You might not think that a two-paragraph post about NFL ratings would inspire much, er, debate on Breitbart. You’d be wrong.
In this edition of Today in Breitbart Comments, we take a look at the Breitbarties who’ve worked themselves into a bit of a tizzy about Fox Sports personality Colin Cowherd’s claim that it’s the election, not anger over Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests, that is causing a notable droop in the ratings for NFL games this year.
The Breitbart rage isn’t itself all that terribly surprising. What is a little odd is that some of the most virulent comments — of the more than 1700 that have been left so far — are attacks on trans folks.
Consider this unhinged rant:
Other comments on the subject are only a tad more hinged. Upset over the NCAA’s recent announcement that it will pull all championship games from North Carolina in protest over the anti-trans HB2 bathroom bill, Breitbarties fantasize about leading a counter-boycott — and exacting some kind of revenge upon their foes.
Well, that’s a little creepy.
But don’t worry! There was racism as well. Lots and lots of racism. Here’s a small selection:
This fellow earned extra credit alt-right points by working some homophobia in with his racism:
NOTE: This post is part of an ongoing series on the comments culture at Breitbart. These are the people Trump was presumably trying to appeal to when he hired former Breitbart head cheese Steve Bannon as his campaign CEO.
Gee, I WISH there were trans people being bosses in Hollywood!
Why the fuck do they think we’re so rich and powerful? There are very few trans people who would be described as wealthy, thanks to job discrimination, suicide, and murder.
And only cis, white gay and bi people can get ahead. Only a certain kind of queer person can find real life representation in Hollywood.
Nero Fiddling says that we should “boycott snowflakes.”
This individual can’t tolerate fluffy powder falling silently from the sky to the ground.
Or maybe it’s kindergarteners, little special snowflakes, this person can’t tolerate.
Life is tough when you’re a tightly wound bigot. Everything makes you fly into a rage. Luckily, there’s Twitter. You can share your thoughts with your fellow haters.
Calm down, haters. You’re getting red in the face and you’re sweating and that vein is pulsating in your forehead again. It’s not a good look.
Ugh. Ugh. UGGGGH.
Why can’t all these idiots just pop off like the site’s founder did? They’re sure irrational and apoplectic enough…
For that matter, why can’t that site die, too?
So… you’re gonna travel from wherever you are to NC in order to spend a little cash in a state with a GDP of $400b. And that’ll offset the loss of a $multimillion attraction. Except the fact that you hafta travel means you’ll likely have less money to spend than the people who live there and woulda ponied up for the championship and to matronize (mwahaha) other local business. Not to mention advertisers. All to show those ‘snowflakes’ that y’all matter. That’s your plan?
And if he’d managed to work in sexism, he’d have gotten alt-right bingo! (or does that require ageism and ableism, too?)
@iknklast
Not necessarily. Can’t forget the free square (commenting on Breitbart) 😀
Poor North Carolina. What did they do to deserve an influx of Breitbarteers?
Oh. That. Yes.
Carry on.
“Presumably trying” has got to be the understatement of the year. He appeals to them, and let’s hope, ONLY them. I’m really, REALLY hoping that these guys are loud out of all proportion to their actual numbers.
And that they don’t pass the minimum (way way WAAAYYYY too minimal) requirements to be trusted with guns in their respective states, too.
(For that matter, they shouldn’t be allowed to drive, either. They seem the type that would fly into road rage at random intervals.)
The commentor’s handle is DudeLebowski? Is this supposed to be ironic?
http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/TheDude.jpg
Ugggghhhhhh.
Guyse, I’m getting scared for the States again. Jerks like these are so darn loud these days, and Trump’s narrowing in the polls to the point where the actual election is starting to look a lot less like the tidal wave it was a month ago. The anxiety is real, guys.
(Though it’s probably just from this caffeine. Mmm, hello, coffee.)
I no longer expect anything coherent from these howler monkeys. Rationality is something they left behind a long, long time ago.
