And the RBG Leadership Award Goes To . . .

For the "Not-from-the-Onion" File

In descending order of absurdity, the five honorees this year are: Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Milken, and Martha Stewart.

Seriously?!  Yes, I am afraid so.

The award has been given annually since 2019 by the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, and was established to "recognize an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice." Previous winners were Barbra Streisand, Diane Von Furstenburg, and Queen Elizabeth II.

The Foundation - set up after the death of Mr. Opperman, who was the CEO of West Publishing Company and a Trustee of NYU Law School for many years, as well as a personal friend of the Justice - issued a press release announcing the award that breaks new ground in tone-deafness.  E.g.,

"Justice Ginsburg became an icon by bravely pursuing her own path and prevailing against the odds," said Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr., chair of the RBG Award. "The honorees reflect the integrity and achievement that defined Justice Ginsburg's career and legend." [How, exactly?]

"Regardless of Elon Musk's stratospheric accomplishments, in receiving the first RBG Award for Entrepreneurship, Musk's focus is clear and unwavering: 'Free speech is the foundation of democracy,' Musk said."

"Rupert Murdoch, the most iconic living legend in media, will be bestowed with the Media Mogul RBG Award. Murdoch said: 'This recognition not only reflects my journey in the media and publishing industry but also represents the relentless defense of civil liberties and a commitment to civil discourse that Justice Ginsburg embodied'"

You could come up with a less appropriate list of honorees - but not easily. It is truly unbelievable. Not that the Foundation might want to bestow awards on incredibly rich white guys; as the saying goes, "I was born on a Tuesday, but it wasn't last Tuesday," and I understand how this game works. But that nobody stopped and said "Um, maybe this won't look so great"? Or "Maybe we should go for the only-one-incredibly-rich-white-guy-a-year strategy"?

I know both of RBG's children - record producer James and law professor Jane - and I was wondering how they would react to the news.  Their reaction came over the weekend in a public announcement: "An affront to the memory of our mother" and "an insult to her name and legacy," and a demand that her name be removed from the award.  Sounds right to me.

Comments

[Noscitur a sociis]

Pretty solid trolling.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

By whom? The whole thing smells like a setup, from the inside to the outside. Maybe he's angling for an Onion gig, not realizing the Babylon Bee has long since dethroned them.

[Vryedni]

Lol. The Babylon Bee is a humorless partisan’s imagining of an Onion for right wingers. For one thing, The Onion skewers both sides. The Babylon Bee doesn’t. For another, The Onion is funny. The Babylon Bee isn’t. Unless your idea of funny is the same “muh pronouns!” joke repeated ad infinitum.

[Kleppe]

Always a pleasure when David Post drops by to seethe.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I sense Julie Opperman has lost her marbles but still has her husband's money.

[santamonica811]

What to do, when reality out-parodies parody?

Not sure whether to laugh or to cry at this.

[grb]

Ms Opperman’s hijack of Ginsburg’s name is just part of this award farce. Consider : Martha Stewart and Sylvester Stallone were picked as honorees by this year’s committee.

That’s perfectly understandable. Martha Stewart and Sylvester Stallone’s wife were members of last year’s committee. Once you deduct their rote awards, you’re left with the core of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award winners: Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, and Michael Milken.

Two points :

1. I understand members of this year’s committee haven’t been anounced. It would be helpful if they were so we can start guessing who'll be gifted next year.

2. The Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award (its name before this year) was a perfectly ordinary award recognizing woman of accomplishment before the MAGA widow took over. Is there anything Trumpites can’t beclown?

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"The Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award (its name before this year) was a perfectly ordinary award recognizing woman of accomplishment before the MAGA widow took over."

Maybe the widow got tired of the debates over who's a woman?

[The Margrave of Azilia]

The press release makes this claim:

"The legendary Martha Stewart was on Justice Ginsburg's original wish list of potential honorees. In fact, the Justice requested that Martha Stewart be on the Foundation's selection committee, and she has been present and supportive from the award's conception."

Do we know if this is true?

[Kazinski]

I somewhat agree with the ridiculousness of giving celebrities and billionaires awards for courage, unless of course the literally rush into a burning building and save someone.

But it must be a day for absurdity, seeing Ilya's post below about the "insightful" "economics and politics of Star Trek".

[nicmart]

Cato has changed its tune.

'The dinner committee included Kurt Schmoke, the Democratic mayor of Baltimore, and Michael Milken, the junk bond king whose conviction on securities charges was a cause celebre at the deregulation-minded Cato."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/05/07/cato-institutes-unregulated-bash/67931aca-5ec2-40ae-a4b0-51cb3e613c9a/

[ReaderY]

Elon Musk, whatever else one may think about him, is recognizably extraordinary. But is he “an extradordinary woman?”

[SKofNJ]

Why is Prof. Bernstien saying that it is wrong to give the award to Musk and Murdoch because they are white males?

[Rubbish!]

Each nominee is notorious. That should be enough to qualify for the Notorious RBG award.

[jdgalt1]

I'm glad the award givers are not intersectionality-bigots. I cannot say the same for the writer of this piece.