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About Tomi, That Lawyer, and Mob Justice
The other day at the playground I overheard a few fathers chatting about the legalization of sports gambling. One asked, “What kind of impact do you think this Supreme Court decision will have on our society?” The other replied, “Our society is already crumbling, what’s the difference?” Everyone around laughed and took a big sigh. Because he was right.
Having never been alive during another time in human history, perhaps it’s difficult to judge, but it certainly feels as though basic decency and kindness are a thing of the past. One striking event in the last day reminded us of this:
https://twitter.com/aVeryRichBish/status/998688070017929216
The post, just one of many about the incident, which saw patrons at a brunch spot yelling at and throwing drinks on Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren, has over 14,000 likes on Twitter of this writing. Not all liberals are cheering, but a lot certainly are. One notable defender of Lahren is comedian Kathy Griffin, who wrote,
I couldn’t disagree more with @TomiLahren, but I don’t think it’s cool to resort to physical actions to make your point.
The first amendment is a beautiful thing – use it. https://t.co/Yx8obh0aH0
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 23, 2018
Griffin herself has been the victim of a frightening social media mob after she posed for a graphic photo shoot holding a lifelike image of President Trump’s head. Justifiably, the outrage was swift, but she later said she feared for her physical safety in the aftermath.
The incident reminded me of another frightening mob, this time taking aim at a racist New York lawyer, Aaron Schlossberg, who was filmed ranting about Spanish-speaking waiters at a restaurant. The online furor followed him into the real world. With a Mariachi band being hired to play outside of his apartment, he was hounded by the press, and his law firm was pummeled with one-star reviews online.
Why is this news? Someone says something despicable every minute of the day; the difference here is that cameras turned Lahren’s brunch and Schlossberg’s rant into a news story for people to rally around. Of course, nobody actually rallied in defense of Schlossberg, barring one notable exception, but this story is one of the incidents where pushback is most necessary.
The Atlantic’s Julia Ioffe was the one public figure who was apprehensive about how Schlossberg’s statements were being treated:
Aaron Schlossberg doesn’t seem like a very nice person, but does that merit harassing him in the street, kicking him out of his work space, having people trying to revoke his legal license? Imagine this happening to someone you agree with and see how you feel.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 18, 2018
Ioffe has been the target of several mobs herself, found herself in the middle of another for her Schlossberg comments. She later felt pressured to reiterate her comments weren’t a defense of Schlossberg, but instead a correction against online mob justice:
Hi Twitter world, I hear you. I even agree with you and always have on this: racism is indefensible. I’m sorry that I came across as defending Aaron Schlossberg. That wasn’t my intent, because I do not and never have defended his actions. I apologize.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 18, 2018
But Ioffe was right the first time: we cannot rely on a mob, whose activities online translate into offline ruin for its victims, to mete out justice. We should stand up to the mob because it has a way of indiscriminately choosing its next victims, and sometimes even gets the names and identities of its targets wrong in the frenzy.
In the case of Lahren, the President weighed in on defending her from those who assaulted her at brunch, and who are now cheering her treatment:
Everybody is with Tomi Lahren, a truly outstanding and respected young woman! @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018
This isn’t true. Lahren is a divisive and unkind individual, disliked both for her public persona as well as her behavior in private (I’ve heard from several of her former colleagues at The Blaze). She doesn’t have to be a good person, and neither does Schlossberg, in order to be deserving of defense from the online and offline mob.
It’s disturbing that from the President on down, our society has determined an individual’s worthiness in order to decide if they are deserving of being physically assaulted and harassed for things they’ve merely said. You don’t have to like Lahren or Schlossberg to decry the mob or its destructive power.
Published in Journalism
They are probably objectively worse for society.
Peaceful protest is a means of preserving civil society. If people have no outlet, they foment violence.
Which is objectively worse?
“Other Republicans have been wary to get involved, Mr. Bassin said. ‘There is a troubling dynamic happening where anytime a conservative expresses concerns, they get branded a Never Trumper and are excommunicated from the American right.'”
Um, if that were true, there would be about 3 conservatives left. The rest of us would be Never-Trumpers.
Fair enough, but that article is still worth considering.
Sure. It’s just funny. We’re all accustomed to hearing the disclaimers tacked on to a pro-Trump comment, podcast, or whatever. Things like, “but I wish he’d stop Tweeting,” or “but I wish he wasn’t so brash,” or, “but I disagree with him about X,” or some other “expression of concern.” On the other hand, we’re all accustomed to hearing this narrative about how none dare question the Great and Terrible Trump, for fear of being cast into outer darkness.
There is something really goofy about the Niskanen Center anti-Trump nexus.