Tomi Lahren is a conservative political commentator who has been known for her aggressive verbal attacks on liberals, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Dakota Access Pipeline Protestors, Love Trumps Hate protestors, and basically anyone with an opinion differing from her own. She has become increasingly popular over the past year due to her "no bullshit" commentary surrounding recent events. There's only one problem with that: It's entirely bullshit. After watching her interview with The Daily Show's Trevor Noah, there are issues that absolutely must be addressed.
The interview aired on November 30th on Comedy Central and is a comical debate between Tomi Lahren and Trevor Noah regarding her opinions about various issues. Both sides argued their points, but there are a few things that simply don't add up.
First of all, she was off to an excellent start when explained that she doesn't like labels while using a label to explain exactly why. When asked by Noah if she considers herself a Conservative, Lahren responded, "I'm a millennial, so I don't really like labels." Shall we all laugh in unison? That in itself should've ended the debate.
Lahren argues that the Black Lives Matter movement began with good intentions and has since warped into violent displays of rioting and looting. Sure, there have been instances where this has occurred, but what Lahren fails to recognize is that the actions of a few do not represent the entire movement. She selected the information that corroborated her narrative and then proceeded to ignore all of the relevant facts that discredit her recount.
With Lahren's logic, being that the actions of a few represent the ideas of the entire movement, we would have to argue that all police officers are racist. Noah makes a point along these lines in the interview. For her to say that since one person who identifies with the Black Lives Matter movement murdered police officers, this is representative of the entire group. For this to be valid, we would have to say the same for the cops who shoot down African Americans without justification.
Lahren completely disregarded the events that led up to the protests themselves. This year alone, 242 African Americans have been killed by the police. That is not to say that Caucasians aren't killed by the police as well. In fact, 498 white Americans have died at the hands of police this year. So why isn't there a White Lives Matter movement? Well, in 2015 African Americans only made up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, while Caucasians made up about 77 percent. The number of African Americans killed is roughly half the amount of Caucasians killed, yet African Americans make up a significantly smaller portion of the population. An unarmed black male is five times more likely to be shot than an unarmed white male. If you don't feel that this is an issue, then you are a part of the issue.
For someone that doesn't "see color," she seems to have an excessive amount of issues with the Black Lives Matter movement. Frankly, the movement is not how she has depicted it. Lahren is refusing to see the facts that disprove her argument, so to her, the protests are pointless. It's easy to discredit an issue that doesn't directly affect you, but we call those people...what's the word? Oh: Egocentric.
Lahren has previously criticized Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem. She feels this is action is disrespectful to both the troops and the nation as a whole. Let me stop you there, Tomi. One can love their country, while still being critical of it. A person that blindly follows orders, never questions wrongdoings, is a sheep in situations of injustice, and is easily manipulated is not helping us progress as a nation. Yes, the flag represents the nation as a whole. No, a football player taking a knee is not targeting the troops. A football player taking a knee is a peaceful way of showing dissatisfaction with the current status of this nation and the overall treatment of African Americans by police officers. Now you may disagree, but since you have no solution for Kaepernick or the other protestors.
In general, her main issue lies with protests. When asked by Noah exactly how those who are upset with the current status of this nation or the treatment of African Americans should protest, Lahren dodged the question. She never gave a straightforward answer because she simply does not have one. Lahren is ripping apart protestors for fighting against oppression, but can't find a solution other than from them to shut up and sit down.
"The protestors are still out in force, but let's be honest, they're not protesters," says Lahren. "They're crybabies with nothing better to do than meander around the streets with their participation trophies and false sense of purpose."
I'm going to stop you right there, Ms. Lahren. The participation trophy argument has been used to explain why protestors feel that it is necessary to fight for issues even when it appears as though they have lost. Well, if fighting for equality, human rights and justice makes me a whiny, crybaby, then so be it. A "false sense of purpose" implies that there is no support for their claim against the treatment of African Americans in this nation. All it takes is five minutes worth of research to prove this wrong. Open any history textbook. Watch the news for five minutes. There absolutely is a purpose.
