Final Thoughts on Tomi Lahren
October 12, 2016 10:37 AM Subscribe
Outside of work, she mostly hangs out at home with Grose and the producer’s younger sister, eating pigs in a blanket and watching The Real Housewives; she and her Marine ex-boyfriend broke up when she moved for the job. She doesn’t have time to go out that much anyway, unlike the Dallas “nerds” she describes partying every night on their parents’ money. She never had any of that, and anyway, she has a show to write.Kyle Chayka writes for The Ringer on controversial 24-year-old conservative sensation, Tomi Lahren
"Because of a recording with the 'P' word on it."
No understanding of what sexual assault is Tomi? Having a President who thinks sexual assault is acceptable if you're famous has no effect on their ability to pass legislation or "do deals"?
posted by pashdown at 10:50 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
No understanding of what sexual assault is Tomi? Having a President who thinks sexual assault is acceptable if you're famous has no effect on their ability to pass legislation or "do deals"?
posted by pashdown at 10:50 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Okay, regardless of the vileness/stupidity/logical fallacies of her content, her delivery is pretty good. I suspect we are going to be aware of her inanities for decades to come. Sucks to be Anne Coulter.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:10 AM on October 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by Keith Talent at 11:10 AM on October 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
No understanding of what sexual assault is Tomi?
She apparently lacks understanding of a number of topics, as I see it. Then again, her father would pause the news to provide retorts:
Her point is that she is right, that her white privilege and limited view of the world is correct. I don't know enough about Ann Coulter to compare the two women, but Lahren is scarier than Trump because she's more coherent in her messages of hate and division. (Well, maybe more coherent -- "her sentences sometimes twist into Sarah Palinesque constructions where the second half of a sentence seems to have been spliced into the middle of the first.")
If you want to dive into the depressing world of Tomi Lahren, hhere's her Facebook page. Or read reviews of her "popular" videos: The Truth About That Anti-Kaepernick Video Going Viral on Your Facebook Feed - It's nothing but a bait-and-switch. (Esquire, Aug 31, 2016) and White grievance cheerleader Tomi Lahren explains why supporters like Trump even more after tape leak -- If you were offended by Donald Trump bragging on tape about grabbing women by the genitals, Tomi Lahren thinks it’s your fault for listening to him. (Raw Story, Oct 11, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
She apparently lacks understanding of a number of topics, as I see it. Then again, her father would pause the news to provide retorts:
The family watched ABC World News Tonight together, and Kevin would sometimes pause the broadcast to make an argument or provide details he felt were missing from the major networks. “I decipher in their broadcasting what’s true and what’s not true,” he says. “I need to know what the enemy is up to.”Emphasis mine. There is no outreach, no olive branches or attempts to understand The Others if you view them as The Enemy.
It was at OANN that Lahren first went viral. On July 17, 2015, her “Final Thoughts,” a format she developed for On Point, covered the shooting deaths of four Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez. In the monologue, she urges President Obama to bomb the Middle East. “Yesterday’s moderate is today’s terrorist,” she declaims as an American flag waves on the video screen in the background. “I care that our commander-in-chief is more concerned with Muslim sensitivity than the honor and sacrifice made by these Marines.”She got perfect grades, but has no understanding of cause and effect, of the implications of bombing a country or region because of the actions of a single man, who had been in the US since he was six?
“I invite Black Lives Matter activists, I invite feminists, I invite transgenders,” Lahren says. “I never want any of my guests to come into an interview feeling like it’s a gotcha moment, because it’s never intended to be that way.”Yet she says “Feminists are mean, and the Black Lives Matter folks are dangerous.... But it doesn’t bother me because I don’t put any stake in that. They’re proving my point.”
Her point is that she is right, that her white privilege and limited view of the world is correct. I don't know enough about Ann Coulter to compare the two women, but Lahren is scarier than Trump because she's more coherent in her messages of hate and division. (Well, maybe more coherent -- "her sentences sometimes twist into Sarah Palinesque constructions where the second half of a sentence seems to have been spliced into the middle of the first.")
If you want to dive into the depressing world of Tomi Lahren, hhere's her Facebook page. Or read reviews of her "popular" videos: The Truth About That Anti-Kaepernick Video Going Viral on Your Facebook Feed - It's nothing but a bait-and-switch. (Esquire, Aug 31, 2016) and White grievance cheerleader Tomi Lahren explains why supporters like Trump even more after tape leak -- If you were offended by Donald Trump bragging on tape about grabbing women by the genitals, Tomi Lahren thinks it’s your fault for listening to him. (Raw Story, Oct 11, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
...she takes as her personal and professional responsibility speaking for what she sees as the silent center of American politics.
Silent?
Silent??
SILENT?!
posted by magstheaxe at 11:15 AM on October 12, 2016 [31 favorites]
Silent?
