As a gay man watching Joy Reid discuss Northam is kind of surreal

[dsc]

She still, to my knowledge, has refused to even admit that the statements about gays and lesbians she blogged are even hers. I have to wonder where she gets the nerve to discuss this.

[janterry]

1. I don't watch her anymore because of that

and it begets the question - what is the path back - when you have been wrong.

It reminds me of Franken, he said (to my ear) the right things. And yet, there was no path for him.

Northam's error was worse, looks worse. But who gets a path back? Those who lie? Those who shrug their shoulders and move ahead (think trump)
Or those who tell the truth and try to make amends.

Even if someone doesn't like Northam and doesn't think he deserves that path back

we still have to have a path....

[yaesu]

34. I only watch Maddow when she is on, don't bother watching any other network program nt

[stopbush]

2. As a straight man, I was thinking the same thing.

I was waiting for one of her guests to say, “Joy, you have personal experience in having bigotted comments that you wrote in the past come back to bite you. How did you handle the public outcry?”

[dem4decades]

3. I used to watch her now i'm watching Gunsmoke.

Turned our on early and there's a "preacher" offering 58 days of blessings for $58.

Scary.

[pangaia]

28. sort of like ...... a wall.....

[UniteFightBack]

4. She extensively apologized. nt

[dsc]

5. No she didn't

I watched what was billed as her apology. Even in it she still didn't admit which, if any, statements she was taking responsibility for. She didn't address her insane hacking theory. You can't apologize for that which you don't acknowledge.

[oberliner]

8. Did she ever finally admit that there was no hacking?

[dsc]

10. To my knowledge no

I am willing to admit I am wrong if I am, but I have never heard her say or seen a report about her that she did.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I don't go out of my way to watch her and I definitely don't look at her the same.

[dsc]

15. I rarely watch her but did make a point to watch her today

It is sad because she was a good journalist but her handling of those posts was not acceptable.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. It is so hard to be morally true.

[still_one]

56. Not directly. She said she cannot prove her account was hacked

[oberliner]

61. Maybe she should revisit that subject

[oberliner]

7. Northam has apologized for this photo as well

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. He should have claimed his yearbook was hacked and the FBI is looking in to it.

Easy peasy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Or someone went back in the Hot Tub Time Machine and forced him to do it.

[oberliner]

24. His "that was not me in the photo" potential statement is sort of like that

[uponit7771]

33. When he got caught, my understanding is Reid showed remorse BEFORE those post were brought up again

[demmiblue]

13. Naw.

Link to tweet

[oberliner]

25. So she stands by the hacking claim?

When she says she does not believe she wrote those things?

[Awsi Dooger]

45. I didn't realize her explanation was so preposterous

Thanks for the video. I seldom watch her but now I won't at all

[Demonaut]

46. "and I'm not the person I was then"....wow

[58Sunliner]

6. As an LGBTQ person I can no longer watch her. She apologized after she lied.

[cwydro]

9. As a gay woman, I completely agree.

She lost me after she made the “hacked” excuse.

[empedocles]

14. When I turn on Rachel show and Joy is the sub, I turn off immediately, but not because Joy is not

'pure' enough.

[cilla4progress]

18. She is not in elected office.

Northam is. Different accountability

[UniteFightBack]

19. It doesn't matter. People like to take these hard line positions. Yup she said something I didn't

like, she offended me here....that policy isn't progressive enough. Whatever there are lots of hard lines around with everything.

[dsc]

21. NO that isn't what we were saying

Joy did say some horrible things and if she had admitted it and apologized that would be one thing. But she is a journalist and author. She claimed her blog was hacked, a claim she STILL hasn't withdrawn, and has done the opposite of apologizing. Her job is literally to produce words and be factual. The fact she lied and STILL hasn't withdrawn that lie. Her entire job is about trust.

[UniteFightBack]

23. I choose to look at and focus on the 99% she gets right. Bottom line she is one of the good

ones even if she told a lie.

