It’s no secret that Fox New pundit Tomi Lahren has quite a few enemies on both sides of the political aisle. So before I begin, I want to make it clear that this is not a political piece.
In a candid Instagram post Wednesday, Lahren described to her followers some of the harassment she has received at the hands of L.A. rapper, The Game, who recently joined rapper Cardi B and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in an expletive-laden Twitter pile-up against the commentator. The Game, however, took their beef (which is so pointless I won’t waste time describing here) to a whole new level in an explicit Instagram post that mocked Lahren’s skin tone, sexual practices (of which he knows nothing) and political views.
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The rapper went a step further, posting an “unflattering” old high school photo of Lahren and tearing her looks apart.
Here’s how Tomi responded:
“Hey @losangelesconfidential here you go. This is for you,” she wrote. “On the left is an unflattering high school photo of me. On the right is me now. Same big forehead, same ears that kinda stick out, same eyebrows, same Tomi.”
“The difference?” she continued. “Tomi today has the guts and the confidence to post that high school photo you mocked. Because guess what, I don’t do what I do for your approval or praise. I do it for the millions of young girls (on both sides of the political spectrum) who deserve to see a woman like me stand up for herself and not take s*** from jerks like you.”
She continued with a message for young women who experience similar attacks on social media:
And ladies, I hope you see this and know that beauty isn’t about your hair, makeup, eyebrows, weight, or any of it. Beauty radiates when you have the confidence to stand up for and love yourself regardless of who tries to pull you down.
“So yeah Game, you can make fun of me and demean me but end of the day, you’re just a classless rapper who degrades women for attention,” she wrote.
For those interested, The Game responded to Lahren’s post Wednesday by calling her a “racist sl**.”
What’s notable about Lahren’s response is that, if coming from a liberal commentator, it would be widely praised by the left. But for all the talk of empowering women, promoting unity and condemning hate, the left’s hypocrisy is evident in their failure to defend these values in every case.
Again, this is not about politics or defending those with whom you agree — it wouldn’t take much journalistic digging to discover that Tomi and I take vastly different stances on a wide range of political issues. But that’s the thing about truth: it’s often inconvenient. If you are someone who aims to defend truth no matter what, you must conform to it, and not the other way around.
Teenage suicide rates are at an all-time high. Online bullying is at an all-time high. And the same individuals who point to people like Lahren and Donald Trump for fueling hate and division participate directly in the merciless bullying of their political adversaries.
Let me clear this up: If you defend a rapper who degrades and sexualizes women based on their politics and looks, you’re not taking the moral high ground.
Defending Tomi doesn’t affirm her political beliefs. It does affirm her inherent dignity as a human being. If we profess to care about decency and morality, we can’t pick and choose who is worthy of respect.
The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once said, “I attack ideas, I don’t attack people — and some very good people have some very bad ideas.”
A major problem in our modern political discourse is the widespread inability to separate ideas from the people who hold them. The failure to do so only deepens the divide between fellow Americans, shutting down discourse and solidifying prejudices.
Those who wish to advance the common good and see a positive change in our nation’s political landscape must first examine their own hearts and ask themselves if they care more about defending truth or winning petty debates. Let’s be better.