I was scrolling through Facebook recently, as I do, and I came across a photograph reposted by a friend, of Hillary Clinton. It was shot from behind her, and she was wearing a sharp powder pink pencil skirt. Regrettably, her meticulous image was rather marred by the fact that someone had photoshopped a dark stain down the back of her skirt. The caption was something along the lines of, “She doesn’t want the world to see this. Let’s make it go viral!”
The comments section seemed to agree. Many people were of the opinion that even if the photo was Photoshopped, it deserved proliferation simply because it portrayed Clinton in a negative fashion. Rest assured that there was no shortage of profanity and anti-woman slurs thrown into the mix.
Here’s the thing, though—that photograph says nothing about Hillary Clinton. It says nothing about her views, her policies, her history, or even her personal grooming habits. It says that someone childish and mean on the internet had a photo editing application and five spare minutes.
If you want to criticize Hillary Clinton, that’s fine by me. There’s certainly plenty to criticize, regardless of what end of the political spectrum you fall on. You can talk about her stance on LGBT issues or on race relations or on foreign affairs or on the economy. You can talk about any number of things that are interesting, relevant, and really, really important.
But instead, social media seems more interested in criticizing images of Clinton surprised by balloons falling from the ceiling at the national convention. You know what? I would have been excited if balloons started raining from the sky, too, and I don’t consider that to be a character flaw. I especially object to this imagery being compared to Donald Trump doing an extremely and intentionally offensive imitation of a reporter with disabilities, which is something that actually does have to do with character.
The reality is that when it comes to criticisms such as this, it has nothing to do with the victim’s personality at all. It’s the same “logic” that bullies have been using since elementary school to bring someone down without constructing anything that even resembles an argument or a stance. It is uneducated, shallow, and frequently narrow-minded because such critiques are founded upon the assumption that not liking someone gives us a free pass to say whatever we want about them.
The same is true for the uproar surrounding the nude photos of Melania Trump that have been recently unearthed. Again, if you want to criticize Donald Trump, there is more than sufficient ammunition. He’s racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ableist, elitist, and definitely unqualified to serve as President of the United States. But whether or not his wife has ever shown her breasts to a camera has absolutely nothing to do with that. Feel free to call out the Republicans who trashed Michelle Obama for wearing a sleeveless dress and who now have no qualms with Melania’s moral compass, but to denigrate Melania Trump for her decisions on what to do with her body is utterly pointless in the scheme of the presidential election, and frankly, rather cruel. Regardless of your opinion on pornographic material, the point is that Melania’s body has nothing to do with her husband’s ability (or lack thereof) to lead this nation.
There’s a lot of talk going on in all kinds of different demographic groups about this election, and with good reason. It’s an important time for all of us, and the outcome of this election influences all of us. Just keep in mind that politics is exactly that: important. Reducing our discourse to whose toupee looks the most real may be amusing, but it has no place in a substantive discussion about who has what it takes to lead our country.
