Tomi Lahren Tells Michelle Obama to "Sit Down"
Fox Nation host, Tomi Lahren, never shies away from sharing her opinion. Her latest attack is fired at Michelle Obama, telling her to "sit down" after Obama spoke to Las Vegas residents about voting. The tone of Obama's speech was to take action and vote because "you wouldn't want your grandma to pick out your clothes for you" and not voting puts your future in others hands.
The first problem with this is that women are constantly pitted against each other. They may not have the same view point, but Tomi Lahren doesn't need to play into the stereotype that women are catty. This perpetuates the idea that women aren't supporting each other and are constantly competing for attention.
Secondly, throughout history women have been told to "sit down" and "shut up." Tomi Lahren has a platform to share her opinions, so why can't Michelle Obama? Are her opinions less valuable because she is a woman of color? The idea that this white woman gets to determinate who gets to talk about voting is absurd. Michelle Obama is just as, if not more, qualified than Tomi Lahren to speak up about her opinion.
Sources:
https://www.ebony.com/news-views/tomi-lahren-michelle-obama-sit-down-backlash
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tomi-lahren-michelle-obama-twitter-first-lady-barack-fox-news-a8554271.html
Thanks for sharing about this. I think you raise some excellent points, especially the racial power dynamic at play when a white woman is silencing a black woman. When we look at the class questions such as who is absent and who is silent, many women of color are silenced from the voting narrative for various reasons. Just because Lahren did not like what Michelle Obama had to say, does not mean that she had a right to tell her to "sit down" and essentially to be quiet too.
ReplyDelete