@DrDead
Well, he’s wrong and an asshole. So… maybe?
Nah, @Dr.DeadAnimals (what a sad nick! D:). These guys think that we’re the shrill, over-sensitive hurt-feelies ones, and they’re the chill, realistic, casual dudes. Which gives you a hint of just how detached from reality they are.
Yeah…that’s the one thing that kind of sucks about me moving from California to NC: NC is a much more conservative state, whereas California was on top of passing laws to protect trans people. : /
Brietbarters can still stay the fuck out of here though. I’m not having it.
Not standing for the national anthem is the least possible disruptive form of protest. There is no way to get more polite than that. How can that of all things cause outrage???
I’m fairly sure that they consider outrageous anything that isn’t blind, unwavering patriotic loyalty to the crown. Er, status-quo. Flag, I mean flag. Yes.
@Scildfreja Unnýðnes Yup. Can’t have black people forgetting their place. Or something.
Trans people are all wealthy? Apparently Breitbart commenters think Caitlyn Jenner represents all trans people.
1) Good on Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand* despite all of the shit he has taken for it. It is truly amazing what white NFL fans will tolerate in player behaviour versus what gets them all up in arms.
2) I didn’t realize that white supremacists are so fragile that they can’t even handle seeing black people in commercials. That’s… that’s something else.
3) I’m with Dudelebowski. We should ban all teenagers. From now on, children should just skip right over that developmental stage. I want 12 year olds, and I want 20 year olds, and none of this nonsense in between.
*I really tried to find a non-ironic way to phrase this but I got nothing.
I’m fascinated by the idea that football, erstwhile poster sport of conventional masculinity, is now insufficiently macho because blacks are playing it. Never mind that the NFL has been integrated since the late 1940s, or that NFL athletes generally rank high in Chad traits. They hate seeing blacks succeeding at things, being rewarded for it, and being emboldened to speak their minds. Ditto women.
Their habitat is shrinking fast.
When I see comments like these, I realize that all our symbols of patriotism are also symbols of white, cis, hetero, male supremacy.
All of our national nostalgia over founding fathers, Pilgrims and Columbus? All the “God loves us best” crap?
It’s all supremacist propaganda too.
If they weren’t, we wouldn’t see this response to failing to show reverence for them.
I think Trump can win. I always have. He’ll take the red states. Many of my neighbors would vote for the devil himself if he told them he’d hurt the people they hate for them. They’d do it waving Bibles and flags too. These people may even suspect that they’ll suffer in the process. Farmers and union workers have to know that. They will still vote for him. They don’t care. They’ll burn down the playground before they’ll share it. It isn’t the economy. It isn’t terrorism. It has been this way in the US since it was founded. Progressives are changing the culture and the regressives want that stopped at any cost.
But how dare we ever extrapolate from the number of white cis men in positions of power to suggest that white cis men have any sort of institutional advantage.
@Lea
I learned most of what I know about U.S. race relations from studying the economic history of the U.S. Because it turns out that basically every short-sighted, ill-advised, and just plain catastrophic decision this country has ever made regarding infrastructure and economic policy is pretty much based on sticking it to the [insert racial slur]s. I’d say that at least 80% (that’s a ballpark estimate) of the problems we have in this country are either caused or exacerbated by white people being racist shitheads.
Transgender people wealthy? Pffft. Next they’re going to say that black people have superpowers or something.
Oh wait, they practically do already. Why else would the racist cops and gun-lovers consider them “shoot on sight”?
But seriously – this idea that anything but straight-cis-ery is the domain of the elite. I see it all the time, and it bothers me. Even in pseudo-benevolent forms – gags like “why get upset if there are gays in your neighbourhood; it means you’re getting gentrified, you’ll get some trendy shops, hooray!” or whatever. The implication presumably being that our identities are actually just some sort of hedonistic bourgeois indulgence. Rather than, say, working-class queers being particularly invisible and vulnerable, often facing the prospect of staying closeted or losing everything.