Television host and conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren has the anger and temperament of a drunk, know-it-all, belligerent guy in a bar trying to fight everyone—it’s obnoxious to say the least.
Lahren’s show “Final Thoughts” on TheBlaze allows an hour segment of her discussing—mainly criticizing—current social topics and issues through her right-wing views. Famous for calling out “cry-baby liberal snowflakes” on political issues like racism, gun control, political movements and first amendment rights, as well as criticizing people ranging from Obama, Clinton and Trump to Colin Kapernick and Beyoncé.
Even if some (not many) of her views are valid, the main problem with Lahren is how she abuses her platform as a way to spread hate and animosity. Yes, it is important to express opinionated views to make for open discussion and good TV of course, but she combats issues in a way that belittles people who disagree with her. Her recent interview with The Daily Show's host Trevor Noah perfectly illustrates how stubborn, hateful and contradictory her arguments can be. Watch the interview here:
Noah begins the interview by asking Lahren, "why are you so angry?"
"I'm actually not that angry," she responds. "It's just, there's things that need to be said Trevor and a lot of people are afraid to say them."
They go back and forth about her opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement, protestors, first amendment rights, institutional racism and more. She drops statistics and continually claims she's not an ill-intentioned racist. They conclude with agreeing to disagree.
Like the obnoxious drunk guy we’ve all seen in a bar who argues in circles, constantly interrupting and shouting overtop of people while demeaning their thoughts with a condescending attitude, they won't back down. Once you get into a political debate, they become a loudmouth, know-it-all, show-off and it’s their way or the highway. Well yeah, that’s Tomi Lahren's rhetoric.
What seems to be Lahren's biggest problem is her lack of empathy. She argues that she believes so strongly in the need for political debates and free speech because she accepts all points of view, yet she fails to actually try and see the other point of view.
Many believed Noah "grilled" Lahren during the interview even though he asked simple questions and she explained her views loud and clear. To talk about these topics is a sensitive subject and no matter what the controversial view may be, she refuses to empathize with the other side. This illustrates the truth about her opinionated character and the selfish mentality that is problematic in our society: if it isn’t a problem that directly affects you—it isn’t a real problem. That is where Lahren contradicts herself when she claims to be unbiased and unprejudiced.
What we can learn from this interview is that political conversation is important, especially to discuss both sides, but having a contradictory, angry, combative attitude is a abusive way to use your platform that reaches millions. While Trevor Noah's show on Comedy Central is political satire, making millions laugh at the pain of political debate, Lahren's show is a heated argument of yelling, disagreement and critiques of the latest trending topic.
On a different episode of The Daily Show, Noah said it best when he showed a compilation of angry clips from Lahren's show and analyzed her negative and hateful commentary strategies.
"That's not what this is about. It's about a crazy talented person named Tomi Lahren and her amazing ability to take almost any topic and turn it into fire."
Fire is not what we want when it comes to social and political agreements, but commentators and the many people with close-minded views like Lahren continue to add fuel to it.
