Since the end of the academic year last year, there have
been videos populating Facebook about presidential candidates and debates. This
heavily clogs up any social media I have ventured on in the past few months and
unfortunately, I choose to indulge them. I’ll watch videos, both swaying
towards republicans and democrats as I think knowing what each party and
candidate thinks is important in making an informed decision in the 2016
election.
However, I have so unfortunately come across a despicable
woman named Tomi Loren who has a talk show called “Final Thoughts.” These clips
are no more than ten minutes of a small, blonde, white woman yelling about how
Trump is the candidate we should all believe in, how black people are racist,
how political correctness is lame, and so much more. In an effort to understand
how she came to think these thoughts, I did research as to where she went to
school, her major, and anything I could think of to understand how she has
become such a popular video to watch.
At this point I have probably watched five or six of her
rant filled videos which addressed the time that Jesse Williams spoke at the
BET awards to when Trump’s hot microphone spoke of his “locker room talk.” I am
so disturbed by how she chooses to critique those who speak out against white
people, the police, and Donald Trump but even more so I am disturbed by how
many people agree with her.
I thought that I was surely uninformed in high school,
looking back on things that I had once believed, but this woman is a college
graduate who does not have beliefs that differ from mine but beliefs I deem
truly dangerous for the progress of American society. She talks down to her
viewers by stating what she thinks to be obvious and makes people feel like the
only beliefs to be true are hers.
I beg the question that can we really just say that she is
uninformed? Is the only reason she speaks so many falsities because she does
not do her research or perhaps she only gets her information from Trump. I’m
not exactly sure which but I can only imagine how much of the United States is
also as highly uninformed as she is. I cannot imagine that somewhere in some
household lies an entire family of Tomi Loren fans who practice what she
preaches and share her beliefs.
First, what a title! It instantly grabbed my attention. I think the Toni Loren case is particularly interesting. Half of me wants to believe she is just baiting for attention. In this day and age, you have to do something to make you stand out from others. So a lot of people just do and say outrageous things to get attention. Whether everyone loves you or loves to hate you, they're still saying your name and watching your videos. Now the other half of me just believes that shes the ugly truth--some people truly choose to be hateful and ignorant. They are so stuck in their ways that they are blind to realities. I recommend checking out http://whitenessproject.org/ . It offers different perspectives of how some individuals actually think. Some of them are really uninformed, others get the bigger picture, and then you have some that just don't care.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Ashley. I've seen Lahren's videos as well and I do not think that society should give or can her a pass as uninformed. I'm taking Philosophy of Race this semester from Dr. Rebecca Tuvel. In this class, we analyze contemporary racial issues through a philosophical lens. A couple of weeks ago, we read an article about white ignorance. The author ultimately deduces that white ignorance is an active avoidance about information of the Other. I think this is the category that Lahren falls under. If you're interested in reading the article I can give you my copy!
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