Article Making Fun of Casey DeSantis' Appearance Backfires, Comments Locked After People Discover the Author
When any writer pens words that are irrelevant, petty and valueless, it is a reflection of the media organization in which they work. That is the true culprit; ultimately, where the actual accountability lies.
The online magazine Slate knows this. Still, they allowed one of their writers to ridicule the thickness of the first lady of Florida Casey DeSantis’ eyebrows. They didn’t give a hoot about the significance “eyebrows” play as a marker in a cancer survivor’s life. Nor did they care about the feelings of the other 18.1 million cancer survivors living in the United States today, including among their own staff, no doubt.
Slate merely greenlighted a political hit piece to fulfill their two-fold agenda, namely, increased readership and expanded liberal influence. Stated another way, money and politics leads Slate’s editorial decisions over good taste, ethics or morality.
As the plot thickens, so do her brows. https://t.co/da9WoRqpwz
— Slate (@Slate) July 15, 2023
It also led Heather Schwedel who wrote the sewage for Slate. As a parent, I can’t say that I would show that article to my friends, given Schwedel was my daughter. I would, however, make time to have a conversation with her about “the impact of the choices human beings make.”
Schwedel obviously needs some sobering guidance in this area. Unfortunately, she is not the only one. “Bullying” seems to have become a national past-time in the United States, and it is instances like these, arising from prominent voices who encourage them rather than discourage them, that cheer it on.
Slate now owns some of that blame. The fact that Casey DeSantis is a public figure doesn’t diminish this fact nor the damage that comes from the act of bullying, itself. In fact, it widens their accountability.
How actions “reflect, direct and erect our society as a whole” should always be considered prior to taking them. Yet, too many times, they are not. Or they are thereby revealing exactly where the heart of a person or organization exists.
For Slate, it seems profit and “escalating the divide” remain their chief motivating factors. Again, I say, they are not the only ones. Plenty of news and media organizations do the same. Conservative or liberal, it makes no difference.
Pulling apart our nation one letter at a time by some of the most relevant news and media companies has become a by-product of the larger, competitive political landscape. Their handiwork has become simply a means of heightening the noise, intensifying the chaos, and minimizing the space around the truly important problems needing discussion and solution.
If there is any policing being done, internally, it is only moving in one direction. None of this, mind you, is in the people’s interest. It is meant to eliminate individual thought, exchanging it for group think. It is a means to an end.
In this case, casting Casey DeSantis as a laughing stock is Slate’s attempt to cast her husband, Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as the entire Republican party and every other Republican presidential candidate as a joke too. Can anyone who doesn’t officially know the party leaning of Slate guess what it is?
The fact that Twitter had the good sense to remove the ability to comment on the article following the growing onslaught of hostile comments, conveys the thoughtful leadership there.
As the First Amendment provides us with broad protection against government suppression of speech and press, lighting a second fire when the first continues to blame uncontrollably is foolish. Unless, of course, an alternate agenda is the driving force behind doing so, right?
Reality speaks, so long as the reading and viewing public consumes news, media, social media, and entertainment intentionally skewed to push their thinking one way or another, it will continue. At the same time, I don’t know one person who doesn’t feel badgered to death by the opinionated nature of the information we regularly consume.
Very little is news. Most is propaganda. And all of it we have in our hands to control through purposeful actions that force companies like Slate to change course. We need to do better at the latter.
For instance, had Schwedel’s attack on Casey DeSantis fallen on deaf ears, I wouldn’t be writing this commentary right now. Slate would also be reflecting on the viability of future articles like these.
It would leave them to do one thing and one thing only. Think up other ways to raise eyebrows while leaving Casey’s and the rest of our nation’s cancer survivors’ eyebrows alone. Slate should feel ashamed. And it’s up to readers to make them aware, not to mention, every other organization like them devoid of morality and boundaries.
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