Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Confronting Sinema in The Bathroom or on a Plane Doesn't Help

For starters, I'm fairly ambiguous about Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema. I could have done without the curtesy or whatever that was after voting against increasing the federal minimum wage law

Sinema's opposition to the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package is frustrating because other than not liking the price tag she has not been forthcoming with what she would like to see instead. Given that this could torpedo President Biden's Build Back Better program her lack of support for it warrants an explanation.

But it does not warrant so-called activists to follow her into the bathroom (even a public one) or confront her on an airplane. I don't see how any of this helps to persuade her to support progressive causes. Alas they don't care. Case in point is Vivian Kane of The Mary Sue who writes, "If these activists make Sinema feel encroached upon by engaging her in a non-political space, who actually cares? Protest isn’t supposed to make everyone feel comfortable."

Somehow I cannot imagine Kane being so generous if AOC were to be confronted in a bathroom by female pro-Israel activists. I suspect if AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush or Ayanna Pressley were confronted in such a manner I very strongly suspect Kane and her ilk would accuse pro-Israel supporters of spreading hate all the while having no concept of what hate actually is.

Again, I think Sinema is worthy of criticism and she ought to answer for her lack of candor where it concerns the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. But there is a right way and a wrong way to engage in such criticism and a good portion of the progressive movement in this country seems every bit as thuggish as the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th.

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