Of all the celebrities who sound off about politics and culture, few can express the kind of good, old-fashioned common sense that Mike Rowe often shares. The former host of “Dirty Jobs” speaks blunt truth with uncommon joviality and earnestness.
Though your average liberal observer of the American experience may pretend to be just one of the folks, Rowe is the real deal, authentic and genuine.
When someone asked him on Facebook to weigh in on the shocker of Tuesday’s election and its turbulent aftermath, he responded with typical Rowe wit and wisdom.
Rowe began his assessment of the situation by talking about “Dirty Jobs,” his incredibly successful Discovery Channel show that chronicled professions most TV hosts wouldn’t dream of exploring.
Dirty Jobs didn’t resonate because the host was incredibly charming,” Rowe wrote. “It wasn’t a hit because it was gross, or irreverent, or funny, or silly, or smart, or terribly clever. Dirty Jobs succeeded because it was authentic. It spoke directly and candidly to a big chunk of the country that non-fiction networks had been completely ignoring. In a very simple way, Dirty Jobs said “Hey — we can see you, to millions of regular people who had started to feel invisible. Ultimately, that’s why Dirty Jobs ran for eight seasons. And today, that’s also why Donald Trump is the President of the United States. Rowe then said that he was worried about how the election had gone, but not for the same reasons professed by the destructive agitators and hateful rioters currently taking to the nation’s streets to protest President-elect Donald Trump.
I know people are freaked out, Carol. I get it. I’m worried too. But not because of who we elected. We’ve survived 44 Presidents, and we’ll survive this one too. I’m worried because millions of people now seem to believe that Trump supporters are racist, xenophobic, and uneducated misogynists. I’m worried because despising our candidates publicly is very different than despising the people who vote for them. Rowe also pointed out the rancor and the divisiveness coming from the left on electronic media.
Last week, three old friends — people I’ve known for years — each requested to be “unfriended” by anyone who planned on voting for Trump. Honestly, that was disheartening. Who tosses away a friendship over an election? Are my friends turning into those mind-numbingly arrogant celebrities who threaten to move to another country if their candidate doesn’t win? Are my friends now convinced that people they’ve known for years who happen to disagree with them politically are not merely mistaken — but evil, and no longer worthy of their friendship? Hear, hear.
Early this morning, I awoke to see the most judgmental liberal on my Facebook feed — one who has consistently called anyone who isn’t as outraged as she is a misogynist, xenophobe, racist, rapist and a bully — saying that she was leaving social media because it was making her feel worse as opposed to better. Oh, really?
For the last two elections, the candidate I favored did not win, and someone who I thought represented a danger to the United States’ sovereignty and solvency took office both times. I don’t recall saying that I was “literally shaking” and taking to the streets to burn the American flag and destroy private property. I never once posted screenshots of airfares to Toronto and Montreal.
Sure, I write about why I don’t believe Obama is a good president, and I spare nothing. However, coming from a major urban area, I would venture that a slight majority of my friends are Obama supporters, and proudly so. I don’t antagonize or belittle or “unfriend” them. I respect their opinions.
In the aftermath of this election tsunami for Republicans, I’ve been called every conceivable name by people I considered friends, many of whom didn’t even know they were targeting me with their venom. I’ve seen the flag of my country trampled and set aflame in places I have lived. I’ve seen protesters calling for my blood.
Mike Rowe is right. Trump voters didn’t cast their ballots for the Republican ticket because they’re xenophobes or bigots. They’re everyday people sick of being looked at with contempt by the liberal elite and their tantrum-pitching mob of raging protesters.
The problem isn’t Trump, liberals. The problem is intolerance — yours.
