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April 2, 2018 - The Matt Walsh Show

18:38

Ep. 1 - Never Apologize To A Pitchfork Mob

The Laura Ingraham situation shows why you should be very careful about apologizing to angry Leftists. Their outrage is insincere. They demand the apology because they want you to submit to them, not because they want to forgive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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	All right, so Laura Ingram is taking a vacation amid the advertiser boycott and all the outrage that's still growing.
	It hasn't died down.
	Here we are four or five days later because of this.
	You know, unnecessary and dumb tweet that she sent about David Hogg.
	Unnecessary and dumb, also completely innocuous.
	In fact, just to frame this, and in case you forget, let's just remind you what the tweet was, what this offending tweet was.
	This is the tweet.
	That has potentially destroyed her career and has had, you know, over a dozen advertisers flee and all these people coming after her.
	And this is the tweet, okay, that she sent on March 28th at 11.45am.
	The tweet is, linking to an article, it says, David Hogg rejected by four colleges to which he applied and whines about it.
	Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA, totally predictable given acceptance rates.
	That's the tweet.
	That's the tweet that everyone is, people are accusing her of, she's mocking a child!
	She was ruthlessly attacking and mocking this child!
	There's nothing mocking in here except for the part where she says, um, whines about it.
	You know, she's not even really making fun of him, as far as I can tell, based on the tweet.
	She's not saying, ah ha ha ha, this kid didn't make it into college.
	She's saying he was rejected by Ford College and he whines about it.
	Which he has been whining about it.
	I mean, both of those things are true.
	He was rejected by four colleges.
	He was whining about it.
	We only know that he was rejected by the colleges because he was complaining about it publicly, you know, in front of the world.
	He was complaining about it.
	So all she's doing is pointing that out.
	And now she's got everyone coming after her.
	Before I go any further, one thing I think I need to admit and address is that I wrote a piece on Friday saying that we all need to just ignore David Hogg from now on and not talk about him, and here I am two days later, three days later, talking about David Hogg again, and I realize that's kind of hypocritical, but I don't want to talk about David Hogg.
	There's a greater point here that needs to be made.
	And unfortunately, in order to make that point, it's necessary that I use David Hogg as an example.
	Okay?
	So, going back to Laura Ingraham.
	She's got all these advertisers fleeing from her.
	Expedia, TripAdvisor, Hulu, Office Depot, a bunch of others.
	And Ingram quickly apologized for this tweet that I just read to you.
	This is the one.
	She apologized for it.
	She sent out two tweets apologizing for it.
	But the left And David Hogg and the outrage mob all together, they're not satisfied.
	They're saying it wasn't a sincere apology.
	It's not sincere enough.
	And so they haven't called off the dogs.
	They haven't called off the advertiser boycott.
	And now David Hogg is demanding that she also issue apologies to all the other people that she's wronged in her life, including LeBron James, because she said something rude about LeBron James a few weeks ago.
	LeBron James has never asked for an apology.
	But David Hogg has.
	David Hogg is the knight in shining armor for LeBron James, saying apologize to him too.
	So what we find is that Laura Ingram bowed before the pitchfork mob, but they refused to drop their pitchforks.
	They refused to just let it go.
	Even though she bowed before them, she apologized, and yet they're still going.
	Why is that?
	I mean, it would seem like They're all, supposedly, they're all very upset and very outraged.
	And so what they would want her to do, usually when you're upset and outraged at a person for saying something, what you want them to do is you want them to acknowledge that it was bad and then apologize for it, right?
	And once they've done that, then you just move on with your life.
	But they're not doing that.
	Why?
	Well, because, and here's the important thing we need to understand about outrage mobs.
	The outraged mob isn't really outraged, okay?
	That's why.
	The pitchfork mob, what they're doing is they're putting on an elaborate show.
	They're putting on a spectacle, a charade.
	That's all they're doing.
	They sniffed an opportunity.
	Laura Ingram gave them an opportunity, which is why the tweet was so stupid in the first place, and they took it.
	So Ingram's petty little tweet about David Hogg, it didn't hurt anyone, it didn't offend anyone, it didn't upset anyone.
	It didn't cause any damage to anyone at all, least of all David Hogg himself, who's made it pretty clear since then that he's grateful for the opportunity that it afforded him to cause some damage to this woman he despises.
	It seems like he's ecstatic about the tweet.
	He couldn't be happier about it.
	Which goes back to, you know, this is my biggest problem with the tweet, is it never should have been sent, because why do you care about whether or not David Hogg got accepted to a college?
	Why are you even commenting on it?
	Whether it's offensive or not, whether it hurts anyone's feelings or not, it's not newsworthy.
	There's no reason to comment on it.
	Now, again, he's the one who put this out in the public.
