This past week’s news headlines highlighted stories such as major
sexual assault allegations and the House Republicans passing a dangerous tax plan, yet the College Republicans of UW-Madison chose to dedicate their “CR’s Newsflash” vlog about a tweet.
Not about one of the countless tweets made by President Trump irrationally insulting Kim Jong-un, threatening a nuclear war, or spewing blatantly false facts. No, the College Republicans chose to “report” on a tweet made by a former College Democrats of Wisconsin board member, Sarah Semrad, who resigned after taking responsibility and apologizing for said tweet. However, the College Republicans proceeded to inappropriately deride and personally attack Semrad, effectively using their position of influence to cyberbully a fellow student.
This is a prime example illustrating where the CR’s priorities lie, as bullying someone is not reporting news whatsoever. It’s one thing to address her resignation, however the two news anchorwomen shamelessly laughed at her expense stating “Shoot, sounds like her boyfriend prospects might be dwindling” and “maybe her job prospects too.”
Sarah Semrad is a dedicated and intelligent leader and these comments are degrading and completely uncalled for. Talking about someone’s job or boyfriend prospects is simply not news. This is a classic case of cyberbullying and if the comments weren’t enough, the fake laughter that followed shows how malicious it was intended to be.
The video is childish and a horrible abuse of power. College Republicans are supposed to be representatives of a national political party and their juvenile actions make a mockery of it.
It is disheartening to hear two presumably intelligent women, members of the CR Executive Board, degrade another woman in politics by labeling her undesirable to men because of her actions. Their attacks perpetuate the stereotype that a woman’s only goal is to find a boyfriend or
please men in life. Equating her “boyfriend prospects” to her worth is demeaning and a sorry attempt to push yet another woman down.
Despite Democrats and Republicans disagreement on policy issues, it is of utmost importance to maintain a decent level of respect. The political divide is wider than ever and the College Republican’s pathetic attacks are a prime example of why it continues to grow. We are young professionals and must act like it, yet this video was the exact opposite of that. Their actions are completely inexcusable.
The College Republicans inability to discuss more hard-hitting issues in their vlog speaks to the larger problem seen nationally when Republicans, especially the president, avoid commenting on troubling news stories or admitting faults in the party and simply to stick to their political agenda. There is a reason why the CR’s Newsflash highlighted Al Franken but neglected to mention pedophiliac Republican candidate Roy Moore.
There is a reason they reported the Keystone pipeline leaked, but only gave their consolidations to “gas lovers” and fail to delve into the environmental repercussions the pipeline — which Republicans fought for — will have. The CR’s seemingly surrendered their integrity to stick to the party narrative. Their silence is deafening.
The Newsflash video is far more problematic than it originally appears. The two anchorwomen fail to report concrete news by omitting relevant stories and facts that do not fit the picture they attempt to paint.
Moreover, they blatantly bully a fellow student for a tweet and parade the video around like it’s news. Red flags were raised as soon as their party began holding a college student more accountable to a tweet than the President of the United States.
Claudia Koechell is the Press Secretary of the College Democrats of UW-Madison. Did you see the College Republicans’ Newsflash video? What are your thoughts? Send any comments to our email opinions@dailycardinal.com.
