January 6, 2021 was a dark day in American history.
A horde of armed white insurgents stormed the Capitol Building in an attempted coup, trying to overturn the election results.
Duggar friend and Bringing Up Bates star Lawson Bates was part of a pro-Trump mob in DC on that horrifying day.
Now, fans are demanding the cancelation of Bringing Up Bates … unless they want to continue giving a platform to anti-American extremist.
Lawson Bates was a willing participant in a grim, anti-democracy demonstration that sought to pressure the Congress of the United States to overturn the election results and the will of the American people.
While America rejoices that these traitors — from the vicious crowds outside to the monsters that stormed the Capitol — failed, that is simply not enough.
People want to see Lawson fired. Others, seeing that he is not the only member of the family who supported this coup, want the whole show off the air.
Lawson has responded to criticisms and to calls to fire him with snide remarks and a pretty empty defense.
“I’m sorry you haven’t done your research,” he began, dripping with insincerety, after one call for his firing. “Or maybe you have, and just don’t like the truth.”
“But,” Lawson insisted, “this was a peaceful public event at the Ellipse, and not at the Capitol buildings.”
“We were not there and have ALWAYS roundly condemned violence, as we still do,” Lawson claimed.
As you can see in the screenshot below, he posted a series of tweets along those same lines.
More than once, he referred to how he always opposes “riots,” a clear dogwhistle to followers that he condemns the 93% peaceful historic Black Lives Matter protests from last summer, if not in so many words.
Lawson and his defenders are so quick to cite the First Amendment when it comes to this criticism.
It’s funny, since the First is an Amendment that they despise when it gets in the way of Christian Dominionism. (They would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that pesky Establishment Clause!)
However, since Lawson did not directly trespass into the Capitol building or beat any DC police to death, nobody’s talking about legal consequences — just professional ones.
The First Amendment does give Lawson the right to peacefully assemble and express his views, even if they are vile and anti-American and in support of a fascist lunatic.
It does not, however, shield him from the natural consequences of that speech.
In this case, that viewers and advertisers — even those morbidly curious enough to have other interests in the Bates family — do not wish to support him any longer.
As for his defense — that he was not actually one of the insurgents who stormed Capitol Hill — some aren’t really satisfied with that.
First of all, a getaway driver might not personally be armed or charge into a bank or emerge with armfulls of money, but that argument won’t really fly in court.
Though American law in many instances holds accomplices accountable for crimes that they did not realize would take place, Lawson likely isn’t legally responsible for what happened. But morally? Some argue that he and those with him were participants in the attack by proxy.
Less disputably, Lawson was there to attempt to pressure Congress to overturn the election results. That is, plain and simple, not okay.
Either he believes that the election was fraudulent, in which case he is disconnected from reality and a bad person …
… Or, he’s an opportunist using debunked claims to further his political agenda, in which case he’s just a bad person.
Either way, fans are fully justified in their outrage towards Lawson Bates and any family who defend him.
America needs to heal, but that cannot happen until this infection of frothing-at-the-mouth white nationalism, Christian Dominionism, and not-so-subtle fascism is taken care of.
We tolerate this kind of evil at our own peril. The world can do without Bringing Up Bates … and any other reality show whose stars are anti-American traitors.