When he complained, rightwingers sent him homophobic taunts online. Black gay
Republican podcaster Rob Smith has claimed that “white supremacist” members of
his political party called him “fa**ot” and the n-word during his Sunday night
attendance of Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest event in Phoenix, Arizona. Though
Smith posted a video of his brief interaction with the aggressors, commenters on
X (formerly Twitter) noted that the video didn’t feature the n-word and mocked
Smith his membership in an anti-gay political party. “Last night in Phoenix, I
was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don’t like gays or
blacks in the Republican Party,” Smith wrote in a December 18 post on X. “They
shouted ‘nr’ and ‘ft’ at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I
never back down. Ever.”
I will say that it’s an attitude that can only develop with a combined lack of wisdom and empathy.
Intelligence isn’t one thing, but the stories of tokens being used and thrown away are difficult to miss in our culture and even if not it takes a lack of wisdom to fail to see that the bigots don’t like the good ones either. And it takes a lack of empathy to get there. It requires being unable or unwilling to see consequences that others see easily and then to behave reprehensibly to get those consequences.
I will say that it’s an attitude that can only develop with a combined lack of wisdom and empathy.
Intelligence isn’t one thing, but the stories of tokens being used and thrown away are difficult to miss in our culture and even if not it takes a lack of wisdom to fail to see that the bigots don’t like the good ones either. And it takes a lack of empathy to get there. It requires being unable or unwilling to see consequences that others see easily and then to behave reprehensibly to get those consequences.
The irony of luke warm takes like this amuses me to no end.