I Think He's Got It (Update; Update II)

In case you have somehow missed this pro-Obama video by Lena Dunham, here it is:

I thought it was cute and fairly funny.

Well, as might be expected, the right is absolutely aghast at the depravity of it all. Everyone's quoting Erick Erickson, who sees it, I guess, as a sign of the End Times -- via Little Green Footballs:

What’s worse than the Obama as is that some people really like it. We do live in a fallen, depraved world destined for the fire.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 25, 2012

Romans 1 teaches that when God turns a people loose the first sins they embrace are the sexual lusts of the flesh.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 26, 2012

Ben Shapiro also weighed in, calling the ad "demeaning to women," as if he knows what's demeaning to women. (In light of Shapiro's remarks, it's worth nothing this post at Think Progress. Aside from the "both sides do it" meme, I think they're off-base in a couple of areas, but I can't quite pin it down -- my instincts are outstripping my cognitive functions this morning. I may come back to it.)

The list goes on, and it's pretty funny, all things considered. (Think, for a moment, about the conservative attitude toward women -- "legitimate rape," forced ultrasound scans, the reaction to Sandra Fluke's testimony on the contraception mandate, and on and on.) (Update: On the attitude of conservatives toward women, David Pakman has compiled this:

Is there really more that needs to be said, other than that to the conservative (white male) mind, women are not people.)

We already know that conservatives don't understand metaphor or figurative language in general, but their reactions to this video just throw that lack into high relief.

The observation closest to my own comes from a post by thereisnospoon at Hullabaloo, and it's pretty simple:

For people with a healthy view of sexuality, it's an interesting and charming metaphor designed to turn out the youth vote. Nothing too remarkable.

But then, wingers aren't exactly healthy in the sexuality department.

I think that sums it up.

Update II: Just ran across this post on a letter from Melissa Harris Perry to Richard Mourdock, who's running for the Senate in Indiana and who is another one of those old white guys who don't get it.

Also, too, just a note on my constantly evolving take on contemporary political conservatism and it's relationship to conservative Christianity and the corporatist wing of the Republican party: they don't recognize the concept of humanity as something other than a somewhat limited species designation. "Humanity" as a complex of attitudes, emotional reactions, moral choices, and values is apparently completely outside their ability to grasp.