Imagine, for a moment, that gay CNN journalist Anderson Cooper was attacked by alt-right lunatics at one of President Trump’s rallies. Such a story would dominate headlines across the liberal media for days, receive universal condemnation from politicians of all stripes, and prompt countless press releases from gay rights organizations and progressive groups. They’d all condemn this violence and use it as evidence of national oppression.
They’d be completely justified in their outrage. Yet it’s hard to view the activist Left as anything but blatantly hypocritical when they ignore, and in some cases justify, an attack on a gay journalist who is perceived as conservative.
That’s exactly what happened this weekend. The most recent victim of leftist intolerance is Quillette editor Andy Ngo, who has risen to prominence for his diligent and in-depth reporting and commentary on the fringe Left and antifa. At a rally over the weekend, Ngo was brutally beaten and “milkshaked” by antifa activists, ending up in the hospital with a brain bleed.
We were pilloried by left-wing media earlier this month after publishing a piece scrutinising the cosy relationship between a number of journalists & antifa. But clearly there should be more scrutiny, not less https://t.co/MqfUoSbVEj
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) June 30, 2019
A few prominent progressive journalists, such as CNN’s Brian Stelter, put out respectable statements condemning this assault, although he only spent about a minute on the subject. But others made excuses, ignored, or even justified the attack on Ngo. For instance, liberal journalist C.J. Werleman responded to the attack by calling Ngo an islamophobe and a party to white supremacy. (Ngo is Asian.) Huffington Post reporter Christopher Mathias called Ngo a “f–king snowflake” and feminist journalism professor Talia Levin, who was fired from her last journalism job for defaming a firefighter, mocked him in a since-deleted tweet as well.
Particularly jarring was the reaction of supposed gay rights organization Human Rights Campaign’s communications staffer Charlotte Clymer. Clymer basically justified the assault in a tweet, arguing that he deserved it because he “provokes” people with his writings and his words.
Meanwhile, you can find images of Clymer celebrating Pride Month over the weekend with Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims, who is notorious for obnoxiously harassing young, anti-abortion women on the streets. Is he asking for it, too, Charlotte?
As of this writing, I can find no statement of any kind condemning the attack by HRC, HRC president Chad Griffin, fellow gay rights group GLAAD, gay media websites like The Advocate and Out Magazine, or Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.
This is from an @HRC Communications person. Justifying violence on a gay Asian because he’s conservative is a new low for their partisan politics. They become what they say they hate. https://t.co/9rFq8sMCI4
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 30, 2019
Gay Asian journalist @MrAndyNgo is beaten by Antifa members during #PrideMonth
Silence from @glaad @TheAdvocateMag @outmagazine.@HRC staff member suggests he deserved it.
The bias in the #LGBT community against gay conservatives is sick and shameful.
— Rob Smith ?? (@robsmithonline) July 1, 2019
This would not be the reaction were it a progressive journalist under assault. He’d be a martyr already.
This whole debacle just offers us one more reminder that too many on the progressive Left only care about minorities when it’s convenient, and only so long as they don’t step outside the boundaries of progressive orthodoxy. It’s always about the ideology, never truly about bigotry. Fundamentally, there’s nothing “progressive” about that at all.
