Unless you have been living under a rock, then you have heard the uproar regarding insults hurled at Representative John Lewis. Saturday morning the President-Elect of the United States of America took to one of his favorite platforms, twitter, to attack one of the surviving legends of the civil rights movement. In his typical petty and reactionary fashion, he sent off a fiery tweet calling Representative Lewis “all talk, talk, talk-no action or results.” Not stopping there, he also claimed that Lewis’ district was falling apart and was crime infested. Ostensibly these tweets were in response to Representative Lewis announcing that he would not attend the inauguration. Representative Lewis’ expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the President-Elect after the recently released news of possible Russian involvement in the election.
Immediately people took to social media to decry the ignorance and pettiness of the President-Elect. My news feeds flooded with heroic pictures of Representative Lewis during the civil rights movement when he endured violence, arrest and death threats as he fought for equality. The irony that a man who avoided the draft would dare criticize one who placed his body on the line for a cause was not lost on others. People also pointed out how the President-Elect readily criticized a civil rights legend but failed to do so with Putin or David Duke, the former leader of the KKK. Many found the timing of his criticism, the weekend honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., suspicious to say the least. People were outraged! People were appalled! But honestly, was anyone truly shocked?
Don’t get me wrong, his insult of a civil rights legend is offensive and demonstrates his deep ignorance of American, particularly African American, history. But so has everything else he has done! When has he ever responded to criticism in a way that made you think, “that was reasonable”? Never! His whole campaign was built around being outrageous and ignorant. His presidency appears to be following in the same vein. And why wouldn’t he? His approach won him the presidency (maybe with a little Russian help). He has no incentive to alter his path, and to expect him to change is unreasonable.
Therefore, as we cope with the next four years, we must stop being shocked by his antics. Stop thinking he will magically realize that his use of twitter is embarrassing to the country. He won’t! He will continue to use twitter to launch visceral attacks to people who criticize him, especially when the press is there to make his tweets viral. He will continue to hide his tax returns, speak with a limited vocabulary, remain ignorant about important issues, and enjoy the support of those who voted for him. Our task moving forward is to no longer give his ignorance a platform by discussing and repeating it. [1] Rather we must organize and work to do all we can to remove him from office in four years. That is far more effective than responding to a tweet.
–Until Next Time–
Palooke
[1] I am not unaware of the seeming paradox of my argument. However, in order to get pass him, we must first acknowledge him.
