A couple of weeks ago, Tomi Lahren, conservative political commentator on Glenn Beck’s channel The Blaze, appeared on the TV show “The View.” While talking about her politics and values, Lahren admitted that she’s not only a constitutional conservative, but she is in fact pro-choice. She felt it would be hypocritical for her to say she is for limited government without also being pro-choice and said, “You know what? I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well.”
For those who are fans of Lahren, this was a surprise, especially because not so long ago she called pro-choice advocates “straight up baby killers.” As a result of announcing publicly that she is pro-choice, Glenn Beck suspended Lahren from her show to make an example of her. After her suspension was announced, she tweeted, “Listen, I am not glorifying abortion. I don’t personally advocate for it. I just don’t think it’s the government’s place to dictate.”
This is indeed a perfect example of poetic justice for certain reasons, but her suspension is everything but just.
Liberals, especially feminists (myself included) believe Tomi Lahren, much like Ann Coulter, is one of the most abhorrent political commentators on public TV due to her reactionary segments devoid of facts, empathy for others, and, well, logic. She has effectively coined the term “snowflake” to describe liberals who oppose Donald Trump’s and the GOP’s policies, while failing to realize her boy Don perfectly fits the definition of “snowflake.” She has perpetuated racism, Islamophobia and hatefulness everywhere across the board. Not to mention, she is strictly anti-feminism for it perpetuates a “victim mentality” and calls feminists “passive aggressive men-haters.”
Like most people who dislike Tomi Lahren and her commentary, I couldn’t help but sneer to myself when I heard news of her suspension. I was happy to hear she finally got what she deserved; then I thought of the reason she was suspended from her show and I got angry. While I find her hate-mongering political commentary extremely problematic, I don’t think anyone should be jumping for joy about her suspension from The Blaze. I know, coming from me, a steadfast opposer of Tomi Lahren, this sounds completely ridiculous.
Lahren’s suspension is an example of sexism and hypocrisy
manifesting themselves at the exact same time. Of course, hypocrisy exists on both sides of the political spectrum; however, conservatives certainly take the cake on this one. As Beck is a freedom of speech advocate, it’s quite hypocritical of him to suspend Lahren from his channel for having what is considered a liberal opinion. Also, conservatives who agree with his decision are just as guilty of being as sanctimonious as he.
I won’t pull the “if Lahren were a man” card because Beck still may have suspended her for this if she were a man,but if a chauvinistic boss firing a female employee for stating her opinion about women’s bodily autonomy isn’t a perfect example of sexism, then I don’t know what is. Lahren got it right when she said she’d be a hypocrite if she were to say guns shouldn’t be regulated, but women’s bodies should. Beck was insulted by her because she called out the hypocrisy of conservatives and felt threatened by a woman who isn’t afraid to say exactly what she thinks. What else could he do to make himself feel like a big, important man besides fire her, right?
I’m not asking for feminists to stick up for Lahren, because she doesn’t need sympathy from us, nor does she need our help. She is a woman who got to where she is today with a little bit of perseverance and a whole lot of white privilege. However, let’s hope she learned a lesson from this experience: sexism exists and no woman in this world is protected from it, not even conservative, white, blonde, tan, wealthy Tomi Lahren.
I’m Olivia Lepage (’19) from Westland, Michigan studying Communications and Film. I currently live in the F/M area year round and consider this tundra my second home. I sing Alto 2 and am President of Cantabile, I work at the Circulation Desk in the Carl B., and I do shows with Concordia Theatre as much as I can without spreading myself too thin. Chocolate chip cookies are my only weakness.
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