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When Liberals Turn Into Alt Right Trolls, And Turn Against Strong Yet Imperfect Women Like Lena Dunham And Amy Schumer

Published on: September 4, 2016 at 11:15 PM
By Quiana Fulton

This week I found myself immersed in defending (just barely actually) two talented and funny women, Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham.

It all began with an off-putting comment said by Lena Dunham about Odell Beckman Jr., a black man, in a Lenny Letter interview with Amy Schumer.

“You and I were literally sitting across from each other at the Met Ball, and it was so surreal to get to do that.

I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards. He was like, “That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.” It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.

The vibe was very much like, “Do I want to f**k it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.” It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, “This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.”

Ring Of Fire

What seemed like minutes of the interview posting online, the internet lost its freaking mind with disgust. Immediately people began to accuse Dunham, a white woman, of participating in overly-sexualizing a black man. Of course, this accusation has long existed in American society where it vilifies black males, yet expects black males to be attracted to white women. It’s a yin and yang to a bigger problem in our society that stems from hundreds of years of systematic racism which continues to choke actual progress of racial relations in this country today. But that’s a BIG discussion for another time.

It’s not surprising the internet took to teaching Dunham a “lesson,” by vilifying her with jokes, shame, and threats — because that’s what some people think the role should be to teaching someone a lesson, “Hit’em where it hurts.” It’s disgusting, but no one said freedom of speech was pretty all of the darn time.

Here’s some of the digital whipping Dunham received.

https://twitter.com/JxhnBinder/status/771807568545083396

The tweets posted above are par for the course compared to these tweets referring to her as a “rape hoax” and “child molester.”

https://twitter.com/moosemyfrnds1/status/772597262773956609

The Right Hates Liberal Women

As far as all are concerned, Dunham didn’t lie about her rape, nor has she been charged by police with a sex crime. Still, some members on the political right couldn’t care less about facts, much less professionalism when it comes to liberal women they hate. Besides this latest hiccup, the far-right takes too much joy in belittling Dunham. She’s a byproduct of the type of woman they hate, an oversharer and overachiever who just isn’t that into them.

As noted, the political right has referred to Dunham as a “rape hoax,” for creating a fake name of the offender in her book Not That Kind of Girl whom she alleged raped her . S ubsequently, the name chosen was the name of an actual person that wasn’t the perpetrator. Of course, Breitbart disregarded that memoirs usually change names to protect personal identities for all sorts of legal reasons. Thus, Dunham didn’t lie or falsely accuse someone of rape. The reason the right was irked is that she noted the alleged rapist was a Republican .

Breitbart also called Dunham a “ sexual predator ,” an allegation they had no business making considering her sister and parents never filed any charges. Dunham was a young child when she inappropriately touched her sister and was more curious child than sexual violator. But I digress and will let others like physiologist discuss and debate this.

The truth is, no matter what Dunham does, the right will find a way and reason to hate her.

Rage Against Amy Schumer

To be fair, most tweets targeted Dunham, but The Federalist managed to bring Amy Schumer into the illicit affair. Mollie Hemingway happily proclaimed no one liked Amy Schumer anymore.

https://twitter.com/NortonLoverPNW/status/771863836349521920

Hemingway, however (and oddly), first tells us everything that’s great about Schumer:

“Life is pretty good for comedian Amy Schumer. She’s pitching light beer and discount clothing — nonstop if the recent Olympics advertising blitz was any indication. She had an HBO comedy special. Her movie “Trainwreck,” about a woman who puts aside drinking and sleeping around for a stable relationship, was a hit. Her “Inside Amy Schumer” show did well enough for four seasons. She has a new book out, and it’s sitting on top of The New York Times bestseller list.”

Then with absolutely no facts, Hemingway proceeds to say Schumer’s days of popularity are over.

“Despite this, Schumer’s days as comedy’s “It Girl” are over. Has any celebrity gone from “Hey, she’s fun!” to “Ughhhhhhhh” more quickly than Amy Schumer?”

Confused? So am I? Why are Schumer’s days of “It Girl,” over?

Well, it’s because she’s for gun control. Also, according to Hemingway, Schumer’s popularity is dead in the water because, a former writer of Schumer’s, Kurt Metzger, defended his friend who’s accused of rape — while Metzger also condemned women for not reporting being raped but wanting to vilify the accused publically.

Here’s the deal: Schumer is still hot, hot, hot, and funny as hell. The Federalist knows this, and it irks them to no end because Schumer represents all that they hate, being politically liberal and a woman.

I’m still not sure why Hemingway and the media tried to hold Schumer responsible for the words of Metzger. That said, this is what some on the political right does: They confuse and conflate issues. They also troll like Metzger and belittle incessantly, like many did with Dunham for her stupidity projecting her insecurities on Odell Beckman Jr., which Dunham has since apologized for.

Media Is Over, Not Schumer

In recalling the things the political right has criticized and shamed Schumer and Dunham for, I couldn’t help but identify the same pattern of behavior with Twitter users with Dunham’s last controversy. Instead of users and the media (at least) reaching out to Dunham for clarification or discussion of why she felt that way, we all participated in demeaning Dunham for having a personal feeling about someone. In fact, we borderline tried to shame Dunham into silence. Luckily she didn’t take the bait. Too bad for the rest of did. We acted like petulant children — a product of alternative right trolls. For that, we all should be ashamed, especially the mainstream media, who just couldn’t help but participate in clickbait for those advertising dollars.

P.S. Lena Dunham, please speak to a professional about your body insecurities – Love, Q.

[Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images]

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