{"id":1317144,"date":"2019-12-05T23:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T06:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/manieri-column-tis-the-season-for-phony-outrage-and-made-up-controversies\/"},"modified":"2019-12-05T23:24:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T06:24:01","slug":"manieri-column-tis-the-season-for-phony-outrage-and-made-up-controversies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/manieri-column-tis-the-season-for-phony-outrage-and-made-up-controversies\/","title":{"rendered":"Manieri column: \u2018Tis the season for phony outrage and made up controversies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Rich Manieri<\/strong>
BLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Thanks in large part to social media, and in equally large part to the mean-spirited discourse of the day, virtually anything can be turned into a national controversy.<\/p>\n

For Exhibit A, I go to Melania Trump or, more specifically, to the first lady\u2019s coat.<\/p>\n

If you remember last holiday season, Mrs. Trump was lambasted by the media and Hollywood types for her red Christmas trees.<\/p>\n

This year, because there are no red Christmas trees or otherwise scandalous decorations in the White House, Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan went wardrobe on Melania.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelania Trump\u2019s Christmas decorations are lovely, but that coat looks ridiculous,\u201d Givhan wrote. She also called it \u201ca discomforting affectation taken to a ludicrous extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on Givhan\u2019s criticism, you\u2019d think the first lady was wearing a fresh bear carcass with the head still on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m no expert in women\u2019s fashion, as any woman I know will attest. But I like the coat. I would encourage you to see for yourself, but in the photo released by the White House, the coat is draped over her shoulders. I\u2019m not sure of the color. Looks like an off-white or beige to me, but I think it looks nice. But, as I say, I\u2019m no expert.<\/p>\n

Was it Sigmund Freud or Calvin Klein who said, \u201cSometimes a coat is just a coat.\u201d?<\/p>\n

For Exhibit B \u2014 and I could keep going down the alphabet but there\u2019s only so much time \u2014 I take you to Twitter, currently abuzz with criticisms and parody videos of a holiday Peloton commercial made by angry people with incredible amounts of downtime.<\/p>\n

CNN ran a story under the headline, \u201cPeloton\u2019s perplexing new holiday ad has incensed the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The internet is always incensed about something, so that\u2019s not exactly breaking news. But the ad itself, which you\u2019ve probably seen by now, features a woman receiving a Peloton indoor bike as a gift from her husband and then chronicling her fitness journey on video.<\/p>\n

The ad has been called sexist, among other things.<\/p>\n

In its report, CNN asks the question, \u201cSo what, then, makes this ad so offensive?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question, of course, assumes that everyone finds the ad offensive.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see what\u2019s offensive about it. It seems to me that Peloton has actually exercised (see what I did there?) significant restraint, under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

Peloton bikes feature an interactive screen with live and on-demand fitness classes led by a professional. Imagine the possibilities for offending.<\/p>\n

\u201cPick up the pace, pork chop!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is your house so dark? You must be blocking out the sun. Pedal faster!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on! Imagine there\u2019s a pizza at the finish line!<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s offensive.<\/p>\n

As it stands, I don\u2019t see what\u2019s objectionable about a well-to-do, professional woman getting an exercise bike as a gift. But I\u2019d clearly be in the minority in any survey of the frequently outraged and easily offended, a growing group which now includes Vice writer Katie Way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer grim motivation that pushes her to drag herself out of bed combined with exclaiming at the camera how blatantly, inexplicably nervous the Peloton makes her paint a bleak portrait of a woman in the thrall of a machine designed to erode her spirit as it sculpts her quads,\u201d Way wrote. \u201cTitled \u2018The Gift That Gives Back,\u2019 the 30-second commercial is a mere glimpse into the barrage of horror its protagonist, a young wife and mother, slogs through daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBarrage of horror\u201d might be just a bit strong. The woman is pedaling a bike, not landing on Omaha Beach.<\/p>\n

These bikes aren\u2019t cheap \u2014 about $2,500 \u2014 and given the woman\u2019s luxurious surroundings, some have said the commercial smacks of \u201cprivilege,\u201d which I suppose means a privileged person can be defined thus: Someone who has something I want but can\u2019t afford so she shouldn\u2019t have it either.<\/p>\n

There is one thing a little odd about the ad. The woman featured appears just as fit at the beginning of the commercial as she does at the end. This is not a \u201cbefore and after\u201d scenario. The benefits of her fitness journey seem a little ambiguous.<\/p>\n

But why should I care? My workout often includes hitting tractor tires with a sledge hammer. Whatever gets you through the day.<\/p>\n

Was it Freud or Jack LaLanne who said, \u201cSometimes a bike is just a bike\u201d?<\/p>\n

Rich Manieri is a Philadelphia-born journalist and author. He is currently a professor of journalism at Asbury University in Kentucky. You can reach him at manieri2@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rich ManieriBLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer Thanks in large part to social media, and in equally large part to the mean-spirited discourse of the day, virtually anything can be turned into a national controversy. For Exhibit A, I go to Melania Trump or, more specifically, to the first lady\u2019s coat. If you remember last holiday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 10:18:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}