No matter your political affiliation, you have probably scrolled past a video of a screaming, beautiful blonde girl on your Facebook. Her name is Tomi Lahren. She has risen to the ranks of news stardom by spouting the mega - conservative agenda in such a theatrical and aggrandized way that her videos are catapulted to viral for their sheer sensationalism. She rose to stardom with a shock inducing rant about then - president Obama's tactics against terrorism, characterizing them as having a: "half-way, half-baked, tip-toe, be-friendly-to-Jihadis mentality."
Let's discuss the three major ways in which Tomi Lahren has turned news into a playground for sensational comments that call for viral viewing numbers instead of posing solutions for actual change or compromise.
Lahren's Final Thoughts are the Most Problematic
Lahren likes to assume that her final thoughts are just her verbalizing the thoughts of millions of Americans across the country, she is just doing the kind thing and using her platform to speak for those Americans.
Was she using her platform for good when she called Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams "someone who perpetuates a war on cops,” after he was given a BET award for activism? https://youtu.be/AO-MQ2V0OyE She went on to ask if the "high paid TV actor," saw himself as a victim. Clearly not, he was just using his platform to speak out on an issue in the same way that you claim to.
Were her final thoughts a bit too much when she reduced the women's march on DC to a protest against Trump? The title for her Women's March video was "there was a women's march on Washington but reality didn't show up." Actually Tomi, the harsh reality of impending changes to our HUMAN RIGHTS were completely present and the reason for the march. So, please, try to understand before assuming the agendas of hundreds of thousands of people. https://youtu.be/46Fa30PAyxs
You Can't Just Yell at People who Have Opinions Other than Yours and Call it "News"
When Tomi hears something getting publicity that is not ultra conservative she attempts to squash, and reprimand it on the final thoughts part of her show. Meryl Streep was one of the threatened with the doom of being bullied by Tomi Lahren in her now - famous final thoughts segment. At the Golden Globes, Meryl delivered a thunderous applause inducing speech part of which is below:
"But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter."
To this, Lahren responded:
If Lahren feels obliged to add in her word whenever an opinion outside of the conservative one is expressed, then she is inherently squashing what it means to have free speech. Free speech literally is defined as "the right to articulate one's opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship, or societal sanction." When Lahren consistently bullies people on air for their thoughts and opinions in the name of "news," she is threatening free speech, by inciting societal sanction.
Lahren Pits an Already Polarized Nation Further Apart
Her show, as well as her Twitter, impose a "You Vs. Us," mentality that is just so dangerous. The last thing this nation needs is another person exposing our angers and exploiting them in the hopes of achieving their own celebrity. Lahren is smart in that she does know what the conservative part of this country wants, and she uses those wants to bury in their minds that liberals are the absolute enemy.
Tomi Lahren might describe herself as a "‘22-year-old girl with a boy’s name, a deep love of country and the courage to say something." But I would beg to call her a "24-year-old girl who saw the root of conservative anger, exposed, and then exploited it." Tomi Lahren can be compared, by less polarized viewers, to an angry, and overly conservative grandpa who is yelling things at the Thanksgiving table to his liberal grandkids.
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