Scott Tibbs
Stop feeding the trolls
By Scott Tibbs, October 22, 2019
The reaction of the news media, Democrats and moderate Republicans to a stupid meme video at best borders on hysterical and will only encourage more videos like it. At the same time, those of us on the Right need to stop encouraging stuff like this. (See
here and
here and
here and
here for more.)
If you haven't seen it, the video is Donald Trump's head superimposed on a character from "Kingsman: Secret Service" as the character massacres people in a church. The victims have the heads of Trump's political opponents in both parties as well as logos of news organizations superimposed over the characters from the movie. (I have not seen the movie, and while I had heard the name of it, I knew nothing about it other than the name. A friend from college told me what movie it was from.)
Look: The video is stupid. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. It does not advance conservative principles. It does not help pass or implement conservative policy. It does not argue effectively for anything. The only reason the video exists is to troll Trump's political opponents and provoke a reaction from the news media. Quite frankly, I find it tiresome. It is not offensive. It is stupid and it is boring. It looks like the creator spent many hours editing a movie clip to produce a tedious parody.
"Own the libs" is not a political philosophy. It is childish. If your sole purpose us to make people angry or "triggered," you are doing politics wrong. We on the Right need to be better than stupid trolling that most people left behind when they graduated high school. If you want to "own the libs," then work to pass and implement policy to protect the right to life, cut taxes, preserve private property rights, cut government spending, preserve religious liberty, preserve gun rights and reduce regulations. Memes do none of that.
With that said, the reaction to this immature video has blown it completely out of proportion. The video is not a threat to massacre journalists, Democrats and moderate Republicans. It is a meme. By demanding that Trump "denounce" the video (as if the President of these United States has the time to denounce idiotic memes all day long) they are giving the meme makers exactly what they want. They are showing they are "triggered" and are encouraging more videos like this to be made and posted.
The best answer is for both sides to yawn, say "that is stupid and childish" and move on. Do not share it, do not react to it and do not breathlessly warn of the "danger" of immature memes. Stop feeding the trolls and giving them what they want. When you become "triggered" and offended by memes, you guarantee the creation of more memes.
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