Posted on 04/27/2023 8:09:09 PM PDT by Morgana
Days after Mattel announced their first ever Barbie with Down syndrome, a self-described pro-life conservative political commentator released a video on Twitter mocking the doll. Social media users quickly reacted with outrage.
In the video posted to Twitter, Steven Crowder and his co-hosts can be heard snickering and laughing over an Inside Edition feature promoting the doll. “With r*tard strength!” they can be heard saying over the promo, adding, “Is this real? This is real.” They continued to laugh as model Ellie Goldstein, who has Down syndrome, appeared holding one of the Down syndrome Barbies.
“Well, here’s the thing, they really have been going full-bore,” Crowder said, directly facing the camera. “Mattel actually announced plans to expand this, in the name of diversity before the end of the year, with sickle cell Barbie. So that’s something. Look, everyone’s involved! Down syndrome Barbie. Short bus not included! Did she have to say ‘smash through barriers’ when we all know about special needs strength? She doesn’t look that Downs-y! It looks like Amy Schumer Barbie. Now with more r*tard! Professional assistant not included.
Yet the reaction on social media was overwhelmingly negative. “This Barbie is a win for a conservative culture. Why? Because it humanizes a group of *human beings* the other side thinks we should just abort,” conservative columnist Ian Hayworth tweeted. “Instead, he’s ‘joking’ about ‘r*tard strength.’ Gee, I wonder why we’re losing this battle?”
“This is pathetic and heartless. Shame on you,” another Twitter user replied, while another conservative user tweeted, “I actually love this. @Mattel did something good for society by making this doll.”
A Catholic father of seven replied with a heartbreaking photo of his daughter with Down syndrome, who passed away as an infant. “Hey Steven, this is my child,” he tweeted. “Maggie would’ve been 3 next month. She died of the heart failure caused by the Down Syndrome you’re so callously mocking. She deserved every ounce of dignity you and the pro-aborts deny people like her every day. Repent.”
Frank Fleming, a scripted creator for the Daily Wire, also responded with a Twitter thread to the controversy. Fleming has a son with Down syndrome.
“I don’t think I’ll watch the Crowder sketch on the Down Syndrome Barbie and just take everyone’s word it was bad,” he said. “At the heart of our society is the intensely religious notion of equality — that despite our physical differences, each person is of equal and immeasurable value. It is unprovable, but it is True. This is not an easy notion to grasp with. It does not come naturally. It something we struggle with now and will in the future. But it’s central to concepts such as human rights.”
He continued, “When we make exceptions to who matters — to whom we value — it all starts to fall apart. One of the saddest things I’ve ever heard was of countries that have come close to eliminating Down Syndrome (and we know what that means). We have to be better than that.”
He concluded by pointing out that more representation of people with Down syndrome is a positive, not something to be mocked.
“I’m happy Mattel made a Down Syndrome Barbie,” he said. “I’m happy there one of the Lost Boys in the new Peter Pan has Down Syndrome. We need to embrace the beauty in this world, or we ourselves will be less human.”
I do not have any problem with you sharing your sincere opinion about anything that you want to. Crowder is a performer who skates pretty close to the edge. He seems to have evolved from a talented kid posting videos while living with his mom into a first class jerk in real life.
What I object to is you and others characterizing a fairly innocuous video clip as something earth shattering and attacking those who can see the humor in just another virtue signaling multi-national pretending that they care.
The vast majority of the “shocked” people have never gotten their hands dirty cleaning the poop off someone else’s backside. Or taking a person with problems back into the bathroom after you realize that their hands are covered with poo and that they are leaving poo prints everywhere. Yet the precious little morning glories here feel that their virtue signaling by condemning others makes them better people than the people who actually do the work. I call and will continue to call BS on that even to the point of defending an arrogant jerk like steroid pumping Crowder.
I’m not aware of having stated that this is ‘earth-shattering’ or of attacking anyone who finds it humorous. I don’t think many others here have, either. We’ve just expressed our personal opinions.
You act like you resent that others think differently about it than you do and are able to express themselves here.
You seem to be attempting to intimidate those who think differently in the exact way that you claim that they are ‘attacking’ you.
Yes, Crowder has been a disappointment to me as well. There will never be another Rush, but I should remind you that Rush had to fight his own personal demons. We all do. The video and language used in the video being discussed is a nothing burger and those going out of their way to pretend that they are terribly offended are mostly just virtue signaling... just like Mattel. The vast majority have no actual knowledge of the mentally challenged and the effort that it takes to care of them.
When did they ever set out to be Rush Limbaugh? Furthest Thing from Rush that I ever saw, he never pretended to even mimic Rush other than to do impersonations of him.
Mark Dice who I always enjoy watching, did a piece on Crowder this morning talking about his behavior.
Love this! Had to repeat it!
Regards,
Sounds like the young man may have had the "Fragile X Syndrome."
You are probably already familiar with that.
Regards,
And these souls have voting rights. Their vote is cast by vote Democrat harvesters who work in the facilities or who come in. These harvesters ‘vote the patient’s interests’ which amazingly coincide with the Democrat platform.
These souls have rights to three hots and a cot and safety, warmth, and respectful care. Allowing them sexual incontinence is abusive to the staff and other patients. Not requiring sexual continence is abusive to the sexually acting out patient for it diminishes him into a sideshow and removes his humanity.
Crowder isn’t the only one playing ‘Conservative’ on the Internet - it’s a cash cow for quite a few people.
And there are always those who will knee-jerk support anyone who seems to be espousing their own views; many will slavishly support anyone on the Internet who appears to think as they do, without actually looking into the history of their ‘idols’.
Crowder doesn’t really possess Conservative values. No truly Conservative man I’ve ever known would treat or talk to his pregnant wife in the way that he did.
Crowder comes across as an egotistical, controlling freak.
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