If there’s one thing I never thought I would be doing while studying politics at UNC, it’s reading through a GOP gubernatorial candidate’s lewd commentary on a porn forum.
Last Thursday, an investigative report from CNN revealed dozens of horrific comments about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s perverted sexual fantasies and violently racist rhetoric, all of which he had publicly posted on a pornographic site called Nude Africa.
Though in a manner that is frankly not acceptable for publication, Robinson used slurs, language and violent rhetoric that directly targeted marginalized members of the North Carolina community.
I hope the implications of this kind of speech make you uncomfortable enough that it motivates you to never, ever even consider voting for this man. Because the sickening reality of the matter is that it’s not enough to dissuade some people.
Up until this point, recent polls have been almost tied. Updated polls have already taken sharp trends in Stein’s favor. In feigned morality, supporters of Robinson’s campaign will gasp, clutch their pearls and quietly resign themselves to pretend that this report was a shock, that they had no idea their beloved nominee was capable of abhorrence like this.
This is not a surprise. On the contrary, this is incredibly characteristic — perfectly, adeptly, sharply in line with everything he’s been advertising for voters up until this point. Robinson has been soft-launching these twisted views for months now, ever since he began his campaign. This should have been enough to know that he was entirely unfit for place in my neighborhood gatherings, churches or home — let alone public office.
How then could he have possibly garnered any political traction? How could the people of North Carolina let this man get so close to our beloved governorship? As a frequent conductor of ethnographic research and fieldwork, the number one justification I hear for voters of unlikeable GOP candidates is “I’m voting for the policy, not the person.”
To anyone who has ever recited this sound bite before, I have an authentic query for you. Do you genuinely believe that Robinson will effectively make policies that protect your children while simultaneously watching him mock victims of school shootings? Do you truly think that he will make public safety and civility a priority while gleefully recounting his experiences leering at women in public restrooms? Can you really trust him to lower crime rates in North Carolina while he refers to himself as a Black Nazi?
If your answer to even one of those questions is yes, I have a hard truth for you — that’s ignorant, juvenile and naive. Any man that quotes Hitler has no real invested stake in protecting your safety. You’re not voting for his policy, you’re voting for him because none of this moral reprehensibility is enough to steer you away from your own incorrectly founded misconceptions about a politician’s nature.
