Oh the irony, professor and Black Lives Matter activist says Fox News viewers have a “mob-like mentality.”
An assistant professor in the African American studies department at Princeton University blasted Fox News for their reporting of her Hampshire College commencement speech, where she spewed anti-Trump sentiments. According to Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, she received numerous threats via email over Fox News coverage of her commencement speech.
Taylor was scheduled to speak publicly at Seattle’s Town Hall and the University of California, San Diego this week, but has canceled both appearances, claiming that she fears for her life if she were to move forward with those engagements.
In a released statement, Taylor refers to Fox News viewers as having a “mob-like mentality,” blaming the network and its viewers for her decision. Regarding her commencement address, she says, “Fox News did not like it. Last week, the network ran a story on my speech, describing it as an ‘anti-POTUS tirade.’ Fox ran an online story about my speech and created a separate video of excerpts of my speech, which included my warning to graduates about the world they were graduating into.” Taylor continued, “I argued that Donald Trump, the most powerful politician in the world, is ‘a racist and sexist megalomaniac’ who posts a threat to their future.”
She continued to point out that she isn’t a “newsworthy person” and that Fox only ran the story to incite viewers into a mob-like frenzy and unleash suffering upon her militant lectures. However, in the current political climate—and in light of controversy surrounding college campuses and free speech—I would say that any public figure with influence is newsworthy.
Of all the melodramatic actions taken by public figures recently, this one takes the cake. First, Taylor delivers a politically charged commencement speech to a graduating college class. Rather than opt for a message that inspires young people—and anyone else who achieved success—she decided to spew her political message of fear and doom. Ironically, these are the very things she has blamed Fox News of perpetuating.
Seattle and San Diego are two of the most liberal cities in the United States. I find it ridiculously hard to believe that Taylor would meet her demise at either location while delivering a lecture. Though it’s unacceptable and alarming that she has received threats sent directly to her work email address, that is something that public figures—and especially so-called activists—must deal with while carrying out their work.
Conservative speakers have found it necessary to cancel speaking engagements because of riots carried out by the masked protestors who oppose ideas and free speech. Of course, Taylor didn’t address those incidents.
Ironically, Taylor also writes that, “The cancelation of my speaking events is a concession to the violent intimidation that was, in my opinion, provoked by Fox News.” Incredibly, she continues, asserting that, “Their side uses the threat of violence and intimidation because they cannot compete in the field of politics, ideas, and organizing.” She claims she remains undaunted in her commitment to social justice warriorism. As long as she isn’t faced with opposition, that is.
