Remember that guy who became a meme more than a decade ago screaming in a YouTube video for people to “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!”? The “cry” for privacy, ironically, went viral in the personification of the “Streisand Effect” – when the attempt to get people not to look at something causes more people to look than otherwise would have. With the exception of Hollywood, politics is full of people desperate to have their privacy respected…just ask their publicists.
Some people lead lives of example – something to aspire or look up to – while others lead lives that can best be described as cautionary tales.
Whatever side of that divide you fall (and most people spend time on both sides, living their lives largely on the line in the middle), attention is always given to those who scream the loudest and act the dumbest. The hypocrites who are shameless in how they conduct themselves as they claim they only wish to be left alone.
Personally, I can feel badly for someone going through a family trauma (note that word, not simply bad publicity due to their own actions), but lose a lot of it when their publicist asks for privacy on their behalf. I mean, you have a publicist, so you’re looking for attention. I’m thinking specifically about someone like Dave Grohl, leader of the Foo Fighters, who fathered a kid out of wedlock with some side piece. He released a statement acknowledging what he’d apparently been caught doing, then used his kids to try to cover his ass. “We are grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together,” it read.
Dude, you screwed around on your kids’ mom and made a new one, how considerate were you?
Using your kids as a shield is a Hamas move; pathetic in every way. The best way to avoid embarrassment is to avoid doing things that will cause embarrassment in the first place.
Then there are the political attention seekers; those desperate for anything that will turn heads in their direction. This didn’t used to be a problem, as Congressional leadership kept members from embarrassing the party and punished those who did. Where accomplishment used to be rewarded, now attention is. Just look at the phony-haired, caterpillar fake eyelash-wearing Jasmine Crockett, who has zero accomplishments in the House, but is celebrated by the left for her willingness to make a complete ass of herself on television. Who takes her seriously? No one. But she makes for good MSNBC!
I wrote in my book a few years ago that the line between “famous” and “infamous” had been obliterated – people used to want good attention, now they’re just desperate for any kind of attention, no matter how they get it. A functioning society needs there to be a difference between the attention a person gets for accomplishing something positive and the attention a “social media influencer” gets for stripping naked and smearing feces all over themselves in a mall somewhere.
We don’t have that anymore – clicks are clicks and followers are followers, regardless of why they happen.
You should not know the names Tim or Sarah McBride, the “trans” Congressman from Delaware, unless you’re from Delaware. McBride has literally accomplished nothing in Congress. Personally, I don’t care about whether he’s called “Tim” or “Sarah,” but as the father of daughters, I don’t want a man in the bathroom with my kids.
McBride was anointed a victim, which is an accomplishment to the left, because female Members of Congress didn’t want him in their bathroom. It’s their bathroom, they can decide (and did).
Now, the unaccomplished McBride is a “celebrity” with the left, and this Congressman for all of 10 minutes is being used to raise money from dopey leftists. “When I arrived on Capitol Hill this year, I showed up ready to work for the people of Delaware -- NOT to talk about what bathroom I use or personal insults from the other side,” the email reads. “Republicans are trying to use trans people as pawns in their anti-worker agenda. And I refuse to be a pawn. I refuse to give them that power. I refuse to let them get away with it. That’s because while some folks on the other side of the aisle seek to divide us, I ran for Congress to focus on what brings us together."
He ran to bring people together how exactly? Is calling everyone who won’t pretend he can get pregnant a “transphobe” somehow unifying? Did I miss a memo?
Leave him alone, respect his privacy…and celebrate his diversity. It can’t be all those things. Personally, I’m happy to do the first two, and refuse the third. But it’s the third the left actually demands, the first two are just cover from criticism.
I’m gonna pass on all of it.
I don’t care how someone dresses, I care how they vote in Congress. McBride is awful because how he dresses dictates how he votes.
People can live their lives however they like, as long as who they do it with is of age and willing. They have to explain their actions to God, I don’t. But I draw the line at people trying to force me to care.
I’m not interested in how you’re a victim, whether you’re a Member of Congress or some “influencer” impregnated by Elon Musk releasing statements about how you wish to be left alone in between photoshoots for news stories about how you only wish for privacy.
Hypocrisy knows no political party and hypocrites have always been with us, we just didn’t used to celebrate them. We’re all worse off for that having changed.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.