By Matt Rooney
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Just when you thought our political discourse couldn’t get any dumber, Save Jerseyans, enter this piece of attack mail financed by the NJGOP in support of Congressman Tom MacArthur (R, NJ-03).
This year’s NJ-03 contest is taking on new importance given the district’s only slightly-lean red orientation and the larger, national battle for control of Congress. No one was expecting a gentle race.
Moreover, NJ-03 is almost 50% Ocean County, the heartland of the Jersey Shore, so a mailer featuring a bunch of fish and accusing your habitually dishonest opponent (Democrat Andy Kim) of being “fishy” hardly represents an out-of-left-field line of attack for paid political materials.
Common sense naturally hasn’t stopped desperate Democrats, who would love to retire MacArthur and reclaim his seat (lost by the late John Adler to MacArthur’s predecessor, Jon Runyan, in 2010) from finding an allegedly racist angle. The usual suspects in the Media are happily perpetuating it.
Their reasoning: Kim is Asian American (Korean), so since seafood is a big part of Asian cuisine… accusing Kim of being “fishy” is racist?
As a quarter Italian? And survivor of the ‘seven fishes’ feast? Maybe I’m the one who should be complaining. Our Asian friends don’t have a monopoly on well-prepared fish!
But complaining about such stupid stuff, other than in jest, is not in most Americans’ nature. Most. Last night, I even got into one of the most unreal Twitter debates of my life over whether the FONT used on the offending mailer could be considered racist. A font, folks.
Couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!
Adding to the absurdity is the fact that MacArthur is the proud father of two adopted Korean children.
Racist towards a Korean despite having adopting two?
There’s no evidence of racist intent here, Save Jerseyans.
Unfortunately, we do have another exhausting example of why it’s getting so damn hard to have a productive, unannoying discussion in this country anymore. The Democrat coalition continues to weaponize superficialities like gender, and ethnic origin, and sexual preference — things which are a part of who people are, but hardly the whole sum of any person’s being and worth — in order to divide and conquer the American electorate that they’ve lost in recent national elections, most dramatically in 2016.
Think I’m exaggerating? Head over Twitter and check out what the trolls did to poor Frank Oz (of Muppet fame) yesterday for innocently pushing back against the notion that Bert and Ernie’s sexual preference mattered at all.
It’s a callous, ugly strategy. Sometimes it works. Much of the time, in fact, because too many people think it’s too much work — or dangerous even — to stand up to new cultural jacobins.
They can’t win on the issues. They try to win on other ground.
So, as we head towards another midterm election, I’d say it’s time for voters who are tired of this endless rancor to consider the following:
Aren’t the people who see racists and sexists hiding under every bed, and inside every tree, the most dangerous bigots of all in modern America?
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