Gorilla mask attack on Elder deplorable

It’s not surprising that Republican gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder encountered aggressive protests this week in Venice Beach.

What is surprising, however, is that hardly any of the coverage focused on the fact that the person throwing eggs at Elder was wearing a gorilla mask. Yes, a gorilla mask. A sampling of headlines include: “Larry Elder cuts short Venice homeless encampment tour after hostile confrontation” and “LAPD is investigating altercation involving Larry Elder at Venice homeless encampment,” both from the Los Angeles Times, while Yahoo News framed it as: “California recall candidate Larry Elder targeted by egg-throwing hostile crowd.”

Eggs? Check. Hostility? Check. But wait, something still seems missing.

Our editorial board tries to avoid playing the “What if?” game because it’s hard to prove; but seriously, what if Elder were a Democrat?

Do you think any headline would avoid the mask? Anyone who consumes media with any regularity knows the answer.

Predictably, the lack of coverage has been picked up in right-leaning media, like the

New York Post and Fox News. National Review asks the question: “Why Isn’t the Attack on Larry Elder the Biggest Story in America?”

Indeed.

Selective outrage only serves to undermine all outrage.

To engage in such cynicism, when discrimination and racism only matters when it suits your ideological needs, is as abhorrent.

Is this true for every publication and every person who has yet to say something about the mask? Of course not. There are many reasons why people make the decisions they make, which is why we try to avoid the “What if?” game.

But considering we recently read in the Los Angeles Times that Larry Elder is purportedly “the Black face of white supremacy,” it seems bizarre that a gorilla mask is a non-issue.

Larry Elder has long been the subject of particular hostility precisely because of his status as a prominent conservative/libertarian who is also Black.

But violence of any kind, particularly with the optics of a mask that could be perceived as racist, is utterly deplorable. And so too is the reticence of “the woke.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a withdrawal that left American citizens stranded and our Afghan allies betrayed and left to die. Our enemies no longer fear us and our allies no longer trust us. That Newsom praised this deadly misadventure that left $80 billion of U.S. military equipment in the hands of the Taliban says much about the governor’s bad judgment and utter lack of common sense.

Newsom, who used the coronavirus to abuse his authority, overstepped his role as governor, virtually locking down the entire state and shuttering businesses, while he enjoyed himself — mask-free and indoors — with friends and supporters at a world-famous fancy restaurant.

We saw the same with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at her hair salon in San Francisco.

Such hypocrisy merely adds insult to injury, however.

Nearly a third of California’s restaurants have permanently closed due to COVID.

The state’s unemployment rate is 7.6% — the second highest in the nation. Nearly 69,000 Californians filed new jobless claims for the week ending August 14, the highest total in three months for the state. One group disproportionately hurt by the type of repressive COVID policies are

“I believe individuals do not need the government to tell them how to think and what to do. The notion of individual liberty and personal responsibility is the complete opposite of big government.”

women — because they are often overrepresented in industries most affected by the shutdowns, such as tourism, cleaning and domestic services, and entertainment. Ironically, Newsom fervently claims that he cares about women.

By contrast, I believe individuals do not need the government to tell them how to think and what to do. The notion of individual liberty and personal responsibility is the complete opposite of big government. The liberty to choose to get vaccinated, or how much to pay someone who agrees to work for me — and the responsibility for any negative outcome — is what allows a society to be healthy and strong.

For me, individual liberty means that government needs to get out of our personal lives. It also needs to get out of foreign countries where it no longer has any business.

This does not mean opposing all government. Clearly government has its place, albeit limited. It exists to protect the public.

The federal government exists to protect its citizens from outside enemies, such as during

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war. Which is why citizens pay taxes for a military. State and local governments exist to protect law-abiding citizens from criminals. Which is why citizens pay taxes for a police force. From this perspective, inane calls for defunding the police are neither humane, nor righteous.

Recently, staffers of my campaign were attacked when I visited a homeless encampment in Venice Beach. Such violence and lawlessness are precisely what the government should protect its citizens against. Yet crime and homelessness in California have soared under Gavin Newsom.

If elected as governor of California, I intend to reverse the disastrous decline of our state and focus on fixing its problems such as the historic rise of crime, homelessness, cost of living, rolling brownouts, raging wildfires and water shortages.

That is how I intend to govern California.

@SOCALOPINION

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