Recently the channel NewsMax, a right wing propaganda producer masquerading as a news network, ran a segment on the American Girl franchise. During the segment, which I assume was about some aspect of diversity that American Girl is expressing, a man on the panel said he took his daughter to the American Girl store in Rockefeller Center. He made a point of calling her his white, six year old daughter. He said the whole point of the store is that a child can go in and get a doll that looks like them and even get the same outfit as the doll. But when he went there there he said there were no dolls for white girls. He said that all the dolls were for people of color and it was a weird feeling. Well, it is a good thing I buy my irony meters in bulk at Costco. It would have been interesting if the panel had a person of color explain their childhood experience looking for a doll like them. But what was amazing, during the segment the control room was scrolling through the American Girl catalog. The vast the majority of the dolls being shown were white. So this guy was gas lighting us or he forgot to take his tan sunglasses off. I have walked past this store a few times in my visits to the city but I have never been inside. I can't say that I noticed the dolls on display but I can't imagine that the store would only have dolls of color.
The demographics of who visits Rockefeller Center, a tourist area for sure, would include a large percentage of white families. But this show knows that the vast majority of their audience will never travel to New York, let alone the American Girl store at Rockefeller Center. The image of New York that this network portrays is a wasteland populated by non-white immigrants and crime. So they will believe him. That is the essence of the right wing noise machine model. Ignoring reality even when you have it and give fuel to those who want to believe the worst. It feeds the narrative that there is a war on white people, a dangerous conspiracy theory that we know leads to violence. He basically said the grand replacement theory is happening in a toy store and that drives a growing narrative.
There are many people, including elected officials in Congress, who believe there is a globalist agenda to replace white people in Western Society with immigrants. The word globalist is often used to avoid calling it a Jewish plot. Often mentioned is George Soros, a business man and philanthropist who is a billionaire and supporter of progressive movements. This conspiracy theory has led to the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in the summer of 2017 which saw the death of Heather Hire, a woman who was killed by a man driving his car into the crowd of counter-protesters. This theory has been used as justification for other violent acts including the shooting at a Walmart in Texas, a grocery store in Greater Buffalo and several attacks on synagogues.
On Christmas eve the Governor of Texas, sent a bus with asylum seekers to the home of Vice-President Kamala Harris in Washington D.C. without notifying anyone he was doing it. They arrived in the midst of a winter storm with nothing but what they were carrying. He did this because he sees these legal people petitioning the US for help after leaving their home countries for fear of drug cartels and abject poverty as invaders who will destroy white culture. He and other republicans have done this in the past and have little or no regard for the lives of these people. Many have referred to them as vermin. (Sometimes using language similar to how the Nazis referred to the Jews and Roma people).
There appears to be a fear among conservatives that their long held seats at the table of power will be diluted by the inclusion of others who are finally being recognized in our culture. Be it people of color, some immigrant groups, LGBTQ+ individuals or those whose faith is not Christian. I would argue our strength can only be made greater by the diversity that we embrace. That our country thrives when many voices can come together and find common ground in building a future. It isn't always easy, it isn't always going to be what any group wants 100%. But if our own history has taught us anything, diversity and innovation go hand in hand.
So as the fear that Jews or others are in some kind of organized effort on a global scale to eliminate White People is driving a segment of the conservative movement. Anyone who has ever tried to organize a Shabbat dinner by committee will know that is virtually impossible. But what I say is that if people are asking for a seat at the table, put another leaf in and buy some more chairs.
May the New Year bring us Joy, Love, Prosperity and Common Sense.
