My crush on Lauren Duca, or, creeping fascism

So I was lying in bed, idly thumbing through the news that the Googles were suggesting I read. I do this sometimes, self-consciously clicking on newses I might not normally see. This helps the Googles feed me interesting things. This practice requires discipline. I have to not click on news I find genuinely interesting, but that I’d likely see elsewhere in my perambulations. A bit like not jotting down brilliant ideas I have while meditating – seemingly self-defeating behavior in service of a larger goal.

Anyways….

I saw an article on some right-wing site about how Lauren Duca, a journalist I’d never heard of, got “hammered” by Fucker Tucker Carlson after an “anti-Ivanka tweet.” Actually, two.

Trump apologists often use ad hominem and other tactics to discredit those with whom they disagree – a trend that’s accelerating. Watch this interview to see these tactics in full flower: Carlson mischaracterizes Duca’s tweets, her writing, and her beliefs. And, what’s worse, he does so in a way that explicitly and implicitly calls on a host of historically misogynistic tactics for belittling and controlling women.

Duca is brilliant, giving no quarter, and calling out Carlson on his every depradation. This interview will convince no one of anything. (I want thoughtful people like Duca to stop feeding the right-wing beast that is Fox News, and not dignify bullies like Carlson by going on their shows.)

In the mean time, watch this interview. If you think poor Ivanka Trump deserves sympathy, you’ll love Carlson’s decimation of Duca. And if you think Ivanka Trump gets what she deserves, having thrown her lot in with her father, you’ll love Duca’s decimation of Carlson. In either case, it’s fun to watch.

After I watched it, I thought to myself, “Who is this Lauren Duca?” I searched her up, went to her web site, and read a bunch of what she’s written. “OOOOooooh, I thought to myself. She’s really smart.”

This is a woman who’s courageous and thoughtful, and is writing good things in interesting places. Maybe she does stand a chance of changing (some) people’s minds. And man, has she just bought herself a shitstorm of harassment from the shock troops of the Trumpian vanguard.

In any event, I have a yuge crush on her.

I’ll be reading what she writes from now on.

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