cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40818945
25 Dec 2025 18:45 GMT
Backlash is growing after the New York Post described prominent children’s content creator Ms Rachel as a “controversial YouTube star” following her appointment to New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural committee, a label critics say reflects a broader effort to stigmatise pro-Palestine speech.
Parents and activists online pushed back sharply, arguing that opposing the killing of children is a basic humanitarian stance, not a controversial opinion. At the same time, Mamdani has drawn support from progressives for assembling an inauguration slate that openly reflects the coalition that powered his election victory.
“Controversial” here seems like a basic statement of fact. One might think that she ought not to be controversial, but she is.
This is like letting bigots define sexuality or gender as “political”, thus putting them in a category of something that is debatable, and of something that is “problematic” to discuss at times of their choosing. And just like a person’s right to be who they are is not “political”, neither is Ms Rachel “controversial” just because she is the target of a smear campaign.