The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro is fond of saying, "Facts don't care about your feelings," while others on the right have a more in-your-face slogan: "F--- your feelings." Liberals and progressives, the argument goes, are easily "triggered" and need to grow a much thicker skin.
"Real Time" host Bill Maher, himself a liberal with libertarian leanings, believes that liberals per se aren't the problem, but argues that "wokeness" is a departure from traditional liberalism — and that Americans are sick of having to "walk on eggshells" because of "woke" people who are constantly offended. Maher, however, is also a scathing critic of MAGA Republicans he considers hypersensitive.
Right-wing hypersensitivity is the focus of an op-ed written by journalist Joe Berkowitz and published by the Daily Beast on June 5. Berkowitz emphasizes that "the same MAGA Republicans who once wore 'f--- your feelings' t-shirts to Trump rallies now exist in a perpetual state of emotional outpouring."
"Being a conservative these days sounds emotionally exhausting," Berkowitz laments. "At any given moment, you might find out, for instance, that your favorite light beer sent a brew to a transgendered influencer and get so mad about it you have to film yourself using that beer for target practice. Or you might discover —gasp! — that Target is selling t-shirts with little rainbows on them for Pride Month and simply have no choice but drive to the nearest Target, threaten employees with violence, write a song about it, and whine that the song is being censored.… That's just how it goes in the United States of Wokemerica: another day, another space that is not safe."
A common MAGA argument, Berkowitz points out, is that being easily offended makes liberals "unfit to hold the majority in a tough world that demands a thicker skin."
The journalist, however, observes, "January 6, (2021) proved once and for all that 'f--- your feelings' never meant that feelings themselves were frivolous signs of weakness, only that yours are…. The years since the insurrection have seen conservatives retreat into constant, shrieking victimhood."
