In the past couple of days, my different social media feeds have been flooded with videos of activist Kaitlin Bennett and the controversial interviews she conducts on college campuses. Not only are they controversial, but they are harmful to the political state of our country, and here’s why.
Kaitlin Bennett is a 23-year-old who first gained popularity online in 2018 when she did her graduation photo-shoot from Kent State University with an AR-10 and decorated her graduation cap with the phrase “Come and Get It”. At first, she used her platform to advocate for mostly pro-gun rights and when these photos struck the media’s attention, people immediately began criticizing her for it.
It was around this time when I found out about her, but back then I didn’t realize how much harm she was actually doing. Sure, I disagreed with what she said and it made me angry but I couldn’t really do anything about it. I scrolled through her Instagram feed, got angry, and forgot about her.
It wasn’t until this week when she popped up again and I looked into her interviews and realized the harm these interviews do and how her work affects our political climate.
In one of her interviews, posted on Facebook to the Liberty Hangouts page, Kaitlin is dressed up as a Native American woman for Halloween and asking people about what they think of her costume. When a runner walks by and says “That’s disgusting” and a group of women cheer him on, Kaitlin continues to say “This is where natural selection is going to go down the hole, because this woman is clapping for a grown man jogging very femininely…we’re going to end up with very soy-infused genes in men…”
This example of how she behaves when she is disagreed with was the one that made me the most angry because she is so obviously trying to get a reaction out of these people, and when she does she bullies them.
By frequently using this format for her videos, not only is she begging for attention, but she is purposely dividing people. No matter if anyone agrees or disagrees with her views, she is singling out people she interviews in order to create unhealthy discussions when the videos are posted online.
In our country today, there is so much divisiveness that exists already and by spreading these videos on social media, it only creates a bigger divide between different groups of people like Democrats and Republicans. When people argue over the video, for example, many different opinions show up and they take an example from Kaitlin to continually bash each other and ignore the different opinions. This type of discussion where people are getting attacked for having a different opinion cannot stand in our world today.
While I don’t agree with Kaitlin’s opinions, they are still valid. What makes me lose my respect for her even more is when she uses her platform for purposes such as this, to start controversy and cause division.
In my opinion, more division is the last thing we need today and through videos like Kaitlin’s, the problem will never get better.
