As Twitchy reported, the Washington Post on Tuesday published a piece by Marissa Brostoff trying to tie the American pro-life movement to white supremacy. As part of her piece, Brostoff took a quote by “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance out on context and then used insinuation to smear him as a white supremacist.
Brostoff alleged that when Vance said to an audience, “Our people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves” he was obviously talking about whites: “Vance did not spell out exactly who was included in the word ‘our.’ He didn’t need to.”
He didn’t need to? That’s quite a leap. As Jeryl Bier pointed out, taking Vance’s quote in context made it very clear who he was talking about: the nation. “The most important way to measure a healthy society,” Vance said, “is by whether a nation is having enough children to replace itself. Do people look to the future and see a place worth living in?” There’s nothing about race in there.
Amanda Marcotte took the “He didn’t need to” insinuation and made it about white supremacists believing women should be forced to breed to keep the race in the majority. And now The Bulwark’s Molly Jong-Fast has taken the same insinuation and reached a similar conclusion:
https://twitter.com/mollyjongfast/status/1166388072193224704
Guess what: As a journalist, you do need to. You need to stick to the facts. You need to quote people in context. You need not to libel people. But at least she triggered all the usual suspects.
It really is amazing how every time there is an obvious and blatant smear against someone on the right, the same people end up spreading and promoting it.
You would think constantly getting it wrong would at least lead some introspection. https://t.co/XCsQR148hQ
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) August 27, 2019
The biggest takeaway for me is how this reflects on The Bulwark, and it’s certainly not good.
— John W. (@Bearcat50) August 27, 2019
conserving conservatism indeed
— Used to be Mel Clark (@very_stupid_man) August 27, 2019
She has me blocked.
— Joshua Burgess (@Crimsonian2) August 27, 2019
She has us blocked too.
Maybe “his people” should be forced to be pregnant too. https://t.co/pqeFz7GsxQ
— Hon Stacey Newman (@staceynewman) August 27, 2019
And there it is … forced pregnancy, again.
So now a racist best-selling author feels free to tell audience “our people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves.” Glad I’ve never read a @JDVance1 book. https://t.co/g3oGv3Zgy4
— Lisa Joseph (@Lisa_Joseph13) August 27, 2019
Good of her to admit she hasn’t read the book.
@JDVance1 Have you been to a family restaurant lately, J.D.? The future is mixed race and multi-cultural. You can get with reality or be left behind.
— CanerdianGirl (@CanerdianGirl) August 27, 2019
third option: go back to where he came from
— Allan Hoving (@ahoving) August 27, 2019
It's becoming clearer. It's easier to force every pregnancy to birth, no matter the circumstances than it is to create an environment where more people want to have kids. Because that costs more money.
— Linda Bohlen (@BohlenLinda) August 27, 2019
We can only THANK GOD his "people aren't having enough children to replace themselves"
— Claudia Long (@CLongWriter) August 27, 2019
Yes. The idea that people are so terrified of being outnumbered by people whose skin is a different color that they would criminalize a woman's right to choose.
That they would make abortion after rape illegal. That is how petrified they are of this happening.
— Maile Lawrence (@slorxx41) August 27, 2019
You're right they're petrified because its happening, it's inevitable and they fear they are powerless to stop it.
— Joseph.TW (@Joeyt1955) August 27, 2019
Looks like my copy of his book will be going in the fire pit tonight??♀️
— ｡ ? ???? ??? ? ｡ (@Debik1025) August 27, 2019
I used to hear that all the time when I mentioned that I am not having kids. Then people found out my partner is black and all of a sudden they changed their tune. Coincidence? I think not.
— Mindy Bogue ? (@mbogue) August 27, 2019
He doesn’t quite get that white wymymyn will probably still be able to get discreet abortions and Women of Color will not. His own “principles” are causing this.
— joqatana (@joqatana) August 27, 2019
We should all be happy the extreme right is not reproducing.
— MikeIsShocked (@mikeisshocked) August 27, 2019
Millennials aren’t reproducing in general — look at “Birth Strike” and the women who are too afraid of climate change to have kids.
Welcome to Gilead.
— Bridget Mulholland (@BCMully20) August 27, 2019
He wants us to turn into Gilead?
— Joe Tosha (@joetosha54) August 27, 2019
Well, we know people have read 1985’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” or more likely watched the Hulu miniseries.
Once again, for those who missed it:
This is super irresponsible, @washingtonpost. Quite revealing, too. pic.twitter.com/E0EaNW0la2
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 27, 2019
It is. J.D. Vance is married to a person of color, and the father of a mixed-race child. The Washington Post should be ashamed of itself. It won't be, though. https://t.co/d8mRlafNxv
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) August 27, 2019
Unbelievably dumb, libelous, and reflective of a total lack of contact with anyone even remotely resembling a conservative.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 27, 2019
Ugh.
— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) August 27, 2019
The author is an obvious liar, it is clear from the preceding sentences that the our pronoun refers to the American nation. What is wrong with that once great paper?
— Pat Tehan (@patricktehan) August 27, 2019
For Pete's sake, we all have google, this isn't that hard to debunk. Does this foolish author and publisher not know this?
— Pat Tehan (@patricktehan) August 27, 2019
* * *
Update:
Whoops "EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story suggested that the author J.D. Vance lamented a falloff in white births; he was actually talking about American births." https://t.co/EdeO5QmfBv
— Kay Hymowitz (@KayHymowitz) August 27, 2019
Related:
Amanda Marcotte: ‘Not an exaggeration’ that white women should be forced to breed to maintain white supremacy https://t.co/QCthpGgFt6
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 27, 2019
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