An Open Letter To Tomi Lahren

Tomi,

I first learned of your existence when the famous video of you tearing down Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem came across my Facebook feed. I watched out of curiosity.

Like you, (a millennial), I don’t like labels, as you said on Trevor Noah’s show. Nevertheless, the words “left-leaning liberal” could be used to accurately describe me. You will probably think that I’m just some whiny “snowflake” that can’t tolerate views other than my own, but the truth is, I can. My problem with you doesn’t have to do with the fact that you are conservative, young, or pretty and blonde as many might say.

No, my complete disappointment with you comes from a few places. Allow me to articulate it the best I can, broken down into the following 4 points:

Your seemingly blind defense of Trump regardless of his actions.

I’m not happy with what’s going on right now in the USA. “Why don’t you leave?” you might ask, muttering that I’m an ungrateful, whiny brat. The truth is I’m extremely lucky. I have 2 phenomenal parents, am college educated, and have a good job. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t dislike or disagree with what the President is doing just because he’s the President. I don’t like that Trump made lewd comments about grabbing women. I don’t like that as a woman, men (or any stranger) can tell me what I should and shouldn’t do with my body.

I don’t like his plan to end DACA, as I find punishing young people who have grown up and thrived in America for a decision they didn’t make exceptionally cruel. I don’t like that when there are literal nazis and the KKK marching the streets, that our President (and you as a matter of fact), spent approximately 85% more of your time renouncing the actions of protesters than you did for the former. It isn’t that “the left” is stupid and doesn’t know that protests can turn violent. But ask yourself who you side with: A group that promotes hate and exclusion, or one that opposes it? And, if you don’t like violence, what do you have to say about Trump encouraging his supporters to punch protestors in the face, even promising to pay their legal fees? I’d love an answer on this from you that doesn’t involve “But Hillary” or “But Obama.” That’s deflection, and it seems to be your go-to.

Your deceptive tweets and inability to acknowledge a mistake.

A few months ago during the Charlottesville rallies, you used a picture from 2 years ago of some people dressed in all black carrying a sign that said “More Dead Cops” to say how hateful and violent these protestors (I think you call them the “alt left”) are. Remember this?

You used this photo to try and demonstrate that the POTUS was right to say there was “Violence on Both sides”, yet the photo was taken in 2015 at a MayDay rally in Chicago, nearly 2 years before Donald Trump was elected President.

And by the way, the message on the signs is disgusting and I don’t agree with it at all. But your using it in an incorrect context is nothing short of deceptive.

Despite the fact that this was proven to be an old photo that was taken long before Charlottesville, it still remains today. Why don’t you delete it and apologize? You are trying to protect your ego here I suspect, when really so many more would respect you a little bit if you acknowledged what you did and apologized.

Your blanket grouping of all the “left.”

As an all American girl who lives, breathes, and loves America as you claim you do, you sure assist in dividing us, don’t you? It seems like all your tweets are targeted at the “snowflake liberal left”, seemingly grouping everyone who falls more on the liberal end of the spectrum. As a person with a large following and a platform, it is your responsibility to accurately portray the views of your opposers. Truthfully, you have written many tweets that started with “The left wants this” or “The left is OK with X, but not Y.” Many of these statements have not accurately portrayed what I, or what many “leftists” want. This only divides us in the end.

Your lack of effort to try and understand complex issues.

While you rant and rave about Colin Kaepernick and his choice to kneel for the national anthem, you fail to even attempt to understand why he does it. You say that he’s protesting being oppressed yet he makes 19 million dollars a year for “throwing a ball around”.

But, is that what he’s really protesting?

We’ve seen countless situations both on tape and off tape of young black men being at worse, killed, and others abused by police for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, I don’t hate the police. I know there are good cops out there. I’m sure this is the point you want to convey, right? If it is, you should say that. Don’t ignore racism. Don’t disregard the treatment of someone in an individual instance just because it doesn’t fit your agenda. Being a police officer does not automatically mean you’re perfect. There are good cops out there, but there are bad ones too. Where you have chosen to place your focus is telling.

Kaepernick is not protesting for himself. He is protesting the many injustices that people who share his skin color have had to face. Your attack on him seems more personal than political.

Tomi, do you want to help bring Americans together, or “Make America Great Again”? Or do you want to simply push false ideas on people in an effort to sell your merchandise? There’s a difference between whining, and disagreeing with you.

You have mentioned on more than one occasion that you encourage diversity of thought. If this is true, you have a responsibility to educate people, including yourself, and invite a dialogue with someone who thinks differently than you. Stop throwing around words like “snowflake” and “triggered” to anger people. It does nothing to increase awareness and it definitely doesn’t make people want to listen to you. I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in taking someone seriously who doesn’t make an attempt to learn another point of view.

If you care about Americans and are inclusive of every American, I encourage you to take this to heart. If not, it will become more apparent–You are simply pandering to the ignorant in an effort to sell your merchandise.

Thanks for reading,

Megan