Timing is everything, and if you’re going to argue that American women are oppressed by the current administration, the patriarchy, the wage gap, or ponying up for their own birth control, try not to do it while women are very publicly facing actual oppression of the jailing-beating-shooting variety.
But CNN’s Brooke Baldwin chose to launch her new digital series, American Women, on Wednesday, January 3, as TV screens (even, finally, those tuned to CNN) brought Americans video of brave Iranians demonstrating in the face of government violence. According to Variety, American Women “profiles women who have shattered ceilings in different industries.” But it has a political twist: in her opening essay for the series, Baldwin pens that so many women “were hoping for history to be made: a first female president. But when that didn’t happen, I asked myself, ‘Where will all these women go?’”
“They voted, they marched, they broke their silence,” Baldwin stated in the opening credits of the introduction segment. Complete with footage of Trump being sworn into office and women wearing pink hats marching to protest Trump, it’s evident that the series is more about political anger than it is about affecting real change. “We aren’t going to go quietly,” director Ava Duvernay told Baldwin. “We have a voice.”
Meanwhile, actress Issa Rae told Baldwin that the state of America was “incredibly frustrating.” She said that the 2016 election affected the second season of her show: “Do we address it, do we attack it, are we going to be satirical? I just don’t want the stench of this administration on what it is that we are doing.” In another video, Sheryl Crow stated, in response to a question about the current administration, “I find that when there’s discomfort that can be a galvanizing moment for a people.”
That pales in comparison with the resolve of the Iranian women. In an infamous video from the 2009 Iranian “Green Revolution,” a woman was shot and killed by government forces on camera. Iranian women know the risks they take, but that hasn’t deterred the 2017 protests. Fox News’ Stephen Miller described the footage leaked from Iran, showing women running from tear gas, confronting security forces, and shouting “You raised your fists and ruined our lives. Now we raise our fists. Be men, join us. I as a woman will stand in front and protect you. Come represent your country.”
Compared to protests of an oppressive sharia law state, CNN’s decision to highlight the women of American entertainment who embody the ideals behind the Women’s March is pathetic. The Women’s March even refused to speak out on behalf of the Iranian protesters. According the the Washington Times, the Women’s March “is busy rolling out its anniversary protest against the Trump administration and has yet to weigh in on the plight of Iranian women.” Meanwhile, the death tolls from the Iranian protests have reached 25.
CNN’s lack of coverage on the Iran protests only emphasize the media’s complicitness in the left’s ridiculous narrative building. On January 1, CNN’s New Day spent a whopping 1 and a half minutes on the Iran protests; Fox and Friends spent 14 and a half minutes by contrast. On Wednesday, January 3, CNN’s New Day spent 3 minutes on the protests while Fox and Friends spent 19.
Miller writes for Fox: “Political support for the women of Iran would of course contradict the careful echo chamber narrative Democrat politicians spent months crafting in support of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.”
Who are the real heroes here?
