Just this week, two events took place that best summarize the conservative Right.
First, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech for the ages, where he literally told graduating women that their greatest achievements are in front of them–so far, so good–becoming homemakers, wives, and mothers. Wide right, Harrison.
I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you … How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.
He later goes on to add the cherry on top, saying how his wife Isabelle, “would be the first to say her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
(Blink twice if you need help, Isabelle.)
The second story I want to mention involves former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. During an interview with … how should I put this nicely? … the always-charming Ann Coulter, she, a white woman, straight up told the brown man in front of her that, while she liked his policies and the fact that he’s articulate, she wouldn’t have voted for him because he’s Indian. Don’t believe me? Here’s the quote:
I agreed with many, many things you said … in fact probably more than most other candidates when you were running for president, but I still would not have voted for you because you’re an Indian.
Again … charming.
(As a sidebar, even when Coulter complimented Vivek, she took an unprovoked dig at Black folks, which was particularly disgusting.)
So, why do I mention these two fringe stories? Why do I give them the air time, so to speak?
Because, contrary to popular opinion, they are not fringe!
It’s easy to label this kind of Handmaid’s Tale-esque nightmarish worldview as a harmless fringe that represents a very small vocal minority, but that is to miss the bigger picture. Case in point: guess whose jersey sales are among the highest in the league right now? I bet your natural inclination isn’t to pick a GD kicker. But there you have it! As it currently stands, according to KCTV, team jersey sales rankings are as follows: 1) Travis Kelce, 2) Harrison Butker, 3) Patrick Mahomes. Yes, you read that right: THAT Patrick Mahomes. Sitting third … behind the f***ing kicker!
(No disrespect to kickers.)
So, no, this is not fringe.
This blog is fringe. Progressive ideas are fringe. Radically inclusive worldviews are fringe.
As decently successful as my blog is, a monthly reach of 50,000 would be considered good. That’s nothing. I’m sure hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people have seen the clip of Ann Coulter telling a grown-ass man to his face that his Indian-ness is what is preventing her from voting for him. I’ve had two, maybe three months in my entire ten year writing career that saw those numbers. People like Coulter see these numbers on the regular, as their filth only reaches further and further corners of the internet.
Within Christian spheres, the same numbers hold true. How many progressive, UCC mega churches have you ever seen? Or a Unitarian Universalist church with 3- to 5,000 members? Never! It’s always the right leaning or far right churches that lead the way in this regard.
Folks, these people have power, and they want more of it. They are not fringe, but they have built a narrative where we are made to believe they are. It’s all a part of their victim mentality and perpetual need to become martyrs. In truth, however, their desire is for power, and to send Black and brown folks, as well as women and gays, back to the 1950s. They want marriage to be reserved only for straight people. They want trans people to cease existing. They want voting to be by “households” only (code for men only). To use Kendrick’s word for Drake, these people are “sick.” What’s sicker, is that they have a hold on large swaths of those who claim to care about the Christian faith.
Again, this is who they are. This is what we are dealing with.
To that end, we need to fight these ideas with better ones. We must arm ourselves with information. Good information. Call me biased, but that’s the point of all my books. And my podcasts. But even if you don’t dig my stuff, read more in general. Listen to more quality content. And then engage more with your community, wherever that may be. Education and engagement. We can’t lose this fight to people whose ideas would only further harm those who have historically been the most vulnerable among us.
Who’s with me?
Also, if you’ve been digging my work on here, and want to see me be able to continue writing as close to full-time as humanly possible, please take a look at my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/mjdistefano. Even $1 a month helps bigly!
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