--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One reason that we have collectively…" description: "\"One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill Cosby is that he made lots of Americans feel go..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg" --- # One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears… ![“One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill Cosby is that he made lots of Americans feel good about two things we rarely have reason to feel good about: race and gender.” quote by Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg) > “One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill Cosby is that he made lots of Americans feel good about two things we rarely have reason to feel good about: race and gender.” [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People cling to Cosby’s image because he offered rare positive representations of race and gender, despite his crimes. **In simple terms:** Cosby’s appeal filled a representation void. Key Takeaway Critically examine why harmful figures become symbols. Themes media race gender celebrity Mood critical thoughtful Type sociopolitical cultural critique When to use this quote - media analysis - public discourse - education curricula Key Concepts cultural studies social psychology Questions to Reflect On - Why do societies elevate flawed icons? - How can we foster healthier role models? A Different Perspective Simplistic explanations ignore systemic issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gender/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) ## Related quotes > [We have reason to feel good, but it's also a threat to feel too good and I will pay attention that that doesn't happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-vettel/we-have-reason-to-feel-good-but-it-s-also-a-threat-to-feel-too-good/) [Sebastian Vettel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-vettel/) > [Though Hillary Rodham married Bill Clinton 11 years after Camille Hanks married Bill Cosby, and after having earned her own law degree, the terms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/though-hillary-rodham-married-bill-clinton-11-years-after-camille/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [Camille Hanks, whose upper-middle-class parents both had college degrees, was a student at the University of Maryland planning on a teaching career when she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/camille-hanks-whose-upper-middle-class-parents-both-had-college/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [Trillions of dollars spent on foreign wars have done nothing to make Americans feel safer at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-scaramucci/trillions-of-dollars-spent-on-foreign-wars-have-done-nothing-to-make/) [Anthony Scaramucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-scaramucci/) > [Many Americans feel themselves inferior in the presence of anyone with an English accent, which is why an English accent has become fashionable in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-newman/many-americans-feel-themselves-inferior-in-the-presence-of-anyone/) [Edwin Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-newman/) > [The media try to make rank-and-file Americans feel guilty about buying a gun. 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People forget what a great tradition we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/a-very-hurting-thing-for-black-americans-to-feel-that-we-can-t-love/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [The tropical island of Puerto Rico couldn't be more different than America's rust belt or the mountains of Appalachia, but here too live Americans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-campos-duffy/the-tropical-island-of-puerto-rico-couldn-t-be-more-different-than/) [Rachel Campos-Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-campos-duffy/) > [I'm comparing Americans to international peers in terms of GDP, educational system - the sort of benchmarks we used to designate a so-called developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/i-m-comparing-americans-to-international-peers-in-terms-of-gdp/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [Unlike Washington, which is stuck in ideological gridlock, Americans feel the impact of climate change in their own hometowns and they know something must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/unlike-washington-which-is-stuck-in-ideological-gridlock-americans/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [As opposed to getting into arguments about, well, these folks have been treated fairly so now we're going to be doing things that, very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/as-opposed-to-getting-into-arguments-about-well-these-folks-have-been/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) ## More by Rebecca Traister > [“..the expectations of Republican Motherhood – in which women’s obligations were the instilling of civic virtue in offspring and the moral maintenance of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/the-expectations-of-republican-motherhood-in-which-women-s/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [“Andrea Dworkin famously commented that “Marriage as an institution developed from rape as a practice.” In”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/andrea-dworkin-famously-commented-that-marriage-as-an-institution/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [Changing professional expectations and technological tools have created an impossibility of balancing work and life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/changing-professional-expectations-and-technological-tools-have/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [I'd spent my whole adult life considering myself an independent entity, my life filled by work and friends and family. Suddenly I had a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/i-d-spent-my-whole-adult-life-considering-myself-an-independent/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [The lack of marriage is being blamed for almost every social ill - whether it's gun violence, whether it's poverty, whether it's the dropping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/the-lack-of-marriage-is-being-blamed-for-almost-every-social-ill/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [“Friedan also didn’t consider the population of American women who were already altering marriage patterns,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/friedan-also-didn-t-consider-the-population-of-american-women-who/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [After Emancipation, black women married earlier and more often because they were legally free to do so for the first