Make no mistake, if you are a modern political pundit it is either eat or be eaten. Laura Ingraham, a conservative pundit and the namesake of Fox News’ “The Laura Ingraham Show” is this past week’s big loser.
But I want to break down exactly what it was which caused Ingraham to take some time off work. (It should be noted Fox News reports her vacation was pre-planned.)
Over the past few weeks, Ingraham was particularly critical of the “March for Our Lives” movement, led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Emma González and David Hogg. These students received considerable support (and air-time) from those on the left, while simultaneously criticized from those on the right. Of course this is a generalization, not to say they have not received some criticism from the left and some support from the right.
Over the past few days, Ingraham received criticism for her recent statements concerning Hogg. In an interview last week, Hogg expressed regret and disappointment about not getting into a number of schools, including UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and UC Irvine. His reaction the schools rejecting him was, in my opinion, quite level-headed and understandable. He reportedly has a 4.2 GPA, which is in itself commendable, but it is definitely on the low-side for out-of-state student acceptance rates to these schools.
Hogg’s reaction was not, however, an attack on these schools or a demand for acceptance. It was an understanding of his own shortcomings and an expression of regret concerning his own previous academic decisions.
Now with this context, let us return to the current issue. Let me make this abundantly clear: when you step into the national spotlight, as these students have, you will be criticized. Just because you are legally a minor does not mean you are immune to well-founded attacks on your positions. So where, you ask, did Laura Ingraham go wrong?
In order to understand why Ingraham is on an extended spring break, we need to look at three different factors.
First, Ingraham’s attacks were personal. This is the biggest no-no in the realm of productive argumentation. If we look at the general theory of argumentation, one of the main points is that stooping to the level of personal attacks destroys your own credibility and discounts the viability of your own argument. Of course, personal attacks have always been, and always will be, a popular way to tear down your opponents. However, with a little bit of critical thinking, you should be able to divorce these attacks from genuine criticism of someone else’s argument.
The second issue is Ingraham’s misrepresentation of Hogg’s statement. Take the text from Hogg’s interview and contrast it with the statements made by Ingraham.
According to Joseph Curl with The Daily Wire, Hogg stated, “It’s not been too great for me and some of the other members of the movement, like Ryan Deitsch … I am not surprised at all, in all honesty. I think there’s a lot of amazing people that don’t get to college, not only that do things like I do but because their voices just aren’t heard in the tsunami of people that apply every year to colleges in such an economic impacted school system here which we have here in America where people have to go into massive amounts of debt just to go to college and get an education.”
In contrast, here is what Ingraham tweeted: “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)”
There is a clear disconnect here between what Hogg said and how he was presented in Ingraham’s words, not to mention Ingraham incorrectly cites Hogg’s GPA as a 4.1 instead of a 4.2.
We still have not gotten to the reason Ingraham is now following in the footsteps of Bill O’Reilly, and it is because money talks. Ingraham, like Hogg and González, put herself in the spotlight, and therefore opened herself and her opinions up to criticism. What she miscalculated, or perhaps did not consider at all, was the backlash to her personal attacks on Hogg.
Many supporters of Hogg have taken to personally attacking Ingraham, childishly reflecting Ingraham’s initial shortcomings. But Hogg hit her where it really hurts: in the advertisers.
You see, news networks like Fox News, and on a smaller level specific shows like “The Laura Ingraham Show,” are dependent on ad revenue provided by companies who install their ads during these shows. By reaching out to her advertisers, Hogg took Ingraham out of the game without even having to deal with her directly. These advertisers are not pulling their commercials because they had an epiphany concerning David Hogg and his campaign for gun control, but rather they have had thousands of people, A.K.A. consumers, calling them in the past few days demanding change. Businesses exist for one thing: to make money. If someone is standing in the way of this goal, then they will be the first to go.
Since the retaliation began last week, 11 sponsors have pulled their ads from Ingraham’s show according to CBS News. This campaign, led by Hogg, has made Ingraham quite unpopular in the last few days.
In my opinion, Ingraham is not on vacation for fun, she is on vacation to lay low until the heat focuses somewhere else. If she is lucky, she may keep her show time and get a couple of sponsors back. If she is unlucky, then she and Bill O’Reilly may need to start a support group.