MSNBC Anchor Protests Texas Abortion Bill By Sporting Tampon Earrings
In what could only be MSNBC's latest attempt to gain attention, host Melissa Harris-Perry adorned her ears with tampon earrings in a weak attempt to show support for protesters of Texas's 20-week abortion-ban.
"My producer Lorena made for me, last week, some tampon earrings," boasted Harris-Perry as she placed them onto her ears. She explained her protest by stating she chose to sport her new jewelry "Because, of course, you'll remember the Texas state legislature said you could not bring tampons in when they were going, these women, to in fact stand up for their own reproductive rights. You weren't allowed to, initially, to bring tampons."
Well, I hate to point out the obvious (okay, not really), but Harris-Perry's protest is a little ridiculous — not because she is supporting protesters, but rather because tampons were removed from the state capitol due to legitimate concern over the protesters using them to harass the lawmakers. She is protesting a temporary policy made by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) explicitly in response to disrespectful activities engaged in by the people that she is supposedly supporting.
As many would reasonably ask, why in the world would the DPS outlaw tampons?
During the political protests that occurred inside of the Texas capitol, DPS was concerned that the protesters would throw items into the gallery to illustrate their opposition to the proposed laws. Normally, this worry would be overly precautious, but considering the fact that DPS confiscated one jar of suspected urine, 18 jars of feces, three bottles of paint, and a large number of feminine hygiene products, glitter, and confetti — concern over abuse of these products to harass lawmakers is an entirely legitimate worry.
If the protesters had not attempted to bring in all of these items, then tampons would never have been confiscated upon entry. It was not a permanent ban; it was simply used and instituted temporarily to avoid unnecessary attempts to interfere with Texas' governmental process. I would guess that air horns would be viewed in a similar fashion.
Protesters who intended to throw feces on lawmakers or tampons at them clearly do not respect the system. Tossing a urine-feces cocktail at lawmakers does not stop them from voting. Apparently, if you cannot achieve your political goals via our system of government, you can and should throw things at lawmakers to try to bully them into voting the way that you want.
Harris-Perry's choice to wear tampon earrings was fashionable and all, but she distorted the purpose of the ban to make it sound like Texas is mistreating female protesters, which is not the case. Unfortunately, for those who really do wish to fight against the ban, the narrative has been hijacked by irrelevant red herrings like this.
These tampon earrings did nothing to explain the reason behind the ban and also distracted viewers from the serious abortion-ban protesters who are working against the new law through the proper channels. If Harris-Perry wants to support the protests, then support the ones that aren't outraged over a ban on items that were intended to be thrown at lawmakers.
To MSNBC's credit, at least websites that are covering the story are talking about something other than the network's decline in ratings.
This, my friends, did nothing. Except to maybe get MSNBC some much-needed attention.
Watch the clip below:
