Susan Rice

Condi Rice

Hey wasn’t Lysistrata great? What

do you say you and I get all the

women together to end all this war

that’s going on?

That might be the worst idea

I’ve ever heard. If we weren’t

constantly at war, how would we

keep American’s safe?

God damnit Condi! Would you just

listen to yourself. If we’re constantly

at war, all those American’s fighting

aren’t safe!

But there are all those

weapons of mass destruction

out there¹. We need to find them!!

Just hear me out. We’ll do

just as Lysistrata did. But wait,

how will you withhold sex from

your husband if you don’t have one?²

Maybe George is already

married, but I know

if I stop putting out, he’ll be

all for stopping this war³.

Oh that’s right, I forgot that you and George

were so close, it makes sense though,

you always looked like you were better

suited for a Bush than a Dick⁴.

Very funny…but it doesn’t

sound like you’re too worried

about stopping the war though.

Being the anti-war enthusiast

that you are, it’s kind of unusual that

you would agree to send more troops

to Afghanistan⁵. Maybe if you weren’t

spending all your time posing for magazines you’d remember where you came from.⁶

Hey sometimes when Bush and Dick

get you into trouble you need

to send some people in there to

eliminate the problem.

Listen, if you want

to know how to play the war

game just ask! I’ve got plenty

tricks up my sleeve. If you ever

capture someone that you think

knows information about, A-the

axis of evil⁷, or B-weapons of mass

destruction, I know exactly how to

get them to talk⁸.

The axis of evil? Is that even real? And,

don’t you feel bad for approving

the torture of all those people?

You know what would be even

more torturous than water-boarding?

If they would send some Amazon like

women, much like yourself, over there

to try and pump them for information

I don’t feel bad. It was

the right thing to do. And

I don’t find your comparison

of me to an Amazon woman

to be funny at all. My parents

always told me to be proud of my

stature.

There’s no way you can

feel good about yourself

knowing that you approve of

torturing people, especially

ones that don’t have any information

to give you, their being tortured just

on the basis of where they’re from.

I did what I had to do Suze.

It’s not easy to keep a job these

days. And when the Dick tells us

what to do, the Bush and I listen

You didn’t take anything

away from this play did you?

Us woman need to do what’s right.

And if that means to go against the Dick,

then so be it.

You know, maybe you’re

right. Maybe I am a little too

harsh. Maybe I should think

for myself instead of following

whatever my mistress has to say.

Maybe war isn’t so great.

That’s more like it Condi.

1. Condoleezza Rice agreed with the decision to go to war with Iraq on the grounds that there were weapons of mass destruction

2. Condoleezza Rice has never been married

3. While National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice referred to President Bush as her husband at a dinner party

4. A tabloid rumor for a long time is that Condoleezza Rice is a lesbian

5. Susan Rice was in support of President Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan

6. Susan Rice received some scrutiny for posing to Vogue magazine

7. Condoleezza Rice was a believer in the weapons of mass destruction

8. Condoleezza Rice approved of waterboarding

References

Susan Rice

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/02/obamas-un-envoy-got-iraq_n_147649.html

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/09/11/susan-rice-defends-obamas-afghanistan-troop-increase.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/world/22rice.html?_r=1

http://blacksnob.com/snob_blog/2009/5/28/un-ambassador-susan-rice-is-en-vogue.html

Condoleezza Rice

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900544.html

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Condoleezza-Rice-Iraq-war-was-right/2005/01/19/1106110808027.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/205/000024133/

http://woodenspears.com/who-is-the-husband-of-condoleezza-rice/

http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/2007/12/condoleezza-ric.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/condoleezza-rice-cheney-a_n_190340.html

Explanation

In my dialogue between Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice, I employed several different types of humor. Both Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice are very smart women; with I’m assuming very strong personalities. Their political views are quite different, Susan believing more in resolving conflict through negotiation and conversation, whereas Condoleezza believes in using more power and force in solving problems. In the dialogue I tried to highlight these differences using the recently viewed Lysistrata play. For the nature of the assignment, I had to choose one character to “lose” and one to “win”. Through the information I gathered, it became apparent that Condoleezza Rice is often referred to as someone who is ruthless and almost even “blood hungry”. It seemed funnier to me to embellish these aspects of her as opposed to Susan Rice’s more peaceful tactics. With Susan “winning” the argument, this leads to an approach towards war that utilizes more peaceful tactics. Condoleezza concedes her power strategies in the end and at the least questions whether war is necessary.

Keeping in accordance to the “blood hungry” mentality of Condoleezza Rice, it seemed fitting to make her narrow minded, and focused only on war and torture. Contrarily, the “type-cast” of someone who is more open to conversation is that they’re “soft” and only care about people’s feelings. So naturally I made Susan Rice the voice of reason at the end, helping Condoleezza to come to her senses and see that war and torture is not always the best answer.

The type of humor that is used the most in the dialogue is superiority humor and the person using it most is Susan Rice. Susan made several comments about Condoleezza, much like Lysistrata made about men in general. An example of the superiority humor in the dialogue is when Susan makes fun of Condoleezza for not being married. The pleasure that takes place in these types of jokes is at the expense of Condoleezza.

Other types of humor utilized were release humor and self deprecating humor. There are a few jokes that involve the male and female anatomy and these are somewhat taboo topics. Also, these may be included in the superiority category because they are being used in reference to a person (George Bush and Dick Cheney), so it is partly making fun of them as well. The self deprecating humor in the dialogue comes when Condoleezza Rice responds to Susan Rice about being unmarried. Condoleezza responds by saying that not only is she married, she’s married to a very influential man. I felt that it would be funnier for Condoleezza to bring up her reference of George Bush being her husband in a self deprecating fashion.

This dialogue uses multiple types of humor including: superiority, release, and self deprecating. Also, the embellishment of the two characters’ perceived personalities added an element of humor to the dialogue. Both Susan and Condoleezza state their opposing opinions at the beginning of the dialogue and by the end, Condoleezza’s “heart is softened” and she is more open to non-conflict strategies.