Progressives vs. Progressives
I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire of the all-out war online between the supporters of Jimmy Dore and TYT.
But there is one thing that is categorically unacceptable and must stop.
Right now, attacks and insults are being spread like wildfire. They’re destroying the already fragile coalition of progressives who haven’t made much (if any) progress on convince a Democratic President, House, and Senate to adopt legislation that progressive and most Americans agree on.
A healthy discussion is needed to figure out what to do short-term and long-term. But that’s not what’s happening. People need to chill or the little progressive we’ve made will be destroyed.
Maybe you really think Jimmy Dore, Cenk Uygur, or Ana Kasparian is a sell-out, whether it’s true or not. Maybe you really think one of them or the other is distorting what Assad did or didn’t do. Or that this segment or that segment crossed a line.
Ad hominem and ad feminam (had to look that one up!) attacks are flying. That’s problematic because it doesn’t focus on the issues.
But the one thing in all of this that I cannot and will not be silent about is Jimmy Dore’s sexual harassment of Ana Kasparian, which Jimmy himself brought up. And now, he’s trying to excuse his actions by slut-shaming her.
Dore made a sexually inappropriate comment about how Ana Kasparian was dressed, commenting on her appearance, in front of her students, who were visiting TYT to work on their final project.
That’s disgusting, wrong, and unjustifiable. That he is now attacking her about this is also disgusting, wrong, and unjustifiable.
Ana Kasparian has confirmed that he sexually harassed her, saying that she had “sexy legs” in front of her students, and that there were a number of other incidents of him making unwelcome comments about her. Jimmy himself admits that he made a sexually suggestive comment that he knew her students could hear, and that he wrote a card of apology to her afterwards.
Since Ana is the victim — or survivor — of the sexual harassment, here is what happened in her own words. It starts about 7:30 in, but I recommend watching the whole video if you can.
Jimmy tries to defend his harassment by saying the way Ana would dress was “inappropriate” and made it “look like she was going to a rave.” Basically, he’s claiming it’s Ana’s fault that he was harassing her.
This is not about cancel culture. It’s not about tone policing.
It doesn’t matter what clothes she was wearing.
It doesn’t matter whether or not her students laughed (which Jimmy says, as if that would excuse it)
It doesn’t matter whether or not TYT is bought off by Soros, Pelosi, or the ghost of Richard Nixon
It doesn’t matter whether or not TYT did or didn’t have inappropriate content in the past.
If you target or humiliate victims of sexual harassment — if you say they deserved it — if you make disgusting jokes about them — if you rally behind the people who do these things, then you’re perpetuating the same horrible, misogynistic, conservative mindset that’s been going on for millennia.
It’s 2021. We’re better than that. Or we should be.
This is what Jimmy’s harassment in front of her students made Ana feel like, in her own words.
“It was degrading, obviously. And I want my students to respect me and take me seriously. Seeing an older man that I work with talk about my body like that in front of my students was wrong….” Ana Kasparian
It’s okay to admit that Jimmy’s wrong about this, even if you agree with everything else he says.
I used to love Jimmy on Aggressive Progressives. I was subscribed to his podcast and listened to it most weeks. I realized I no longer could stand by some of what he was saying on his show.
But this is different. It’s not about a debate about force the vote. It’s not just about creating chaos online. It’s about harassment.
It’s time to take a breath, take a step back, and think about the situation. What would it feel like if you, or someone you love, had to work with someone who purposely and publicly humiliated you by making sexual comments.
If it’s wrong, then stop defending his sexual harassment and stop piling on.
I started out this post with a broad context that didn’t mention the sexual harassment not because I don’t think it’s important. It’s exactly the opposite — it’s the most important thing out of this whole craziness. Committing and defending sexual harassment is harmful to the person it happened to and creates a toxic and dangerous atmosphere for everyone.
I’m hoping that Jimmy Dore fans who don’t know the whole story, or who are genuinely progressive and have been mislead about it, read it, take a step back, and hopefully side with the victim and not the aggressor here, no matter what the politics are. Even if it gets just one person to reconsider, or to stop attacking Ana, TYT, or the people defending her because of this, then I think it’s worth it.
Progressives need to discuss policy. Debate strategy. That’s what we need to do. We need to all get back to putting the establishment out of business (literally), find common ground, and work towards solutions for achieving our shared progressive goals, which should not include defending sexual harassment.
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