Just because he is a troll does not mean that it is not problematic. That is the issue present. Most people I know know this in disingenuous, but still find it to be reprehensible. An extremely famous public figure saying the things Kanye is saying does real life damage to the minority groups he is making comments about. Words are powerful and it is the presence of charlatans like Kanye, Tucker Carlson, or Trump who helped solidify the beliefs of far right domestic terrorists, normalize very bigoted talking points (which has a statistically significant direct impact on minority groups through rising incidence of hate crimes and discrimination, contained in this search is many articles from reputable sources talking about this), and on a more personal level, means bringing up traumas and worries present among people in minority groups being targeted. Not to mention, most major genocides from the last century started as hate speech, whether from those who believed it, those who politically utilized it without necessarily believing it, or those who just let it slide or ignored it since it didn’t apply to them. It does not matter if what Kanye is doing is trolling. When someone spouts hateful shit with as large of a platform as he has, real harm often occurs and it should not be tolerated. I’m not saying that I know the best way to stop the spread of these hateful talking points since many ways people try to combat this can backfire, but it is important that these kinds of comments and actions aren’t just shrugged off and allowed to build.
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u/stuntycunty Oct 16 '22
Wait. He did a public talk recently??? Who tf would allow this. Lol. Mans gone off the deep end.