Screencap of Audra Shay's Facebook page
Last week, the Young Republicans got into a dustup over yet another Facebook flap. This spring, we discussed how Facebook derailed an NDP candidate to provincial office in British Columbia, when the BC-Liberal opposition got wind of “racy” photos posted. In this incident, there’s differing opinions which are arguably representations of fragmentation in the Republican Party. According to the DailyBeast, it started with Audra Shay, vice chairman of the Young Republicans hosting a discussion on Wal*Mart endorsing Barack Obama’s health care plan. Things unravelled when an “Eric S. Piker” made racially charged comments using the word “coon,” another ThickCulture topic from the spring {See above}. Audra agreed with the statements, adding a LOL.
Subsequently, there were others criticizing these remarks, Cassie Wallender {a national committeewoman from the Washington Young Republican Federation} and Sean Connor {chairman of the D.C. Young Republicans}. While these critics were “de-friended” by Audra, “Piker,” for the time being, remained a “friend.” On Thursday, a black Republican activist, Lenny McAllister condemned these remarks and prior statements by Shay::
McAllister references a culture war going on in the Republican Party and regarding the racially charged remarks going around, he stated “You can cover cyanide with chocolate, but you still can’t call it candy.”
Her own recounting of the events, possible unaware of the screencap, paint a different picture of the events. In her statement on 3 July, Shay went on to denounce the remarks and attributed the dustup to her political enemies capitalizing on an opportunity. Irreparable damage may have already been done, as her upcoming bid to be Young Republican chairman may have been derailed.
I’m not going to engage in any admonishing finger-waving on the dangers of social media, a bete-noire of mine. I think this is beyond a matter of “political correctness” or freedom of speech issues and do reflect a growing divide between moderates and a more divisive fringe. Indicative of this is how moderates are often criticized as being RINOs, Republicans-in-name-only, who are not sufficiently conservative. The RINO label was thrown at Wallender by Shay supporters after her criticism of the racial remarks. In order for Republicans to move forward, they will have to deal with these issues head-on. Will they use social media to do this?
Twitterversion:: #YoungRepublican schism over racially-charged #Facebook flap. Indicative of a larger #CultureWar within the party? @Prof_K
Song:: Space Oddity (1990 Digital Remaster) – David Bowie
