Leftists Hated Nooses During Obama Years, Now They're Making Them for Trump
Ah, “liberal tolerance.” It’s becoming a bit of a running joke: The left claims to stand for diversity and acceptance, yet turns downright nasty any time they aren’t getting their way.
The latest in a long string of not-so-tolerant examples is a series of T-shirts and a corresponding social media campaign called “Hanging with Trump.”
What’s so intolerant about a shirt? Well, this one features a graphic of the president of the United States hanging from a noose around his neck.
“You will actually look great and feel great hanging with Trump!” declares the crowd-funded campaign for the T-shirts. Over at the group’s Instagram page, close to a thousand people have liked the profile, which showcases men and women proudly posing with the noose shirt.
The same page insists that the “Hanging with Trump” clothing is a “Political Statement + Satire = Protected by Free Speech.” It’s certainly a political statement, although a surprisingly violent one.
Whether it’s satire is up for debate — they sure seem pretty serious about getting as many people as possible to wear the offensive shirts, if the marketing patter on their website is any indication.
True enough, freedom of speech should include edgy and controversial views, but on which side of the line the president swinging from a noose falls is an open question.
Holding a contentious opinion is one thing; graphically depicting a real person being executed is something else. Just because you can say it or portray it doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly crass.
Then there’s the fact that the left spent most of the Obama presidency in a state of outrage over imaged threats against him. Ironically, they became obsessed with noose imagery, and insisted that a noose symbolized hate speech … even to the point of calling police at the mere hint of one.
In October of last year, for example, a so-called “racial incident” at Michigan State University involved a police investigation into an alleged noose that was found in a dorm.
“MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon publicly stated that she was ‘distressed’ after ‘a student reported a noose was hung outside of her room,'” Fox News reported the time.
“This type of behavior is not tolerated on our campus,” Simon scolded. “No Spartan should ever feel targeted based on their race, or other ways in which they identify.”
The moral panic ended when keen investigators discovered that there was no noose. Actually, the presumably liberal student had called campus police over a shoelace that was still in its packaging.
That wasn’t the only noose caper to occur recently. The second took place at American University, a liberal arts college in Washington, D.C.
“According to The College Fix, a public safety investigation was launched after students found a few bananas hanging from strings tied like nooses in a few spots around campus,” Conservative Tribune reported.
“These racist, hateful messages have no place in our community. The safety of our students is paramount. The American University Department of Public Safety is investigating,” a university representative lectured in a memo. About fruit.
See the contrast? When liberals believe that a noose — real or imagined — is attacking them, it’s “racist” and “hateful” and investigated as a threat. As soon as they can use the very same lynching imagery to attack a Republican president, however, all bets are off.
The double standard and selective outrage is getting tiresome. It looks like tolerance is just a buzzward that the left throws around when it’s convenient. They never intended to actually live up to it.
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