Ok so let’s talk about that smug-MAGA hat wearing fuck who ruined our weekends. Oh wait sorry, if we’re national media we’ve gotta be the most nuanced and give him the most grace they’ve ever afforded any person (because he’s a white boy).
Let’s start with the obvious, from the bosses over at Deadspin: Don't Doubt What You Saw With Your Own Eyes. The writer, Laura Wagner, lays out how a bunch of duped media (prob like, nervous that they vilified a white boy whose parents can afford a publicist) backed down after seeing, so, so much footage! “Fuller Picture Emerges of Viral Video of Native American Man and Catholic Students” writes the fucking Times and for the Atlantic we get “I Failed the Covington Catholic Test.”
So if these writes (Wagner excluded) think context is so important (and not, idk, the fact that we can still see these videos with our own damn eyes, how come they barely mention what these boys were there for THE MOTHERFUCKING MARCH FOR LIFE!
We were at the March for Life on Friday too and we saw 100s of these types of boys. When we were counter-protesting a boy kept yelling at one of us about how stupid he thought we were. He went off about how Margaret Sanger was racist and then said “You’re so dumb you don’t even know who that is.” (I mean, obviously we do.) He was with a friend and he was relentless. And you may think we’re just a bunch of hardened cunts here but, to tell you the truth it was all very disheartening and sad. We stood there and watched all these men who think they have the right to tell women (and people with uteruses) what to do with their bodies.
We watched a sea of men and teens many of whom thought they were better than us, who smugly held their “Defund Planned Parenthood” signs. Some wore shirts that said “Who dreams of growing up to be an abortion provider?” a sentiment that prompted one of us to yell “I know a lot of great people who do!”
These kids were bused in to make people uncomfortable. They were bused in to spew hate and wear shirts of a movement that should be dying. A movement that’s designed to shame and belittle people. A movement that exists to be smug and self-important and cruel. You know what this group of people (maybe not the boys specifically, but many of the marchers) did the day before? They went and yelled in front of a Planned Parenthood at patients and staff!
So, you’re goddamn right they should be made to feel uncomfortable (not that we think that was the intention here). So fucking WHAT if they were MAYBE nervous? (It’s being very generous to say that that was the case.) They were the group with more people, they were a bunch of loud white men. Frankly, we think they should have their worldview knocked around a little more. We think they SHOULD be made to feel uncomfortable or confronted A LITTLE MORE. Even if this boy was nervous and confused, he still decided to react smugly. And I mean, his PR team knew all the code words to hit in his comment. Here’s what the high schooler says about Nathan Phillips, “I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.” COME FUCKING ONNNNN! Only a white person in a group of like 30 interacting with a group of like 5 could SOMEHOW make HIMSELF the victim. (Side note: this reminds us of another March for Lifer with a bullhorn who tried to stand and block us when we were taking a picture, then when we moved in front of her YELLED THAT WE WERE BEING AGGRESSIVE…. I mean….)
Look, no one really deserves to be doxed or receive death threats. Just because then they’re just gonna act like a victim their whole life. And no one deserves parents who would willingly send their children to the March For Life. But if you’re standing up for shaming women and controlling people’s bodies… you damn well deserve to be confronted. And if you don’t know how to act when a person from a peaceful march interacts with you, if it makes you uncomfortable, YOU DAMN WELL NEED TO LEARN A LESSON FROM THAT! And the lesson is not “mommy and daddy need to hire me a PR firm.”
We hope that the smug MAGA hat wearers are always confronted in everything they do. Even if the “confrontation” is just like… having to see a person with another worldview than them who won’t back down from them (“Mommy, Daddy, why did the man not bow down to me.”) If you’re gonna stand for garbage, expect to be called out. But, we guess optimistically, we also hope that people can learn from this experience. Learn that the world does not revolve around you, learn that even though as a high schooler who thinks you’re invincible, you’ve still got to be a human being, living in the world, seeing that the world is not just made for you. It’s for everyone. Women and indigenous people included.
