by the sword," and that "it is forbidden to pray over their bodies."

Tarot and Politics

Lately, I've been thrown off balance by the number of tarot readers who venture into politics online. Today, someone I admire greatly for her kindness and generosity promoted a Deepak Chopra essay on Sarah Palin that was so vitriolic and mean-spirited that it literally took my breath away. You can go read Chopra's work for yourself, if you like. It's a pretty straightforward attack on conservatives. Chopra writes that Republicans represent the shadow side of life, and he says that Republicans base their opinions on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness. Here's what the tarot community needs to remember, though: Half of this country is conservative. Half of this country regularly votes Republican. Half of the people you meet in everyday life lean toward the right, and half of the people who might be interested in learning or reading about tarot could very well disagree with you politically. What's more, no conservative would ever agree with Chopra's assessment of their beliefs -- and no conservative could ever feel comfortable confiding in a tarot reader who publicly suggests, as Chopra does, that Republicans are a demoralizing force who exhort others to obey their worst impulses. On a practical level, I'm always shocked when tarot readers attack conservatives. As a professional tarot reader and an author, I don't think I can afford to antagonize half of my prospective clients and readers. I also think that political attacks cross an ethical boundary we need to recognize. Most of us would never demean a client based on religious beliefs or cultural differences. We go out of our way to be non-judgmental when it comes to other characteristics that define us as individuals, like race and sexuality. For some reason, however, political opinions don't fall under the same umbrella of compassion and protection. In fact, politics seem to be the only arena in which tarot readers regularly feel free to make insulting remarks about other people; you can hardly go to a tarot conference or symposium in which most of the speakers don't make disparaging jokes about conservatives and Republicans. I don't think we should keep going down this road. It's not healthy on a personal level, to feel either on the defensive or on the attack.  It doesn't suit us professionally, either. As tarot readers, we're already marginalized enough. A lot of us even know what it feels like to be demonized for our beliefs.  We face an uphill battle when it comes to gaining respect from the general public -- and we don't need to go looking for people to hurt or offend. PS: For an example of an uplifting political post from a fellow New-Ager, visit Beth's Reiki Artist Blog.

Fortunetellers and the First Amendment

Here's another great article to keep in our files.

Second sight deserves First Amendment protection

By Gene Policinski
May 17, 2007 02:58 PM

Let's gaze deeply into our national crystal ball and look in on the latest flap in Livingston Parish, La. We just may see an unexpected, but nonetheless important, constitutional message.

The parish council - called a county council in most areas - voted unanimously a few days ago to make it illegal in that jurisdiction to predict the future for money. Citing justifications ranging from personal religious beliefs to state law, council members voted for penalties of up to a year in jail and $500 in fines for such "second-sight" activities, according to the Associated Press.

Livingston, in the southeastern part of the state near Baton Rouge, is not alone in trying to regulate or ban tarot-card readings, fortune-telling, psychic readings and a host of similar activities. In the past decade, such attempts have gone to court in states including Nebraska, Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Authorities generally argue that customers of such services are likely to become victims of fraud or illegal confidence schemes. Countering this view, those who make a living predicting the future say that, unless there's evidence of criminal conduct, they have a free-speech right to conduct their business.

An intriguing side argument is made by some that such laws ultimately could be applied to other activities that don't immediately come to mind, such as predicting the stock market, forecasting the weather or - in a stretch - preaching about biblical prophecies, printing horoscopes in newspapers and putting predictions in fortune cookies.

If the past is any indicator of the future - in Livingston or elsewhere - the new local ordinance banning paid predictions of the future seems likely to run smack up against the Bill of Rights.

In Argello v. City of Lincoln (1998), Judge Richard Arnold of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote: "If the citizens of Lincoln wish to have their fortunes told, or to believe in palm-reading or phrenology, they are free to do so under our system of government, and to patronize establishments or 'professionals' who purport to be versed in such arts. Government is not free to declare certain beliefs -- for example, that someone can see into the future -- forbidden. Citizens are at liberty to believe that the earth is flat, that magic is real, and that some people are prophets."

And as U.S. District Judge Robert Echols in Tennessee - in a lawsuit involving tarot readings - said in 2004, earlier cases have held that "predictions are only fraudulent if the speaker knows of facts that will prevent a prediction from coming true." In other words, whatever else it is, under the law fortune-telling isn't a crime unless you intend it to be.

Most Americans, I surmise (not predict), are like me: My belief in readings, séances and psychic forecasts hovers somewhere between healthy skepticism and absolute disbelief. But it's important to note that most speech - whether it expresses my own impeccable logic or someone else's silly belief - is protected from government control. Not just permitted. Or allowed. Or tolerated. But protected with the full force and vigor of an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Why? This nation's founders recognized the desirability - the necessity - of a wide range of free thinking in a free society. Liberty was once an inconceivable concept, save for those who gazed into the future and saw a time when societies would be based on the dignity of man and on inherent freedoms.

Believers in prophets and prophecies, new and old, ought not to have government looking over their shoulders. As Judge Arnold noted, "the line between beliefs (or opinions) and facts is blurry at best. What seems like a provable fact to one person is only an opinion to another: paleontologists ... think that evolution is a scientific fact, while creationists think it is only a false belief."

Education, not regulation, would seem a better way of dealing with the future of star-driven prognostication or colored bits of paper that purport to predict.

It's not that the unwary, the unknowing or the overly trusting don't deserve to be protected from those who would bilk them of money or worse. But to echo Judge Echols, such frauds are crimes and there are already appropriate laws against them.

Basing your behavior on a $25 prediction or gambling your peace-of-mind in sleight-of-hand may well be foolish. But I can predict with certainty that having government decide what we are free to believe is a worse alternative.