	He's the one who did that.
	It was his choice.
	He's put himself in the public eye, and he's put this fact about him in the public eye and complained about it.
	He has complained about it publicly.
	But still, you know, this kid, he wants attention.
	He desperately wants attention.
	The last thing we should do is give it to him.
	David Hogg did.
	I mean, Laura Ingram did, and that's the mistake.
	But then she apologizes, and they don't leave.
	They don't leave her alone, because this is how the game works.
	This is how the game always works, and we should understand by now.
	Laura Ingram, of all people, should understand.
	This is how it works.
	Somebody says or does something uncouth, Or supposedly uncouth, or slightly uncouth, and the opportunists who reside on the opposite end of the spectrum from where that person, from where that offending person resides.
	And I'm not saying this is just on the left.
	The right can do it too.
	All the opportunists who are on the opposite end of the spectrum from where that person resides, they seize upon it, whatever the remark was, nobody actually cares, nobody's upset, nobody's offended, nobody cares, but they seize upon it, they grab hold of it, and they just squeeze it dry of every advantage they possibly can.
	They get every last drop of advantage out of this dumb, irrelevant statement or tweet or whatever that nobody in the country actually cares about.
	This is how it works.
	And this is also exactly why you don't apologize to the outrage mob.
	Okay?
	Never apologize to them.
	Never apologize to the outraged masses.
	Never go in front of the pitchfork mob and issue an apology.
	Never do it.
	Now, I do believe that we should always repent.
	As a Christian, if we do something wrong, we should always repent.
	We should repent to God if we do something wrong.
	Jesus is pretty clear about that.
	But Jesus, there's another interesting fact about Jesus that we overlook, I think, sometimes when we read the Gospels.
	Jesus, who of course never had a reason to apologize to anybody, he also had a habit of giving the cold shoulder to disingenuous people.
	He was not going to waste his time with disingenuous people.
	He wasn't going to explain or justify himself to those who were insincere in their requests.
	He wasn't going to be baited.
	He wasn't going to be used.
	He wasn't going to be backed into a corner.
	He wouldn't engage with people who aren't really interested in engaging.
	And I think that right there, just that aspect of it, that's a great lesson for us.
	We could all learn something from that.
	If you've committed an offense that's actually very bad and horrible, and you actually have done damage to a large number of people, or you've hurt a lot of people, or you've scandalized people in some way, and that does happen, then in that case, sure, you issue a public apology.
	But in that case, you're not bowing before the outraged mob.
	You're just, you're doing the right thing because you truly have, in that case, you are issuing an apology to a group of people who you actually have hurt.
	But if you're just guilty of getting slightly carried away in your speech or making some Rude but basically harmless comment, or just saying something kind of dumb on Twitter.
	If that's all you've done, and the offended masses are coming after you, then You know and they're acting like they're acting as if they're not treating you as if you just made a dumb comment They're treating you like you you were just caught skinning puppies or or beating old ladies or something That's how they're treating you if that's what's going on Then the worst thing that you could do is issue a public apology in that case the public apology is counterproductive unwise and cowardly If you're if you're
	Conscience is truly stricken by this dumb, harmless thing you said on Twitter?
	Then repent to God for it.
	Okay, go and repent to God.
	If you're Catholic, go to confession.
	If you were rude towards some individual person, and you really feel broken up about it, and you feel like it was a terrible thing to that person, then talk to that person privately.
	But you don't apologize to the mob, or in front of the mob, because they don't deserve it.
	They are not the aggrieved party.
	They are not hurt.
	They were not injured by you.
	They are making these demands because they want you to submit to them.
	That's all.
	It's just an opportunity and they are taking it.
	And nothing is gained by offering your submission to these people who just want power over you.
	All you've done is vindicated their unfair and dishonest tactics.
	That's why we have to be very careful with these public apologies every time everyone's pretending to be upset.
	Because you're vindicating them.
	You're vindicating the mob.
	Now, in Laura Ingraham's specific case, I think what she should have done Um, after simply sending a tweet saying, oh, David Hogg is doing this thing that he's doing.
	Okay.
	Um, but maybe just delete the tweet and then, and just say nothing else about it.
	Just, that's it.
	Just delete it and live your life.
	I'm not suggesting that she should go out and defend it or justify it or get into a whole long debate about David Hogg and his, and his, uh, admissions to colleges.
	And no, that's not what I'm saying at all.
	But she shouldn't bow.
	She should not have bowed before the throne and paid homage to their theatrical, ridiculous, fake outrage.
	And you might say that, oh, well, it's the right thing to do.
	It's always the right thing to do to issue an apology.
	But it is most certainly not the right thing to do in this case.
	It's the thing people do because they're afraid and they're bewildered and they're worried about the backlash.
