Her summer course at NYU, “Reporting on the Far Right,” was canceled due to lack of enrollment, but that hasn’t stopped Talia Lavin, the former fact-checker who smeared a Marine Corps veteran and ICE analyst as a Nazi by misinterpreting his tattoo, from writing about Nazis, and to write about Nazis, you have to look everywhere for them. And what better place to look than the pro-gun rights #VirginiaRally in Richmond Monday.
Much like the public school teacher who argued that just because there was no violence didn’t mean the rally was peaceful, Lavin puts the word “peaceful” in quotes, because in her mind, Virginians who didn’t attend the rally were “constrained and terrorized.” Honestly, we’d love for these people to hold an unloaded handgun just once as a sort of exposure therapy to cure their terror of an inanimate object.
Lavin published her piece in GQ, which came up with a lovely graphic to accompany the post:
I wrote about Monday’s rally in Richmond, and how thousands of armed men holding a city at gunpoint is hardly a “peaceful” event: https://t.co/H1vcjHJEZn
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) January 22, 2020
Peace at gunpoint isn’t peace. It’s being held hostage. That’s true of Richmond, and the country at large. https://t.co/86FQLUV4yl pic.twitter.com/ko5cSgV8IE
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) January 22, 2020
“No one was shot — a frankly extraordinary turn of events given the sheer amount of weaponry, the density of the crowd, and the weapons stuffed casually into backpacks or held loosely in the crooks of pale arms,” Lavin writes, though she doesn’t mention being there in her piece. Also, guns don’t go off by themselves.
While the gunmen held their “peaceful” rally, other Virginians were constrained and terrorized. The Northern Virginia Association of the Deaf cancelled lobbying for movie theater captions. Black residents left Richmond for the day—MLK Day. https://t.co/86FQLUV4yl
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) January 22, 2020
Why do people who weren’t there keep trying to tell us that the rally was entirely white men, because it wasn’t safe for a minority to leave the house, despite photo after photo after photo of minorities rallying for their Second Amendment rights?
I look forward to discussing this in your NYU class this semester
— KT (@WirelessKT) January 22, 2020
Solid burn.
Maybe the person who can't convince more than 2 people out of the 50k enrolled students at NYU shouldn't be taken too seriously when writing about the "mortal terror" being around armed citizens…or ignoring the non white folks clearly present in support as well. pic.twitter.com/QRhJTZmoTn
— Jack, The Zealous Listener (@listener_t) January 22, 2020
Bless your heart.
— Sean Truax (@redlegtigger) January 22, 2020
The event totally wasn't peaceful because of people who weren't anywhere near it and didn't actually do anything.
Molten hot take. Biblical lake of fire kind of hot. ?️?☀️
— Pablo (@Pablo_1791) January 22, 2020
What a ridiculous take. They were hardly holding a city at gunpoint. Who exactly pointed a weapon at whom?
— Queen Mary III ?? (@MaryTherese99) January 22, 2020
Gunpoint? That’s an extremely loose interpretation of being held at gunpoint when all of the weapons weren’t loaded and should have been carried in a safe manner otherwise there would’ve been an arrest. Poetic license of the truth I gather…
— Paul Ogg (@JustOGG) January 22, 2020
Lol they still have those guns. Nothing has changed. Soooo you're still at "gunpoint"
— Squawkie The Eagle (@SquawkieEagle) January 22, 2020
Just read your article and I'm still afraid to leave my house in Pennsylvania. I'm going to need an armed guard to escort me around.
— Russ T. Trombone (@KerryCrews) January 22, 2020
The first and second amendments should NEVER be exercised at the same time!!! What were the founding fathers thinking putting them right next to each other in the Bill of Rights!!!!
— Dan (@DNosknih) January 22, 2020
“We felt intimidated by the guns and we’re only comfortable when we’re doing the intimidating”
Fixed it for you.
— ArrowInYourQuiver (@rippedfletching) January 22, 2020
Actually, it was peaceful. Your kvetching doesn't change that fact.
— ?☠️ROCK THUNDERPUNCH (@RokThunderpunch) January 22, 2020
This right here is why journalism has the reputation of being absolute garbage https://t.co/5jhOD4uXYd
— Jay Malak (@KobbeMalak) January 22, 2020
When you accuse a double amputee combat vet of being a neo-Nazi because of his military tattoos you don’t have a bottom to hit.
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) January 22, 2020
She hit bottom, so she started digging.
Then she hit bedrock, so she started blasting.
— Crapplefratz – Will Tweet For Food (@Crapplefratz) January 22, 2020
Just a reminder. pic.twitter.com/kC9t5qERf4
— Leslie ? ???? (@BikerChick9999) January 22, 2020
Defamation is not good
— Ok, Doomer (@cale_fitzgerald) January 22, 2020
She's a walking, talking "Everybody I disagree with is a Nazi" meme.
— You Should Have Voted For Gary (@colorblindk1d) January 22, 2020
No mention of Antifa controlling the streets of Portland Oregon. Why is that?
— Frank E (@FrankEKing) January 23, 2020
Because her area of expertise is writing about the far-right while ignoring the far-left.
Weird how there was no violence despite everyone having guns, but at Antifa rallies, you get concrete milkshakes being thrown at journalists and bike locks slammed into people's heads
— Destructive Chemistry (@DestructiveChem) January 22, 2020
Maybe they should have thrown eggs, milkshakes and kicked a few people's heads in to be considered peaceful
— Tommy (@TommyBeeswax) January 22, 2020
“Mostly peaceful.”
This is a garbage take. There was nothing wrong with what these protesters were doing. They even cleaned up after themselves after the rally. No one was arrested, no one was violent, no one burned cars or threw projectiles at police officers. Unlike CERTAIN protesters…
— Captain Smirk (@spacemanspiff76) January 22, 2020
I’m so sorry for you during this time. It must be so hard to have lost *checks notes* litter from your streets. https://t.co/WiDXt2SNQD
— Guy Named Greg (Text GREG to 55555) (@GregVol_) January 22, 2020
I'm so sorry all this nothing happened to you.
— Guy Faux (@Faux_Guy_) January 22, 2020
I was there, your story is a total fabrication and a libelous mischaracterization of Virginians. Nice checkmark, you earned it.
— Spencer Neale (@Spencer_Neale) January 22, 2020
— Travis Kelce's Bar Tab (@DTReeves2) January 22, 2020
How many people were harmed or injured during this event? Sounds peaceful to me
— e-beth (@ebeth360) January 22, 2020
A lot of libs had their feelings hurt
— Berg (@berg88) January 22, 2020
Seems to me the only one holding Virginians hostage was their own Governor with his state of emergency
— bleu (@bleu88005384) January 22, 2020
Thoughts and prayers
— Deus Vult (@ronburg54053071) January 22, 2020
Love me some satire!
— terling sarcher (@archerknows) January 22, 2020
Related:
VIP » Another hot take: Just because violence did not ensue doesn’t mean the #VirginiaRally was peaceful https://t.co/jafqDTzEsg
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 21, 2020
