The Blog

Apparently, now even old people aren’t allowed their golden gaffe-pass.

Last week, social media and TV broadcasters weighed in after 89-year-old White House Press Room icon Helen Thomas’ admittedly insensitive and historically ignorant comments about Israeli-Palenstinian relations in the Middle East.

I get that voicing any unflattering opinions about Israel or the Jewish people invites a firestorm of criticism, calls for your firing or voluntary resignation from a job and, perhaps, obnoxious campaigns to tarnish any legacy you might have had prior to said gaffe. Fair or not, it’s always been like that. And the same can be said for comments made about Blacks, gays, Hispanics…must I list it all?

But come on! Helen Thomas? Eighty-nine-year-old Helen Thomas? The wrinkly old lady asking Press Secretary Robert Gibbs questions about troop withdrawal timelines in the middle of a briefing about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? You want to pick a fight with the woman who was caught speaking off the cuff by a RabbiLive.com videographer and only gave her opinion because she was asked? The same woman who was a reporter covering U.S. presidents when the parents of the inventors of YouTube were just kids?

Surely else someone has to see the irony in this. In your 80’s you are supposed to be able to say pretty much whatever you want. My late grandmother did. And we just laughed it off. Hell, recently I interviewed a woman in her 80’s who inferred that I was gay and not corporate material because I have a pierced ear — “hardware” as she put it. I shrugged it off.

Am I saying that Helen Thomas should be exempt from exhibiting a certain degree of professionalism because of her age? Absolutely not. As a (now former) member of the press, she should not have made those comments if she knew they were going to end up on the web. But she should not have to think that she isn’t entitled to an opinion because said opinion might be unpopular, unflattering or ignorant of history. What messages are the reactions to her comments really sending?

“No, Grandma Helen, Jewish people should not go back to Germany or Poland. When we get back to the retirement home I’ll read you a history book while you enjoy your apple sauce.”

Enjoy your retirement, Ms. Thomas.