	It's cowardice is what it is.
	It's not something they do because they're driven by this deep feeling of guilt and regret.
	There's no reason for a deep feeling of guilt and regret anyway.
	Because her breach of ethics in this case was so extraordinarily minor and harmless.
	And here's the thing.
	According to the left, the only reason she's apologizing is because of the advertiser boycott.
	Just because she wants to save her advertisers.
	And they're absolutely right about that.
	That's why the apology never should have been offered.
	Because it's a disingenuous apology to disingenuous people.
	I mean, think about it.
	If you... I don't know.
	If you... If you walk through a door, okay?
	And you don't hold the door for the person behind you.
	That's a rude thing.
	It's a thoughtless thing.
	Then, good manners would dictate that after doing that, you quickly turn around and apologize to the person.
	But, before you even get a chance to apologize, if this person comes bursting through the door, and just starts screaming at you, and berating you, and getting in your face, and they rile up a mob to come after you, and try to destroy you because of this just slight breach in manners, then what should you do?
	Do you offer the apology in that case?
	No.
	Whereas otherwise you would have, in this case you don't.
	Because who would you even be apologizing to?
	And what about?
	The mob, they don't care about the door.
	This isn't about the door.
	They're just happy for an opportunity to rip somebody to shreds.
	That's all this is about for them.
	So just because they're reacting this way, now you have to fall to your face and flagellate yourself in public?
	Because the mob decided to make a mountain out of a molehill?
	You have to go along with it?
	And pretend like the comment was something?
	Or pretend like the breach in manners was more than it actually was?
	Because they're pretending?
	No.
	And it doesn't matter anyway.
	There's nothing you can say to them.
	There's nothing you can do.
	And so all you can really do is just move on with your life and be done with it.
	Let them go and find some other carcass to eat.
	Okay, let the vultures go somewhere else.
	Just keep walking through the door and just ignore them.
	And just go.
	Just go do your thing.
	It's kind of what you're doing.
	You're cooperating with dishonesty.
	When you bow to the outraged mob, because what they're doing, as I said, it's all dishonesty.
	Nobody actually cares.
	Nobody's upset.
	Nobody in America actually cares about Laura Ingraham's tweet.
	It brought no tears to anybody's eyes.
	It did not cause any pain to anyone's heart.
	Nobody cares.
	Nobody, not a single person in America actually cares about the tweet.
	And in fact, most of the people who are coming after Laura Ingram, they don't even know what the tweet was.
	They just heard, they saw a headline that, oh, she's attacking.
	So that's all they need.
	It doesn't matter.
	They're saying, oh, well, thank God.
	This is a chance to go after Laura Ingram.
	I hate her.
	So it's dishonest.
	We cannot cooperate with dishonesty.
	Now here's the other thing we should remember.
	The outrage doesn't matter.
	It won't last.
	Do you think... That's why... Now, the mob, they really have no power over you.
	Except, unfortunately, these days, they do have some artificial power.
	Because these companies will... Once the advertisers start pulling out, well, okay, that's a real thing.
	That causes damage to... But there's no reason.
	Once the mob starts, oh, we're going to start boycotting all these advertisers.
	There's no reason for the advertisers to actually pull their ads or anything like that.
	Because these people, they're not actually boycotting.
	How many actual, now there are boycott threats in this country five times a day, but how many actual real boycotts have there been in America since like the Montgomery bus boycott?
	I mean, how many actual real, how many times have a large group of people actually changed their consumption habits because they're upset at a company for this or that reason?
	There's the Montgomery bus boycott.
	Um, and then what else do we have?
	Maybe the NFL, maybe they, maybe the people fleeing the NFL, maybe that's another example.
	So that's like two examples I can think of, but all of these other people say, Oh, we're going to cancel our Hulu subscriptions because we're upset about it because they advertise our Laura Ingram.
	And she sent a rude tweet to David Hawk.
	How many of these people are actually canceling their subscription?
	Like five of them.
	The vast majority of the time, these boycotts aren't really boycotts.
	They're just threats of boycotts.
	They're just hashtags of boycotts.
	They're just people talking about a boycott, but there's no actual boycott.
	So, there's no reason to bow to it.
	And everybody will just move on.
	That's the other advantage of not apologizing, is that you don't extend the story anymore.
	And eventually, very quickly, people just move on and they talk about something else.
	They go look for someone else to, they look for a new outrage of the day.
	They get bored with this outrage, they look for a new one.
	There's very little follow-through.
	So who cares?
	Well, a lot of people care, apparently.
	But they shouldn't.
	Because outrage is nothing but a game in our culture.
	And it's a game you can't win.
	So it's a game that we shouldn't play.
	That's my point.

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