The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin and Rolling Stone’s Jay Michaelson teamed up on Wednesday’s CNN Tonight to attack conservatives for wanting to boycott Target for certain Pride-themed merchandise aimed at children. In things never said about liberal boycotts, Farah Griffin labeled it “very totalitarian,” while Michaelson warned of “stochastic terrorism.”
CNN did have an actual conservative voice in Joe Pinion to go up against Farah Griffin, Michaelson, and senior political analyst John Avlon. However, the three-on-nature of the panel—four-on-one if you count host Alisyn Camerota—meant that after references to various insanities coming out of Washington and New York he was sidelined as the other three ganged up on him.
Farah Griffin portrayed herself as one of the good conservatives, unlike those Target boycotters, “I think there needs to be a reminder of what personal freedom entails.”
After paying lip service to the idea of being able to raise your child how you wish and the right to not shop at Target, Farah Griffin proclaimed “You do not have a right to tell other kids they can’t read this book about this, they can't talk about their gay parents. They can't buy that shirt at Target. That's not a conservative position. It's frankly like a very totalitarian position. We are going way too far, and I think it springs from this.”
While Farah Griffin laments the removal of certain children’s book, it was impossible to miss CNN’s hypocrisy. It’s perfectly normal to argue that children’s books should stay away from sexuality, but when Target and Amazon removed books for adults critical of gender ideology, the T-word was missing from CNN.
Farah Griffin wrapped up her remarks by urging conservatives to get with her program, “The trans community is something that, for a lot of Americans, feels new. It feels unfamiliar, and it is leading to fear-mongering and to weaponizing that community, and frankly, they're facing threats, and I think we need to have a real conversation about loving our neighbors, understanding our neighbors, and living in communities safely.”
Cameorta then turned to Michaelson, “Jay, what about that? Because you both touched on it. He's saying that it stems from fear, and you're saying it's not a rational fear, it's a primal fear. It's still fear. I mean, things are changing quickly, isn't it?”
The liberal rabbi and former Merrick Garland clerk began by promoting his own 15-year old book and also hyped the opportunity for conservatives to fix themselves, “This is actually an opportunity for moral growth. We should welcome this opportunity to look at our core values, loving our neighbor, caring for respect for all human beings, making sure that nobody should live in fear.”
After accusing certain people, including new presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, of “stoking” mistrust of transgender people, Michaelson demanded “stop lying about trans people in their lives, to stop encouraging people to take this kind of action, because this doesn't come out of nowhere. There's this term, stochastic terrorism. When you tell people their group is terrible, over and over again, someone, somewhere, is gonna act out, and that's what's happening here.”
One wonders if Michaelson, who once accused Antonin Scalia of all people of inciting terrorism, thinks Nashville was “stochastic terrorism” or does that label only get applied to hypothetical right-wingers? Either way, people aren’t going to suddenly believe that boys can suddenly become girls because that’s not hate, that’s just science.
This segment was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service.
Here is a transcript of the May 24 show:
CNN Tonight
5/24/2023
10:44 PM ET
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I think there needs to be a reminder of what personal freedom entails. And this is where I get frustrated with my friends on the right, is that you can have whatever view you personally want to in your home about the LGBTQ agenda, about gender, about sexuality, and you have a right to raise your children that way and you have a right to not buy things at Target. You do not have a right to tell other kids they can’t read this book about this, they can't talk about their gay parents. They can't buy that shirt at Target. That's not a conservative position. It's frankly like a very totalitarian position. We are going way too far, and I think it springs from this.
Listen, the sentiment around marriage equality changed rapidly and quickly—
JOHN AVLON: Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: -- and most of the country is there. The young people, we are there.
AVLON: 70 percent.
FARAH GRIFFIN: The trans community is something that, for a lot of Americans, feels new. It feels unfamiliar, and it is leading to fear-mongering and to weaponizing that community, and frankly, they're facing threats, and I think we need to have a real conversation about loving our neighbors, understanding our neighbors, and living in communities safely.
CAMEROTA: Jay, what about that? Because you both touched on it. He's saying that it stems from fear, and you're saying it's not a rational fear, it's a primal fear. It's still fear. I mean, things are changing quickly, isn't it?
MICHAELSON: Right, I mean, look, you know, so, 15 years ago, I wrote a book called God vs. Gay: The Religious Case for Equality, where I talked about exactly what Alyssa just mentioned. This is actually an opportunity for moral growth. We should welcome this opportunity to look at our core values, loving our neighbor, caring for respect for all human beings, making sure that nobody should live in fear.
These are sort of core religious values that many secular people hold as well, hold dear as well, and they're at issue here. We should be answering this call to conscience, not demonizing a group and feeding the fear. I agree, Joe, look, yes, we talked about this in the context of guns. There's mistrust, there's fear, but there are people who are stoking that mistrust and fear for their own gains, and one of them just announced on Twitter that he's running for president.
There's the fear that is already there, and there's the fear that's stoked by opportunists, and the lowest hanging fruit would be to stop that: to stop lying about trans people in their lives, to stop encouraging people to take this kind of action, because this doesn't come out of nowhere. There's this term, stochastic terrorism. When you tell people their group is terrible, over and over again, someone, somewhere, is gonna act out, and that's what's happening here.