[pnwmom]

37. Yes, it DOES matter. People are free not to watch her. Virginians are NOT FREE to turn off Northam.

They can't even not vote for him again because it's a one term state.

[JI7]

54. but what if Virginians still WANTED him to be Governor ? would that be reason for him to stay ?

[pnwmom]

55. Not at this point. An opinion poll wouldn't cut it. Are you aware that the Florida Secretary of

State, a Republican, quit a couple weeks ago because they unearthed a picture in blackface? So this isn't just wrong for Democrats. It's wrong for anyone.

[treestar]

63. Why should we have different standards

For ourselves, I would imagine the standards are even lower?

[borgesian]

20. Good point.

It does show a profound lack of self-awareness. There's nothing wrong with expecting a certain standard of behavior from others, but one should be able to walk the walk, and let their own behavior serve as an example. At least Northam, regardless of how you feel about his actions, owned up to his mistake and didn't try to weasel his way out of it. That's more than we can say for Joy.

[namahage]

47. Owned up to it, sure.

Only took about 35 years or so.

But wait...what's this?

"I believe now and then that I am not either of the people in this photo," Northam said, denying that he had ever worn a KKK robe and hood or been drunk enough to forget a moment like this. "This was not me in that picture. That was not Ralph Northam."
The racist photograph, which was obtained by CNN, appears in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook and shows one person dressed in blackface and another in the KKK's signature white hood and robes.

[Iggo]

66. He's lying.

He said he never saw the picture before a staffer showed it to him last week.

And he also says "I believe then and now" that it ain't him. He believed back then that a picture he'd never seen in a yearbook he never bought wasn't him?

[lunatica]

49. It's pretty obvious you didn't watch his press conference.

He claimed repeatedly that it wasn’t him in the picture. Then he admitted to doing blackface and dressing up as Michael Jackson for a dance contest. But a black acquaintance told him how offensive that was, which he had never realized. Keep in mind all this happened in the 1980s, a time of political correctness about race and gender issues. 20 years after the Civil Rights Act, MLK Jr and the feminist movement. A time that, in retrospect was much more enlightened than the current Trump era which seems to have de-evolved at least 2 centuries, when white men were the only group who had rights.

[rollin74]

22. I'm straight and I agree with you

double standards are ridiculous

[yardwork]

26. A lot of the things being said today are relevant to other forms of bigotry.

[spooky3]

27. I think Joy's shows are excellent but you raise a very

good point.

Do we believe that adults can significantly change views on important issues? Do their acts since doing bad things matter? Etc.

[dflprincess]

29. I began wondering last night why we seem ready to

Believe that people can and have "evolved" on LBGTQ issues but the same isn't believed to be true about race.

I don't know if Northam should resign or not. If he's a closet racist of course he should. I do think we shouldn't be so fast to jump on a bandwagon to support another right wing hit job.

[HipChick]

30. Equating racism and racist behavior?

[dsc]

31. So hating gays is better than hating other races

that is really your position?

[Tipperary]

51. It is certainly more acceptable here on du.

Smh.

[MuseRider]

32. As an ally I will not watch her.

She will not admit what she said, she is NOT an ally. She is a journalist. She still has not settled it yet she is allowed to be a journalist. I feel the same way about Brian Williams but not nearly as much since he did not take out other people with his words. I can easily forgive someone who honestly admits to being wrong and makes shown that they are willing to work to correct the influence they had when they said what they said. I do not see that and after this much time I will probably never trust her. It is what it is. You all have lost much with this kind of talk from people who have lots of ears. We continue to work, progress has been good but not there yet.

[pnwmom]

35. Last I checked Joy Reid wasn't holding elective office. People are free not to watch her,

and I rarely do.

[djacq]

38. Thaaank You!

This has been the most stupid and ignorant thread that I have ever read on DU.

Might consider resigning my membership.

