Critical comments about Hillary ‘laughing’ about piracy are making their way through the net. In this instance, as in all, context is key and Hillary-bashers are way off the mark here.
Whenever dealing with what someone says, context is key. It could be the surrounding conversation, the larger point, the nature of the comment (Is it satire? Facetious? Sarcasm? Mockery?) or in this case, Hillary is standing next to the Foreign Minister of Morocco which explains her laughter, obviously an indication of the irony of the moment. Here’s the video:
Why is there ironic laughter while standing next Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi-Fihri? The Barbary pirates we fought (and defeated) 200 years ago were Muslim Moroccans and Algerians. That’s called irony and that’s why she laughed.
There’s plenty about which to mock to Obama admin, but this episode is not one of them.
Thank you, Tammy. Hillary was making a historical joke. Conservatives really ought to have a notion of history (else, what are we conserving?).
I honestly don’t see what the problem is? She was making a reference to history, hence the chuckle. But since history isn’t taught in schools anymore, for a number of generations, people(i.e. the media), will find anything to make Hilary look bad, and to take every and anything out of context. For those who don’t know, Thomas Jefferson deployed our new, young Navy to defeat the Barberys over 200 years ago.
As far as our lack of reaction and Obama’s inaction, maybe we should channel Jefferson. I’m sick of all this talk. These beasts, and those in the Middle East are watching us. We are a paper tiger.
There has been quite a bit resurrected and written in recent years on the Barbary episode of American History and the Europeans’s opinions of the day.
I need not enter a bibliography here. Why? Americans barely read more than a headline, or listen to a sound-bite. I don’t think Letterman or Maher comment on History – unless approved of by Howard Zinn or Bill Ayres.
How does one get a laugh off the history of our sailors offered on the slave auctions? (If they could find a giggle, they’d try it.)
When we hear how American respect is subject to world polls, it’s for the same reason.
We evidently no longer take our sovereignty seriously: Why should the rest of the world?
Hillary is laughing because she is nervous … doesn’t have her facts … and looks like she’s ready to fall asleep.