Silent??
SILENT?!
posted by magstheaxe at 11:15 AM on October 12, 2016 [31 favorites]
Certain White people make a really big deal about reverse racism, I'm starting to think they might have a point. I am growing to fear and loathe my own race. What a load of toxic shit
But then I look around the world and I see racists of every color and creed and I realize our racists are some of the dumbest and I feel better.
Maybe white supremacy will get the WWIII it wants so badly but I figure somehow this will all work out. We just need cult deprogramming for an entire class of people. Simple.
posted by an animate objects at 11:18 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
But then I look around the world and I see racists of every color and creed and I realize our racists are some of the dumbest and I feel better.
Maybe white supremacy will get the WWIII it wants so badly but I figure somehow this will all work out. We just need cult deprogramming for an entire class of people. Simple.
posted by an animate objects at 11:18 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I wonder if this is how conservatives feel about watching John Oliver or Trevor Noah. Because I have to say that I share some of Noah's appreciation for her, um, talent.
It's unfortunate that she's so mis/uninformed about the actual substance of basically all of the issues, because I do think that she has a voice that can reach a whole swath of people in the U.S., and if we could use that power for good it, it could change the country for the better. As it is though...the idea that people take her rants at face value is terrifying.
But she's only 24. Maybe she'll smarten up when her brain finishes developing.
posted by sparklemotion at 11:28 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's unfortunate that she's so mis/uninformed about the actual substance of basically all of the issues, because I do think that she has a voice that can reach a whole swath of people in the U.S., and if we could use that power for good it, it could change the country for the better. As it is though...the idea that people take her rants at face value is terrifying.
But she's only 24. Maybe she'll smarten up when her brain finishes developing.
posted by sparklemotion at 11:28 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
She's like a tiny cute clone of Megyn Kelly or Leni Riefenstahl! How totes adorbs!
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:30 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:30 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
She means everything she says. A native of South Dakota, the daughter of military and ranching families, she takes as her personal and professional responsibility speaking for what she sees as the silent center of American politics.
Why is it that people from the least densely populated areas of the country think that their viewpoints are representative of anything that isn't peculiar, in the sense of being distinctly one's own?
posted by AndrewInDC at 11:30 AM on October 12, 2016 [18 favorites]
Why is it that people from the least densely populated areas of the country think that their viewpoints are representative of anything that isn't peculiar, in the sense of being distinctly one's own?
posted by AndrewInDC at 11:30 AM on October 12, 2016 [18 favorites]
Ugh, even talking about her in order to critique, here or in The Ringer, is just adding to her profile as conservative talk media's "Next Big Thing". Someone doing a lazy Google search sees her name discussed and concludes "well, since the tech liberals don't like her, she must be on to something".
Sorry Gooch, but I move that this entire thread be deleted because "Only adding to her Q rating"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:36 AM on October 12, 2016 [9 favorites]
Sorry Gooch, but I move that this entire thread be deleted because "Only adding to her Q rating"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:36 AM on October 12, 2016 [9 favorites]
She will be the first star on the new network Trump starts after the election w/Ailes, Giuliani, & Christie, Hannity & O'Reilly. Putting Fox out of business will be the goal, since they've gone so lamestream.
posted by headnsouth at 11:46 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by headnsouth at 11:46 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I mean, the "nerds" who "go out partying every night"?
It's not just politics. She's living in Reverse Mirror Universe down to the smallest details.
(I had a day off to myself without the family. I ordered a pizza and spent it playing Overwatch and watching bad horror movies on Netflix. I submit this as a more typical example of what nerds do when they have leisure time.)
posted by Scattercat at 12:07 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's not just politics. She's living in Reverse Mirror Universe down to the smallest details.
(I had a day off to myself without the family. I ordered a pizza and spent it playing Overwatch and watching bad horror movies on Netflix. I submit this as a more typical example of what nerds do when they have leisure time.)
posted by Scattercat at 12:07 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Okay, regardless of the vileness/stupidity/logical fallacies of her content, her delivery is pretty good.
Wha? No it isn't. It's poorly paced and terribly modulated. In that it's not modulated at all. Zero charisma. She's blonde and easy on the eyes and people conflate that with being on-air worthy
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:18 PM on October 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
Wha? No it isn't. It's poorly paced and terribly modulated. In that it's not modulated at all. Zero charisma. She's blonde and easy on the eyes and people conflate that with being on-air worthy
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:18 PM on October 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
filthy light thief, I was going to use that quote from her father as the pull-quote for this FPP, but thought it would make it come off as too weighted. Reading that actually made me feel sorry for Tomi Lahren in a way, even though I disagree with her on just about every opinion I've ever heard her utter.
