She's a Babe

In the late fifties I was barely 17 years old and pretty much on my own. I'd graduated from high school a few weeks earlier (when I was 16) and had started working full time at a stove company.

Then a telephone call from the mother of a friend changed my life forever. There was an opening at the downtown Indianapolis offices of U. S. Steel. She could get me an interview.

Long story short, to my utter surprise, I got the job! A short time later I was working in a glamorous high rise all day and attending college at night. I'd never been happier.

A few weeks later I was speculating (again) with my new roommate who also worked at U. S. Steel, about how in the world I landed that job.

I guess I was thinking what Stewart Smally (aka Al Franken) would later say on SNL: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and, dog gone it, people like me.

But my roommate set me straight by saying: "You got the job because you're a babe!"

Was I flattered? No. I was devastated. I was humiliated. I felt dehumanized.

I was reminded of all of the above this morning when I read Steve Chapman's column in the Chicago Tribune about Sarah Palin. He thinks a large part of the reason for her success is that: "She's a babe, and she doesn't try to hide it."

He quotes Tina Fey who was a remarkable Palin lookalike on SNL as saying "I'll tell you, that lady is five times better looking than I am."

To be fair to Chapman, he says the same thing about Mitt Romney and John Edwards, that their looks have gotten them where they are (or were.)

What do you think? Are we human beings that shallow - that we would give national status and power to a person just because "she's a babe?"

I hope not. It's humiliating to all parties concerned.


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