It's so refreshing to see an upper-class, white woman tell the world that race isn't the issue. Sweetie, it absolutely is. The movement has the word "black" in it for a reason. Sure, you may see diversity as diversity of thought, but I hate to break it to you: Just because it doesn't effect you doesn't mean it does not exist.
Lahren even went as far as to compare the BLM movement to the KKK. Her defense? She's entitled to her own opinion. For someone that loves to "call people out on their shit," as she would say, she seems to have trouble accepting criticism.
There is no comparison between the KKK and the Black Lives Matter movement. If Tomi Lahren spent more time researching then she does voicing her uneducated opinions, then maybe she would know this. The KKK has murdered thousands of African Americans. To compare the two is completely ludicrous and historically inaccurate. The history of the treatment of African Americans is extensive and violent. THIS. IS. A. FACT. Your opinion does not apply. Opinions are fantastic when they are regarding issues that don't threaten lives or generalize entire groups of people. These kinds of opinions are called "bigotry." Ms. Lahren, just in case you're confused, you may look up the definition of that word at any time.
The issue with the BLM movement runs deeper than the purpose for Lahren: It's protestors as a whole.
"It's the same thing we've seen time and time again with these, so called, protestors and demonstrators," says Lahren. "It started with the Occupy Wall Street brats, moved on to the more militant and overtly aggressive Black Lives Matter More [more? I didn't realize that asking to not be murdered equates to mattering "more."] crowd, cycled through the DNC-paid violence instigators and now here we are, November of 2016, with President-Elect Donald Trump and a crowd of misfit babies formed from every failed movement all sandwiched together to become the largest group of whiners the country has ever seen."
Wow. For someone that loves to call people "whiners," that seems to be a lot of whining, Ms. Lahren.
On the environment, Lahren is uninterested. She took to twitter saying, "Liberal logic: Let's just not use fossil fuels at all. Let's all travel/live on fairy dust. Let me know how that works out for you. #DAPL."
Yet again, the narrative is incomplete. Wanting to explore and research alternate energy sources is not "Liberal logic;" it's 100 percent necessary if you want to live on this planet. If you're interested in doing research before you voice your "opinions," I would highly recommend The Sixth Extinction, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, or An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergence of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. I hate to break it to you, but none of the issues you are so angry about will matter if the environment is destroyed. It's not Liberal Logic: It's science.
If you refer to yourself as "the voice for conservative millennials," then please use your platform to do so without propelling hatred and ignorance.
It is perfectly fine to have a conservative mindset as a millennial or as any other member of this nation. Differing opinions are what make this country so great, but opinions based on the exclusion of proven facts are simply ignorant. By refusing to learn and understand the complete, factual story, you are propelling ignorance on a large platform that could be used to inform, rather than destroy. In summary, please do not voice your ignorant opinions without facts to corroborate your claims.
As Lahren would say, "true diversity is diversity of thought." She then proceeded to ruin it by saying she doesn't, "see color," but that's beside the point. There is currently a large divide between liberals and conservatives, but it doesn't have to be this way. People like Lahren are only adding to the issues and fueling hate in an already unstable nation.
Normally the solution to a person who voices their angry, uneducated "opinions," like she does, would be to ignore them. In this case, that is no longer an option. With her growing platform, it is important to correct her mistakes, rather than allow her to spin incomplete news narratives to an open and susceptible public.
Let me explain something to you, Tomi: If everyone used your "shut up and sit down" logic, this country, that you claim to love so much, would be vastly different. Primarily, African Americans would not be where we are today and I, being an African American, would not be able to say all the things I'm saying to you right now. Based on what you're saying, this appears to be exactly what you want. You are not being conservative; you are causing stagnation. On behalf of all members of oppressed groups in this nation, please check your privilege and do some actual research.
Love,
Someone who is sick of your bullshit:
Jasmine Millner 💋