time, and that was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/after-emancipation-black-women-married-earlier-and-more-often-because/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [Throughout America's history, the start of adult life for women - whatever else it might have been destined to include - had been typically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/throughout-america-s-history-the-start-of-adult-life-for-women/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [“In his 1873 Sex in Education; or A Fair Chance for the Girls, Harvard professor Edward Clarke argued that the female brain, if engaged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/in-his-1873-sex-in-education-or-a-fair-chance-for-the-girls-harvard/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [By the time Clinton graduated from Yale Law School, many people, including her boyfriend Bill, believed she could, and should, embark on a political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/by-the-time-clinton-graduated-from-yale-law-school-many-people/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [In 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 64 percent of mothers with children under six worked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/in-2013-according-to-the-bureau-of-labor-statistics-around-64-percent/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [Since the late 19th century, the median age of first marriage for women had fluctuated between 20 and 22. This had been the shape,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/since-the-late-19th-century-the-median-age-of-first-marriage-for/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [“we “are married, or have been, or plan to be, or suffer from not being.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/we-are-married-or-have-been-or-plan-to-be-or-suffer-from-not-being/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [There is a kind of woman who is economically powerful, professionally powerful, who threatens a white male grip on power that has a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/there-is-a-kind-of-woman-who-is-economically-powerful-professionally/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) > [One of the favorite conservative themes is that the cure for poverty is more marriage and earlier marriage. We hear that all the time;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/one-of-the-favorite-conservative-themes-is-that-the-cure-for-poverty/) [Rebecca Traister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) [Explore all 105 Rebecca Traister quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/) ## More Feel good quotes > [Good girls don't hurt other people's feelings. Good girls are not overly aggressive, competitive, or boastful. Good girls please others. But what good girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jane-gilman/good-girls-don-t-hurt-other-people-s-feelings-good-girls-are-not/) [Susan Jane Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jane-gilman/) > [You don't need to take a persons advice to make him feel good, just ask him for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-j-peter/you-don-t-need-to-take-a-persons-advice-to-make-him-feel-good-just/) [Laurence J. 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There's nothing like being in good voice, feeling good, having good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-keel/as-long-as-i-can-sing-halfway-decent-i-d-rather-sing-than-act-there-s/) [Howard Keel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-keel/) > [Life is not a PG feel-good movie. Real life often ends badly. Literature tries to document this reality, while showing us it is still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-quick/life-is-not-a-pg-feel-good-movie-real-life-often-ends-badly/) [Matthew Quick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-quick/) > [I always suggest that when you're going through cancer to find something in your day that makes you feel centered and that makes you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-newton-john/i-always-suggest-that-when-you-re-going-through-cancer-to-find/) [Olivia Newton-John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-newton-john/) > [It wasn't like, 'I'ma lose weight and start doing dramas.' I wanted to be healthier, and that was the impetus for wanting to lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-hill/it-wasn-t-like-i-ma-lose-weight-and-start-doing-dramas-i-wanted-to-be/) [Jonah Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-hill/) > [I like pie! Pie with proper pastry and a meaty filling always works. It just makes you feel good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-whaite/i-like-pie-pie-with-proper-pastry-and-a-meaty-filling-always-works-it/) [John Whaite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-whaite/) > [What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/what-is-moral-is-what-you-feel-good-after-and-what-is-immoral-is-what/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I don't feel I'm as good a mum as my mum was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/i-don-t-feel-i-m-as-good-a-mum-as-my-mum-was/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [I love Muji pens. 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But I want to feel good, and I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arden-myrin/i-don-t-need-to-be-on-the-cover-of-maxim-but-i-want-to-feel-good-and/) [Arden Myrin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arden-myrin/) Browse all 2,333 Feel good quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill Cosby is that he made lots of Americans feel good about two things we rarely have reason to feel good about: race and gender.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Traister" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plugged-our-ears-against-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Feel good" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plugged-our-ears-against-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/155/rebecca-traister-4925_feel-good_one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plu_2828380.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill…” — Rebecca Traister", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rebecca Traister", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-traister/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "One reason that we have collectively...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plugged-our-ears-against-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-traister/one-reason-that-we-have-collectively-plugged-our-ears-against-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```