Last year was rough for some conservatives. They watched helplessly as the election cycle became dominated by two blond screaming toddlers: Donald Trump and Tomi Lahren. We would like to start off by saying Tomi Lahren is not a journalist, although she is often mistaken for one.
She is a political commentator. Calling her a journalist would be an insult to hardworking journalists everywhere.
Tomi Lahren should be left in 2016. Our president-elect is divisive enough and Lahren is only furthering the divide between the two main political parties in the United States. By finding fault in every single controversial situation that occurs in America, without offering any solutions — Lahren is not doing anything productive at all.
She is merely a person who is getting paid to complain. The more clicks she gets, the more money she earns her boss and the more airtime she’s given. Retweeting and sharing her posts encourages her to continue. Her Facebook banner picture even proclaims “Whether you love what I’m saying or hate what I’m saying, you’re having a reaction to it, and that is exactly what needs to happen in this country.”
It’s time to boycott Tomi Lahren and stop giving her exactly what she wants. Whether you support her for her straightforward behavior or you hate every word she speaks, giving her attention only gives her a platform that is not productive to bridging the deep divide in our country. Support for her is not support for civilized discourse.
We can choose to continue to actively contribute to some of the harsh rhetoric being advertised, or we can choose to actively try to move forward together.
For conservatives, there’s no reason to halt progressivism as a party when you can still remain rooted in conservative values. Caitlyn Jenner is both transgender and conservative, and the party can support her without straying from its ideology. Times are changing and becoming more inclusive does not diminish conservative values.
A lot of hatred, which Tomi Lahren exemplifies, has been spewed this past election cycle and it comes from a deep-rooted fear — fear of change and fear of what is hard to understand. With this said, ending hatred means emphasizing listening — which Lahren never does. There is a benefit to asking questions to understand and realizing your experience does not dictate every single person’s.
With the majority of our governing bodies being Republican, the “underdog” mentality (used by both parties occasionally) can be tossed to the wayside. For a while, conservatives are going to be playing offense, which changes the role of discourse in our political conversations. Conservatives need to do the opposite of what Tomi Lahren does instead of setting her up to be a role model.
