The other week, the internet was in a buzz about Trevor Noah, host of ‘The Daily Show’, having Tomi Lahren, conservative talk show host, on his show to talk about race and politics. People rejoiced as Noah dismantled almost every single one of her arguments and left her scrambling for weak counterpoints. After it was all said and done, Trevor Noah took Tomi Lahren out for drinks and sent her cupcakes.
After this year’s election cycle there has been a lot of talk about “healing” and “coming together” to deal with this country’s problems. A lot of deep seated feelings have come out of the woodwork and divided this country even more than it already had been. In an attempt to fix that, people are recommending that we reunite and discuss our differences with each other. So what Trevor Noah did fell in line with that way of thinking: he had a discussion with her and made sure there were no bad feelings.
The only problem is that there are still bad feelings. Tomi feels like Black people and other marginalized groups are lesser than the majority – the very definition of a bad feeling. Recently, Lenard McKelvey, AKA ‘Charlamagne Tha God’, of ‘The Breakfast Club’ was seen with Tomi Lahren while out in New York City. They spoke about how necessary it was for people with opposing viewpoints to come together and speak about their issues. However, Lenard McKelvey is the same person who had rapper ‘Lil Mama’ on his show and actively made her cry. He showed Tomi so much respect, despite her not respecting the idea that Black Lives Matter, and showed none of that to a Black woman he had on his show.
This is the problem with the idea of “talking about our differences”; it’s never being applied unless we’re talking to bigots. If someone says that they don’t like a football team, then fans of that football team will stop at nothing to make them look foolish. When someone says “Black Lives Matter is the new KKK”, however, we’re expected to be cordial and accept different points of view.
I refuse to waste my time talking it out with someone who denies the humanity of people who just want to exist.
It’s unfair to not only expect people to be respectful to others who don’t acknowledge the humanity of others, but also to vilify people for rightfully getting frustrated with bigots. There is no reason for someone not to get angry with someone who claims that Black Lives Matter is a hate group. It completely disregards the facts and pushes a false narrative that is completely entrenched in racist rhetoric. Anyone that doesn’t get infuriated by someone like that is either a racist or incapable of having feelings.
Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and every other form of bigotry shouldn’t be met with a polite response. All of those “beliefs” are illogical by nature, and responding logically to those is a waste of time. I understand that people want to keep the peace, but I refuse to waste my time talking it out with someone who denies the humanity of people who just want to exist.
I’m all for debating politics, but politics are how we deal with a problem, not a debate on whether or not a problem exists. Racism and sexism are problems that exist and political discussions should be about how we solve those problems. LGBTQ+ people aren’t a problem and therefore there should be no political argument on how the government treats them. It’s about time that we stop excusing bigotry as “political opinions” and instead start to treat them like the threats they are. We don’t look back at the KKK and Nazis as being people with opinions that differ from ours so we shouldn’t treat these bigots any different.
Despite being in a whole new century, we still have to deal with people who are enraged with the idea that different people exist. Those kind of people don’t deserve our respect or manners. Life is much easier and less toxic when we stop pretending that bigots will ever start listening to the people they hate.
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