She grew up in an environment where watching the typical network evening news was treated as listening in on what the "enemy" was up to. What chance did she have to be normal?
posted by The Gooch at 12:37 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
She grew up in an environment where watching the typical network evening news was treated as listening in on what the "enemy" was up to. What chance did she have to be normal?
posted by The Gooch at 12:37 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
she's blonde and easy on the eyes and people conflate that with being on-air worthy
Why, you could build a whole news channel around that...
posted by delfin at 12:44 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Why, you could build a whole news channel around that...
posted by delfin at 12:44 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sucks to be Anne Coulter.
I just assumed that's always been true.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
I just assumed that's always been true.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [11 favorites]
When all of your basic necessities are secure and taken for granted, you can afford to be utterly incurious about other people's points of view and view everyone as "the enemy." When they see "their guy" (or Michelle Bachman) lose more and more often, I'm confident the heightened rhetoric will just sound crazier and crazier, and the audience will be more and more marginalized. Although heavily armed.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is astroturfing - it has to be. The right is fine-tuning their media approach to seem natural and self-developed. I would be curious who has pledged support for her financially and who supports from a social media outreach / PR standpoint.
posted by glaucon at 1:56 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by glaucon at 1:56 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't know if it is astroturfing but she is appealing to people. I see former classmates and colleagues sharing her content on Facebook along with platitudes like "Right on Tomi!", "So true!", etc.
posted by mmascolino at 2:06 PM on October 12, 2016
posted by mmascolino at 2:06 PM on October 12, 2016
The Gooch: She grew up in an environment where watching the typical network evening news was treated as listening in on what the "enemy" was up to. What chance did she have to be normal?
Some kids grow up and become mirrors or mimics of their parents. Others rebel and become "the enemy" that their parents feared. Then there are those who listen critically, taking what rings true to them and building their own, unique world view.
Yes, some parents push their worldviews harder, and make it tougher to question those ideals and beliefs, because everyone else is wrong. But that doesn't mean kids can't escape that sort of setting and flourish on their own.
In this reflection, my wholly unqualified armchair psychological review of Lahren is that she's looking for approval in the thing she loves, politics, through the frame viewpoint set by her maternal grandfather and father (no word in that article on the beliefs of her mother or grandmother(s)). She has millions of people who support her, more than viewers of Fox and such, so clearly she's right about something. She eats up the support and rejects the criticism as coming from "enemies" (even though she's willing to talk with the enemy, perhaps to show that she's tough, or because their words sound like justifications for her ideals).
I wish critical thinking were a specific course taught in high school, if not earlier. Heck, teach it every 3rd year, so you get it twice in high school. You could couch it as "stay safe in a world full of charlatans" to help kids avoid strangers with candy, emails and friend requests from mysterious, attractive people, and emails from your bank or The Government saying they owe money. But then you can work in some "get to know someone who doesn't share your background" so you can discuss with them why they believe something is true when you don't, and vis-versa. Get young people to try to understand that they are only one sort of person, and the population of this world is 7.4 billion people, and only so many people are straight, white Christian kids from Rural America.
Lahren 2040?
Nah, then you have to temper your message (unless you're running as a Trumpian candidate). That's why pundits can shout and stop their feet and say "Government is dumb, I know the answers, if they'd only listen to me!" Once you win and get into office, the reality of politics strikes, and all your ideas must go through a series of checks and balances, with compromises struck or agreements made, and all the promises you made in your campaign speeches get reduced to realistic versions, or never go anywhere.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:22 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Some kids grow up and become mirrors or mimics of their parents. Others rebel and become "the enemy" that their parents feared. Then there are those who listen critically, taking what rings true to them and building their own, unique world view.
Yes, some parents push their worldviews harder, and make it tougher to question those ideals and beliefs, because everyone else is wrong. But that doesn't mean kids can't escape that sort of setting and flourish on their own.
In this reflection, my wholly unqualified armchair psychological review of Lahren is that she's looking for approval in the thing she loves, politics, through the frame viewpoint set by her maternal grandfather and father (no word in that article on the beliefs of her mother or grandmother(s)). She has millions of people who support her, more than viewers of Fox and such, so clearly she's right about something. She eats up the support and rejects the criticism as coming from "enemies" (even though she's willing to talk with the enemy, perhaps to show that she's tough, or because their words sound like justifications for her ideals).
I wish critical thinking were a specific course taught in high school, if not earlier. Heck, teach it every 3rd year, so you get it twice in high school. You could couch it as "stay safe in a world full of charlatans" to help kids avoid strangers with candy, emails and friend requests from mysterious, attractive people, and emails from your bank or The Government saying they owe money. But then you can work in some "get to know someone who doesn't share your background" so you can discuss with them why they believe something is true when you don't, and vis-versa. Get young people to try to understand that they are only one sort of person, and the population of this world is 7.4 billion people, and only so many people are straight, white Christian kids from Rural America.
