Amanda Marcotte, a columnist on the left-wing outlet Salon, wrote a scathing article and social media put up laying the blame of a suicide at Libs of TikTookay creator Chaya Raichik. This cost is bewildering as a result of Raichik had by no means earlier than talked about the person who dedicated suicide.
F.L. Copeland, a pastor and the mayor of Smiths Station, Alabama, dedicated suicide following a post from a conservative website called 1819 News, which claimed he was a cross-dresser. This tragic sequence of occasions had nothing to do with Libs of TikTookay or Raichik, however that didn’t cease the Salon columnist from portray Raichik as the last word villain accountable.
In the primary paragraph of Marcotte’s column, she described Raichik’s Libs of TikTookay account as “a Twitter account dedicated to revealing the identities of gender non-conforming people, so that they can be abused by strangers, for no other reason than who they are.” There isn’t any proof to support this.
Raichik’s account amplifies public photographs and videos of LGBTQ+ activists and lecturers, posted by the activists and lecturers themselves.
Raichik does amplify LGBTQ+ activists’ social media posts, not as a result of of “who they are,” however as a result of of the activists’ actions towards youngsters. Raichik has by no means said in any tweet, put up, or interview that she has a difficulty with somebody who claims to be LGBTQ+, however insists that people promoting sexual content in entrance of youngsters is a matter—therefore her deal with activist lecturers’ social media posts.
Marcotte then brazenly blamed Raichik for a capturing at a Colorado gay bar:
In November 2022, a Colorado homosexual bar was attacked by a shooter who appeared motivated by the rising tide of vitriol in direction of LGBTQ individuals. Five had been killed and dozens injured. While Chaya Raichik, who runs the account, claims she doesn’t need violence, nobody actually believes that. After all, she celebrated the story concerning the violence she evokes.
In her social media put up condemning Raichik, Marcotte neither names 1819 News nor cites the put up—however says that the pastor dedicated suicide as a result of he “got the Libs of TikTok treatment.” She continued to froth on the mouth for a number of extra paragraphs—blaming former President Donald Trump and Raichik with none substantial proof.
The Daily Signal reached out to Salon to ask why Marcotte was clearly implying Raichik performed a function within the suicide of Copeland, and Executive Editor Andrew O’Hehir obfuscated on Marcotte’s behalf:
Amanda Marcotte’s column neither says nor implies at any level that Libs of TikTookay ever posted something about this particular person or is accountable for his loss of life. I believe she makes her opinion abundantly clear that Libs of TikTookay is a main contributor to fueling anti-LGBTQ hate on the best.
O’Hehir’s deflection is petulantly shallow.
Marcotte spent her whole column concerning the suicide of Copeland lambasting Raichik—who had by no means a lot as talked about him. She immediately named Raichik and Libs of TikTookay 13 instances, and claimed that 1819 News (which she solely named seven instances) copied Raichik’s methods.
Marcotte’s social media put up about her column accuses Raichik of creating a “treatment” that she blames for Copeland’s suicide. She names Libs of TikTookay twice—however doesn’t point out 1819 News in any respect.
O’Hehir didn’t even remotely try to handle Marcotte’s accusatory tweet.
This isn’t a case of canine whistles or imprecise references to the rhetoric of a political reverse; Marcotte immediately lays any and all crimes towards LGBTQ people in the previous couple of years at Raichik’s ft like a Hollywood lawyer.
“But whenever people confront Raichik over the damage done by Libs of TikTok, she always denies responsibility,” Marcotte wrote, explicitly assigning culpability to Raichik. “Instead, she claims, she’s just sharing facts: This person is queer, this person looks feminine, this person does drag on the side.”
It’s price noting that Raichik has by no means listed “This person is queer, this person looks feminine, this person does drag on the side” as reasoning for amplifying any put up thus far.
Marcotte’s column is definitely telling—however maybe not in the best way she meant. In her try and scapegoat Raichik because the mastermind behind hate violence toward LGBTQ+ individuals, Marcotte solely succeeded in revealing that she’s keen to levy evil costs towards any unrelated particular person she loathes, regardless of how weak the case.
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