Your Defense of Zina Bash Should Be Bashed: A Guest Post by Paul Hair
On September 4, Zina Bash sat behind soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing in the clown show we affectionately refer to as the U.S. Senate. Social Justice Warriors immediately accused her of being a white nationalist/white supremacist because, as she sat there for hours upon hours, cameras caught her touching her index finger to her thumb. (Spoiler alert: the OK symbol is not a white supremacist symbol. At all.) Conservatives rushed to her defense by saying there was no way she could be a white supremacist because she has Jewish and Mexican heritage, thus eliminating the possibility that she’s an icky white person. So went the latest incident of conservatives advancing identity politics; so went the latest incident of conservatives advancing the progressive agenda.
The progressive conspiracy theory that Zina Bash is some sort of white supremacist is so outlandish it deserves to be treated with nothing more than ridicule as another example of how insane progressives have become. It should have been an easy win for conservatives. So, of course, they screwed it up by playing the progressive game. They defended Bash by bashing white people; by making her racial/ethnic heritage the highlight of her defense. “She’s not white—that most evil of races—thus she can’t be a white supremacist. QED!”
The issue of Bash’s heritage was, and is, irrelevant. If she was 100% Anglo, Celtic, Nordic, or any other European heritage, what she did with her fingers is still a non-issue. It’s a sign of how appallingly unserious we’ve become that this kind of thing must be said. The progressive accusation against her was vile. Attempting to defend her with a “She’s not white!” defense is nearly as vile.
Unfortunately, there is nothing unusual about this latest failure of conservatism. Progressives have such a tight hold over every aspect of culture that not only do their own adherents think the thoughts they want them to think, but most conservatives think the thoughts they want them to think too. Thus, it’s standard operating procedure for conservatives to boast of how “We hate identity politics!” right before they form a working group to figure out how to appeal more to “non-white, non-cis, non-males.”
As long as conservatives continue following progressive rules and playing the progressive game, they will continue losing. And the failed defense of Zina Bash serves as the latest example of everything conservatives are doing wrong.
–Written by Paul Hair
