Bette Midler’s West Virginia insults reveal an ugly label of libertarianism

You may have heard of the faction of celebrities – and some less notable figures – called the Twitter Resistance because of their collective disdain for Trump during the 2016 election. It includes actors and comedians like George Takei, Debra Messing, Jimmy Kimmel, and Chelsea Handler, who regularly slam the former reality TV presenter for his outrageous outbursts, harmful policies, and looks. Among them – and still are – legendary performers Bette Midler, who was a vocal on Twitter before 2016 but was recently branded as a leftist voice for criticizing the Trump family and the Republican Party.

On Monday, however, Midler was accused by Twitter users on both sides of the aisle of snobbering, libertarian snobbery after calling out Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and the whole state for his opposition to President Biden’s Building Back Better Progress Bill that would fund COVID-19 and climate change relief solutions, among other things.

“What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done with the rest of America who want to move forward, not backward, is like his state is horrible.” aunt tweeted. “He sold us out. He wants us all to be like his West Virginia state. Poor, uneducated and torn apart”.

As you might expect, it didn’t take long — 40 minutes to be exact — for the multi-Grammy winner to release. a perfunctory apology to the West Virginians for her despicable comments.

She continued, “I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst. I only see red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best that WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely, there is someone out there who has the interests of the state, not their own! ”

This isn’t the first time Midler’s fiery comments have gotten her into trouble. Her political and social commentary on Twitter often alternates between bombastic humor and unsettling humor. For example, in 2018, she paraphrased John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s infamous 1972 song in a tweet states, “Women are the word of the world, raped, beaten, married into slavery, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; endured the pains and dangers of childbirth and life in SURPRISE for THOUSANDS of years. They are the most disrespected creatures on earth.”

While her anger was justified in response to the results of the FBI’s investigation into then-Supreme Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, she made a common female error. white rights when using black oppression as a metaphor for women’s suffering, as if Black women don’t ‘don’t exist and that some women’s experiences (especially white women) comparable to racism. The tweet was scrutinized and she posted an apology hours later.

Then in 2020, she ridicule Melania Trump was born in Slovenia because she “didn’t speak English” while she was giving a speech at the Republican National Convention and during another meeting. tweet, calling her an “illegal alien.” Some libertarians have a nasty tendency to insult conservatives by using discriminatory language in behavior seen as subversive and “punching down” when directed at those who are “. bad”. An example of this is when Jimmy Kimmel Barriers to homophobic jokes at Sean Hannity during a beef party with a Fox News commentator in 2018. Chelsea Handler (and a host of other comedians) couldn’t have mocked Trump during her presidency without hinting that he was either. have sex with Vladimir Putin or comment on his weight.

Likewise, Midler was apparently thinking of denigrating the occupants of an Indian state for the myriad of ways capitalism and government leaders had failed them, including the pandemic. opioids, she wouldn’t consider a lost elitist because these were poor living conditions. It is clear that the rural people who voted for Trump deservedly. But many critics of Midler and those on the left have clearly grown tired of the “we” and “them” frameworks that educated, white urbanites use to distinguish themselves from the rest of the population. rural whites were uneducated and despised the multiracial working class. Not to mention, these differences also bring self-proclaimed “cultured” people like Midler, who was born and raised in Hawaii before building a career in New York, where morals are high, like It is possible that both demographics are not intentionally benefiting from whites. supremacy and then impede social progress in their own way.

It’s unclear whether Midler sincerely changed her mind about Appalachia in such a short amount of time, or whether her apology was primarily directed at a nervous publicist (I’m leaning towards after). However, we can be sure that this won’t be the last time she puts her foot in her mouth.