National Review Editor: ‘#SomeBlackLivesDontMatter’ to Civil Rights Movement
With just over a year between Rich Lowry‘s newsworthy comments on Arizona’s SB 1062 and President Barack Obama‘s apparent hatred for Benjamin Netanyahu, you’d think we have another year to go before the National Review editor makes headlines, no? Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Lowry’s latest column attempts to tackle the #BlackLivesMatter movement and Baltimore’s high murder rate in the month of May with some satire and a new hashtag: #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter, which is also the title of the column. The satire? Not sure.
The essay’s 905 words attempt to devote as much time as they possibly can to rationalizing the hashtag title. Sure, Lowry cites plenty of recent statistics to try and back up his claims. But the real, thinly-cut meat of the matter boils down to his title’s desire to troll the #BlackLivesMatter social media movement.
Lowry’s cynicism stands out the strongest in the sixth paragraph:
Let’s be honest: Some black lives really don’t matter. If you are a young black man shot in the head by another young black man, almost certainly no one will know your name. Al Sharpton won’t come rushing to your family’s side with cameras in tow. MSNBC won’t discuss the significance of your death. No one will protest, or even riot, for you. You are a statistic, not a cause. Just another dead black kid in some city somewhere, politically useless to progressives and the media, therefore all but invisible.
Maybe, maybe not, but Lowry’s narrow focus on Baltimore neglects the protests’ national theater (a few concluding remarks on New York notwithstanding). Again, this all just seems like a ploy to tweet #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter, and many agree:
Heard a friend outraged at a right winger saying something disgusting. Shoulda known it was @RichLowry. #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter #badmove
— Derrick Blanton (@DerrickBlanton) May 29, 2015
#SomeBlackLivesDontMatter is what happens when subpar writers turn to trolling the headlines for attention. — Quest Murray (@QuestFour7) May 29, 2015
Sad part is that Rich Lowry will continue to get paid & a platform to spread his #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter hate http://t.co/WvHNwujYwT
— Adam McGinnis (@adammcginnis) May 28, 2015
This isn’t going to go over well RT @POLITICOMag: Opinion: #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter via @RichLowry http://t.co/bKL7bRBg1w — Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) May 28, 2015
WOW this troll takes the cake: RT @POLITICOMag Opinion: #SomeBlackLivesDontMatter via @RichLowry http://t.co/4FyRXyKwFD
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) May 28, 2015
All things being equal on the Internet, there’s also plenty of tweets in support of Lowry’s hashtag. Surprisingly Godwin’s law has not come into effect quite yet.
[h/t Politico]
[Image via Shutterstock.com]
— —
>> Follow Andrew Husband (@AndrewHusband) on Twitter
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
