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“Instead of holding the powerful accountable… the media wants to hold the power, the power to control the flow of information, which is why they engage in intimidation tactics and censorship.”
BRUCE NASH
Perhaps no characteristic of the radical left is so defining as its hypocrisy. Whether it’s demanding that servants and school children cover their faces while governors and celebrities party sans masks or screaming about intolerance while advocating or committing violence or saying that conservatives don’t care about women even as they try to erase them, there is simply no end to the “okay for me but not for thee” scenarios.
Yet one example is so stunning that it rises above the wave of everyday hypocrisy to a level that is hard to wrap your head around. That, of course, is Washington Post writer Taylor Lorenz, who earlier this week doxxed the anonymous woman behind Libs of TikTok, a popular Twitter account that has garnered over 700,000 followers in very short order.
It did that, not through attacks, slander, or exposés, but by posting videos of progressive users. These weren’t undercover videos or obtained through hacking or nefarious methods; they were videos posted by the people featured in them. They were TikTok videos of liberals saying what they do or what they believe, and it was so far outside the norm that most people couldn’t look away or stop themselves from retweeting the videos, thus the reason why the account amassed such a large following in less than a year. An example can be seen here:
So why did the Washington Post, owned by the world’s second richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and star reporter Taylor Lorenz zero in on Libs of TikTok, decide to unmask the account’s creator (who I will not name since she is a private citizen), and run an article slandering her and the account as an anti-LGBT hate group?
The answer is because it revealed the truth about the left and its goals, and the last thing the Washington Postwants is for the public to know what the left really believes and is actually doing. Yet the issue goes far beyond a powerful newspaper doxxing a private citizen.
Taylor Lorenz wrote the article, entitled “Meet the Woman Behind Libs of TikTok, Secretly Fueling the Right’s Outrage Machine” and then tweeted a link to it, stating, “Libs of TikTok has become a powerful force online, shaping right-wing media, impacting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation & influencing millions by posting viral videos aimed at inciting outrage.” In that article, Lorenz provided personal information on the Libs of TikTok creator, including her name, real estate license, work address, religion, and home location.
Lorenz also showed up at the front doors of the user’s relatives and contacted Twitter users with similar names or who had interacted with the page. One user, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, received an email saying that the Post was doing a story exposing the woman and wanted a comment from Pushaw on their interactions. Pushaw’s only response was to send a clown face emoji.
How did Lorenz discover the anonymous woman’s identity? Her digital footprint was uncovered by the Prototype Fund, which receives its funding from the German government. The Post defended Lorenz from criticism, saying, “Taylor Lorenz is a diligent and accomplished journalist whose reporting methods comport entirely with the Washington Post’s professional standards.” The Post went on to note that the previously anonymous user, “in her management of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account and in media interviews, has had significant impact on public discourse and her identity had become public knowledge on social media.” In other words, she deserved to be doxxed, therefore the Post and Lorenz did nothing wrong.
The Post claimed it did not publish or link any personal details, a claim that is clearly false since the original story contained exactly such information. Lorenz also defended her actions by saying, “Reporters make phone calls, send messages, show up places, and knock on doors when reporting out a story. I reported this story out extensively, using every tool I had, to ensure I had the correct woman.” She added that the Libs of TikTok creator “isn’t just some average woman with a social media account,” but a “powerful influencer operating a massively impactful right wing media shaping discourse around LGBTQ+ rights.”
Lorenz is taking heat, in large part, for the hypocritical gap between her words and actions. She has often complained about the trauma of being doxxed and harassed. In a tearful interview with MSNBC, she spoke of the online harassment she has received. “I’ve had to remove every single social tie,” she explained. “I have severe PTSD from this. I contemplated suicide. It got really bad. You feel like any little piece of information that gets out on you will be used by the worst people on the internet to destroy your life and it’s so isolating. It’s horrifying.”
She then lambasted MSNBC for making her alleged harassment worse. “If your segment or story on ‘online harassment’ leads to even worse online harassment for your subjects, you [expletive] up royally and should learn how to cover these things properly before ever talking about them again.”
She also tweeted that “doxxing, stalking, trying to hurt and smear ppl’s love[d] ones, threatening them, it’s not ok in any situation.”
She later did an interview with “Pod Save America” to explain that online harassment was a “tool to silence people, especially women… for speaking out.”
And yet, Lorenz seems to lack the kind of self-awareness needed to realize that she did the exact same thing to another woman, while also pointing out that the Libs of TikTok creator is an Orthodox Jew, as if that had anything to do with anything.
The Libs of TikTok creator said that since Lorenz’s story hit the Web she has received threats and that she has had to move from her home to a safe location. Just as bad, a woman in Los Angeles who shares the name of the creator has had her home location exposed and she and her family are receiving death threats.
Those who have criticized Lorenz have also been met with online vitriol despite the fact that Lorenz doesn’t have a spotless journalistic reputation. She has, for example, called the U.S. a “trash country” when discussing healthcare.
Yet Taylor Lorenz has again positioned herself as the victim. Libs of TikTok reposted a screenshot of Lorenz’s tweet that said, “The amount of insane stuff that’s happened over the last 24hrs has been unbelievable. It’s eye opening to see how sophisticated & vicious these coordinated attacks have become. I’m grateful to work at a company that takes these issues seriously and is supportive. I’m doing great!”
Libs of TikTok sarcastically responded, “Taylor Lorenz, who had millions of Bezos dollars behind her and coordinated with leftist media to dox a private citizen, is the real victim here.”
The hypocrisy is so layered that it stands to list it out. The Washington Post, one of the largest newspapers in the world, owned by the world’s second-wealthiest man, unleashed its power to dox and smear a private citizen for running a Twitter account that posted already available videos of liberals talking about their views. Both the Post and Lorenz claimed that this Twitter user was a “powerful” force who was shaping discussion of issues when, in reality, she is an everyday person and they are the ones with the power and the platform to shape discourse and ruin lives. Lorenz has repeatedly complained about doxxing and harassment of her and her loved ones yet engaged in the behavior herself.
What this shows is that those on the left are either oblivious to the fact that they create a double standard, or they know what they do and are attempting to gaslight the rest of us. The media cartel smeared a single Twitter user as though she controlled conservatives and had engaged in an anti-LGBT mission of hate when really all she did was expose their own views and behavior.
The message they sent was clear: Be quiet or face the might of the woke powers that be. This was a message, not just to this one user, but to all of us not to expose them, not to make them look like exactly what they are. Just look at what the establishment did to David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood. This is intimidation of the servant class while the elite set the standard for what can and can’t be said. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, or even public or not.
Journalists see themselves as a special and protected class, free to launch allegations and expose private citizens without fear of criticism or consequence. Instead of holding the powerful accountable, as they once did, the media wants to hold the power, the power to control the flow of information, which is why they engage in intimidation tactics and censorship. Whoever controls the information controls the narrative and helps shape public opinion. It isn’t just newspapers or broadcast networks, but also social networks and governments, both foreign and domestic.
Thankfully, this particular Twitter user won’t be intimidated. She recently told Fox’s Tucker Carlson, “I think that what I’m doing is very effective, and I think that a lot of people wanted to shut me down. They wanted to intimidate me into silence. And unfortunately for them, that’s just never gonna happen.”
Unfortunately, engaging in the debate on many issues comes with risk today. Not simply the risk that some won’t like you or your views, but that you could be smeared, doxxed, or investigated. Bravo to this user for standing strong in the face of a well-coordinated attack.
