Episode 63: Isn't It Ironic?

TRANSCRIPT OF “ISN’T IT IRONIC?”

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MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

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LAURA [00:20]
Hello friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast about Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

Candace Owens is an absolute shit show.

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community but I am not the only voice.

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LAURA [01:41]
Have you seen it? The video of Candace Owens calling an ad featuring a disabled woman “stupid,” and asking how far we’re going to take inclusivity?

Calling Owens a bitch seems too kind. I mean, I call my friends and loved ones bitches. No, Owens is more of a See You Next Tuesday.

I hesitated to make this episode because I’m not keen on drawing MORE attention to Candace Owens. I don’t want to give her more time or bandwidth. I have no trouble envisioning her in some GOP-funded lair (probably underground) with her hands steepled under her chin, giving her best evil villain laugh every time someone stitches her video or mentions her on social media. To be honest, I’m not entirely convinced she believes everything she says, only that she knows it will resonate with the other shit shows who give her her much-desired attention fix.

But, let’s back up.

Skims is Kim Kardashian’s brand of underwear, shapewear, and loungewear. Far be it from me to EVER praise a Kardashian, but Skims recently released an adaptive collection for customers with limited mobility, and that’s a very good thing. The collection is small, featuring only four pieces (a bralette and three styles of underwear), but we’ve all got to start somewhere. Each piece features hook-and-eye closures to make dressing and undressing easier. And, shocker of shockers, they’re not exorbitantly priced. The pieces in the collection range from 18 to 32 dollars. 

In a recent episode of her podcast, Candace Owens attacked the collection’s campaign (although seemingly not the collection itself, which is confusing), with bon mots such as, “I really don’t understand how far we’re going to take this inclusivity thing” and “[A model in a wheelchair] is ridiculous.”

The irony here is incredibly thick. Owens is a black woman, and not that long ago, historically speaking, the inclusion of someone who looks like her would have been seen as ridiculous. A black model? Scandalous! A woman on television? Salacious! Does she hear herself and actually realize what she’s saying?

I imagine that, yes, she does, and she does it on purpose.

Here’s some more irony for you. In 2016, Owens launched an anti-bullying website after being bullied herself with racist threats growing up. I guess she decided she couldn’t beat them, so she might as well join them. I feel like the NICEST thing you can call Candace Owens is a bully. In an article about the launching of this website, Owens is quoted as saying, “We’re just trying to make people remember that they’re human.”

I guess she’s over seeing people as human?

From the way I understand it, Owens didn’t gain quite the notoriety she hoped from her website project. The website no longer exists. The URL redirects you to a survey site. So it seems she decided to jump on the conservative bandwagon and now she plays pied piper to racists and bigots in the GOP base.

Aside from being absolutely vile, a lot of what she says simply makes no sense. What’s ridiculous about a model using a wheelchair? Are models not allowed to sit down? Are wheelchair users not allowed to be attractive? What exactly is the problem? Or does her tiny brain short-circuit when she sees an image that she was not taught to associate with beauty?

It’s ironic, dontcha think? Because for most of history being black was ALSO not associated with beauty. Being white or at the very least light-skinned was the standard for attractiveness. And yet, there she is, an objectively attractive black woman appearing regularly on popular media. She doesn’t LOOK like a troll at all. But you know what they say about appearances.

Owens is talking herself into a hole. How long before she starts advocating for a return to racial segregation? How long until she talks herself out of a job? 

You know, just so we’re perfectly clear, Owens finds it ridiculous that there is a model in a wheelchair in an ad for ADAPTIVE clothing. She doesn’t understand why there is a disabled model in a campaign targeted towards disabled consumers. Sounds to me like more than anything she simply doesn’t understand marketing.

It’s a little too ironic that the Kardashians — who live and die by the notion of exclusivity — understand the importance of inclusivity more so than a member of a historically oppressed and underrepresented population.

Here’s how I see it: Candace Owens doesn’t ACTUALLY believe a lot of the crap she spews, but she’s so desperate to be accepted by the racists and bigots she was once bullied by, she’s willing to appeal to their lowest common denominator. She’s willing to bully other women, to bully other black people — among a host of others — in order to build herself up in the eyes of her audience. Essentially, she’s an overrated attention whore.

For the record, Candace, we’re going to take this “inclusivity thing” as far as it will go. Until everyone feels seen and represented.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

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