Thursday, April 13, 2017

To get started: Lahren vs. The Blaze

Disclaimer – I am a Tomi fan. I am also a Glen Beck fan. I was more of a fan of Beck a few years ago than I am now, but I still view him as a principled and conservative idealist, which deserves my respect. I would be lying if I tried to claim to know the extensive history of either of them and all the reasons why they do or do not deserve my support. I am just stating it as I see it while it unfolds on national news, the latest being Lahren's emotional reservations about how The Blaze has somehow betrayed her.

Anyway, I just sense that something more is happening behind the scenes than what Tomi would like to put forward. The narrative right now is that Beck said one thing – that he is OK with having a pro-choice employee on The Blaze – and still suspended Lahren’s contract after she went on The View and said that she is pro-choice. Here’s where I can’t help but to side eye the narrative…Lahren talked, just a few months ago, regarding Lena Dunham’s rant about wishing that she had an abortion and referred to it as that Dunham “wished she could have murdered a fetus.” In context, prior to that statement, she was saying that pro-choicers should be taking a stance for rare and safe abortions, but did not outwardly align herself with that view. To be fair, she did not come out as pro-life in that statement either.

The issue that I have with what Lahren did right now is no more than the fact that she came across as inconsistent in her views on abortion. It wasn’t until she appeared on The View, the most looney-toon liberal feminism show on network TV, that her pro-choice views were made apparent. Whereas, when sitting on her independent platform on The Blaze, she insulated her position while bashing (and rightfully so) extreme pro-choicers.

If I were her producer/editor/boss, I would see this as either being inconsistent or untruthful. I know that pro-choice has become (or maybe it always has been?) a libertarian stance for those libertarians who do not appreciate the fetus as a separate entity from the mother because of its dependence on her. The issue that I see is that while on a conservative platform she has one tone about abortion, and when on a liberal platform, she has a very different tone. As a producer/owner of a political commentary, I would imagine that consistency is important. That is not to say that a person’s mind cannot be changed. I am a huge proponent of changing one’s views as more facts are provided. That isn’t what it looks like is going on with Lahren though.


That’s why I don’t have a problem with Beck and The Blaze suspending Lahren’s show while continuing to carry out the terms of her contract. I think it would create a situation that would encourage her to come back being more forthcoming with her position on different polarizing topics when she is talking opinion politics.

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