Lahren 2040?
Nah, then you have to temper your message (unless you're running as a Trumpian candidate). That's why pundits can shout and stop their feet and say "Government is dumb, I know the answers, if they'd only listen to me!" Once you win and get into office, the reality of politics strikes, and all your ideas must go through a series of checks and balances, with compromises struck or agreements made, and all the promises you made in your campaign speeches get reduced to realistic versions, or never go anywhere.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:22 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yes, we should probably focus on the actual topic of the post and it's likely a coincidence anyway but I would just like to take a moment to boggle at the fact that Glenn Beck's production company is literally named MRA.
posted by ckape at 3:16 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ckape at 3:16 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
No understanding of what sexual assault is Tomi?
My guess would be that she hews to the belief that it's a woman's job to control things. If he gets in her pants, well, she shouldn't have let him. End of story. It's scarily common among conservative women.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:26 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
My guess would be that she hews to the belief that it's a woman's job to control things. If he gets in her pants, well, she shouldn't have let him. End of story. It's scarily common among conservative women.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:26 PM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I first heard about this woman from a segment Trevor Noah did on The Daily Show, and as soon as I had finished watching that episode I clicked on over to Facebook, looked up her page, and blocked it.
posted by orange swan at 3:58 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by orange swan at 3:58 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Question: my daughter wants to be a conservative pundit/pollster/guru, tv/writer star. Does she have to be blonde?
No, of course not. Conservatism is a large tent.
You seem to be promoting stereotypes. Surely we're above that by now.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
No, of course not. Conservatism is a large tent.
You seem to be promoting stereotypes. Surely we're above that by now.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:08 PM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm happy to be her enemy. Interesting how vile is the new pure.
posted by Chuffy at 4:31 PM on October 12, 2016
posted by Chuffy at 4:31 PM on October 12, 2016
Get young people to try to understand that they are only one sort of person, and the population of this world is 7.4 billion people, and only so many people are straight, white Christian kids from Rural America.
Not all schoolchildren are straight, white Christian kids from rural America? Lots of kids know all about it.
posted by listen, lady at 5:46 PM on October 12, 2016
Not all schoolchildren are straight, white Christian kids from rural America? Lots of kids know all about it.
posted by listen, lady at 5:46 PM on October 12, 2016
She's so angry in all the videos I've seen that I suspect she'll have a stroke on camera by 28.
posted by raysmj at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by raysmj at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Weird--I've got more and closer relatives who are/were in the military, and I think she's full of shit.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:23 PM on October 12, 2016
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:23 PM on October 12, 2016
raysmj: "She's so angry in all the videos I've seen that I suspect she'll have a stroke on camera by 28."
You might think so but Alex Jones is still alive.
From the article:
What makes me sad about this sort of thing is that a journalist or reporter does information gathering. A commentator gets to presume they already know everything they need to know.
posted by RobotHero at 7:56 AM on October 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
You might think so but Alex Jones is still alive.
From the article:
Lahren often notes that she does not think of herself as a journalist.
...
“I never wanted to be a reporter,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to be a commentator."
What makes me sad about this sort of thing is that a journalist or reporter does information gathering. A commentator gets to presume they already know everything they need to know.
posted by RobotHero at 7:56 AM on October 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
Mike Judge flips over his desk, curses profusely, and tears up dozens of pages from his Idiocracy 2 script.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:59 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:59 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, I'll address a specific thing she said, rather than lament generally on the rise of the "commentator."
In her Kaepernick video, she says "those in black communities" should "take some responsi-damn-bility for the problems in black communities."
Anyway, I'm tangentially reminded of these articles that have been cropping up, trying to explain poor rural white support for conservative policies, by blaming city liberals being condescending towards the poor rural white people.
Now really the video isn't targeted at "those in black communities" and certainly not targeted at Kaepernick. It's targeted at people who want to express the same sentiments, so they'll click the share button. But imagining for the sake of argument that this message was really meant for "those in black communities" it's a pretty condescending message to send. Delivered by a 24-year-old who, I'm going to go out on a limb here, has not lived in a black community.
posted by RobotHero at 10:37 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
In her Kaepernick video, she says "those in black communities" should "take some responsi-damn-bility for the problems in black communities."
Anyway, I'm tangentially reminded of these articles that have been cropping up, trying to explain poor rural white support for conservative policies, by blaming city liberals being condescending towards the poor rural white people.
Now really the video isn't targeted at "those in black communities" and certainly not targeted at Kaepernick. It's targeted at people who want to express the same sentiments, so they'll click the share button. But imagining for the sake of argument that this message was really meant for "those in black communities" it's a pretty condescending message to send. Delivered by a 24-year-old who, I'm going to go out on a limb here, has not lived in a black community.
posted by RobotHero at 10:37 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
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