[dsc]

40. So if tomorrow we found out that Sean Hannity

or even Rachel Maddow appeared in black face in their college year books you would say well they're just journalists no big deal? I am pretty willing to bet you would say no such thing. But since it was anti gay speech and not racist speech you have a different standard.

[pnwmom]

43. I would say it's not comparable to the Governor. Still.

Last edited Sun Feb 3, 2019, 07:28 AM - Edit history (2)

It has nothing to do with race versus orientation. I have a different standard for TV shows I can simply turn off vs. politicians who nobody can turn off except every several years at the ballot box.

[melman]

59. That wasn't the question

[pnwmom]

60. I wasn't talking to you. n/t

[melman]

62. I didn't say you were

But it's quite clear you avoided answering, and it's quite clear the reason is you knew there wasn't a good way to answer.

Either way looks bad. You obviously can can't say it would be okay...but you can't say it wouldn't be okay because then you'd have to explain what makes it different. Which you couldn't do. So you just ducked the question.

Of course you've now edited but anyone can see the original post I responded to simply said "I would say it's not comparable. Still"

[treestar]

65. That's a real dodge

It's a message board.

[treestar]

67. Tulsi Gabbard is running for President.

Because of her previous anti-gay stances, I can safely conclude that you will not support her?

[pnwmom]

68. LOL. You must have missed it. Others complain that I post way too much

against Tulsi Gabbard. Of the "serious" candidates, she is the one I can't imagine supporting.

But it isn't only her awful stances about LGBT -- that and other things she does all spring from her involvement with Chris Butler's "foundation."

[treestar]

70. I missed that. But good to be consistent.

She should even resign her House seat.

[lunatica]

50. LOL! Straw man! Like Maddow, who is gay, would

do anything like that!

[FreeState]

69. As a gay man myself I wish that were the case

But there are plenty of racist gays. Being gay doesn’t remove you from society.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

42. 1.4 million people didn't go to the polls and cast ballots for Joy Reid.

[Mr. Ected]

36. She is under contract with MSNBC. She was assuredly one of their key players when this came out.

Her failure to offer a formal apology may have been influenced by her employer. She did disappear for a long time before quietly reappearing lately.

I have no idea, just throwing out fodder for discussion.

[Goodheart]

39. Why I care less about what Joy Reid said than I do about Northam's

Because Northam is in a more important position.

Kamala was correct: our political leaders should be held to higher standards.

[still_one]

57. You make an excellent point. In the case of Joy Reid all they need to do is change the cannel.

[Ms. Toad]

41. Oh, but it is very different - don't you know.

Back in the dark ages (2010 and earlier), even the most progressive politicians didn't support special rights for LGBT people - so unless her statements were post 2010, she doesn't really even have anything to apologize for.

In case I have to:

[Autumn]

44. I haven't watched her since that came out. I wonder if the FBI is still looking into it.

Or if they ever did.

[Raine]

48. I won't watch her

when she fills in for Rachel or is a guest on another show I immediately change the channel. I'm not gay but I can't stand the sight of her.

[pnwmom]

52. As the daughter of a gay man, watching Tulsi Gabbard campaign for President

is worse than surreal.

She said as recently as 2015 that she hadn't changed her personal views on the subject. She just no longer thinks her religious views should be imposed on anyone else.

But now we're supposed to believe she's undergone a change of heart.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

53. It does make you wonder.

[Mike Nelson]

58. I still watch her, but...

… this would have been a perfect time to bring up her experiences and reflect on them. There are ways they are the same and ways they are different. I guess she has determined it's better to stay off that... but she could have provided to insight into the Governor's feelings. They both became different people and had "horrified" reactions to the offensive material... maybe part of that is blocking out some of the past and being confused by the sudden appearance of something they buried and left for dead.

[treestar]

64. Is she taking a side?

That is, if urging him to resign, it would be somewhat inconsistent, without the holding office vs. being a journalist distinction.