It’s been brought to my attention (via USA Today) that a certain late-night comedian/pundit who shall henceforth remain nameless, whose show I stopped watching last fall because it, and he, had become insufferable, said this in his most recent [ahem] episode about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s apology for the under-representation of Black Latinos and Latinas in the film version of his stage musical In the Heights:
Please stop the apologizing. You’re the guy who made the Founding Fathers Black and Hispanic! I don’t think you have to apologize to Twitter. … This is why people hate Democrats.
(emphasis added). Now, I’m not here to talk about Miranda or the movie or his apology or whether our late-night comedian/pundit has a valid point about the whole “the apologizing” thing he wants Miranda (and everyone else) to stop; I’ll let the USA Today column handle that. I’m here to talk once again about the thing he does not have a valid point about, manifested in the last six words highlighted above.
I’m glad I don’t watch his show anymore and I’m glad I wasn’t watching when this spewed out of his pie-hole, because I might have thrown a heavy object at the TV (and had to wait for Prime Day to get a new one). Clearly, I made the right decision last November and will not be considering reconsidering any time soon.
Even if everything else he says is correct, and even if he’s right that “the apologizing” has gotten out of hand, or that Miranda doesn’t need to apologize, how or why in heaven, hell or earth would this — Miranda’s apology in particular, or “the apologizing” generally — be a reason to “hate Democrats”? Even if it’s safe to assume that Miranda probably votes Democratic (for whatever reasons it might be safe to assume that), he is not a Democrat in that he is not an elected representative, administrative official, candidate for office, or Party chairman; the Democratic Party has no control over him, and he has no control over it. “The apologizing” is not part of the Democratic agenda, it is not the aim or result of Democratic policies, and it’s not the message or theme of Democratic campaigns.
So again, I have to ask this comedian/pundit — because apparently no one else will — why in heaven, hell or earth would his “apology”, or “the apologizing” generally, be a reason to “hate Democrats”???? WHAT DOES ONE HAVE TO DO WITH THE OTHER???
I’ve been over and over why this person’s mantra — that “you have to wear everything that anyone on your side does” — is both bullshit and a double standard. But it still bears repeating that this purported epidemic of “the apologizing” and Miranda’s apology in particular has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Democratic Party, is not something the Democratic Party or elected Democrats have any control over, is not something they could control even if they wanted to, and neither is it something that Republicans could control if they get elected because “people hate Democrats” so much.
And even if it really is true that “people hate Democrats” because of things like this, then there are two things this comedian/pundit should be doing instead of giving validity to that psychotic idea: (1) push back on it, make clear that “Democrats” and liberal activists are separate categories with very little overlap, and that voting Republican (or not voting Democratic) because “woke” liberals are annoying is an irrational act; and (2) come up with a concrete, practical, workable proposal that spells out exactly what Democrats — congresspeople, Senators, the Biden Administration, governors, state legislators, local officials, and candidates running for office — are supposed to do about the “apologizing” and the annoying “wokeness” that “people hate.” And until you’re capable of at least one of these things, especially (2) ...
STFU.