{"id":74411,"date":"2024-09-26T13:15:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T17:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=74411"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:56:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:56:25","slug":"no-women-should-not-shut-up-just-because-their-opinions-challenge-your-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/no-women-should-not-shut-up-just-because-their-opinions-challenge-your-own\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Women Should Not Shut Up Just Because Their Opinions Challenge Your Own"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Singer Chappell Roan, pictured here, will vote for Kamala Harris on Election Day. But she won’t do so silently – nor should she. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For better or worse, when pop stars talk, people tend to listen<\/a>. So when singer Chappell Roan recently declined to endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris<\/a> in this year\u2019s presidential election, the news spread quickly \u2013 and a backlash soon followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roan\u2019s reluctance to back Harris is born of perceived \u201cproblems on both sides\u201d of American politics that give her pause, she says. She added, during the interview with The Guardian<\/a> that started this all, that \u201cthere are so many things that I would want to change, so I don\u2019t feel pressured to endorse someone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not the first time she\u2019s had less-than-glowing remarks to offer about members of the Democratic party. In June<\/a>, she revealed that she turned down President Joe Biden\u2019s invitation to perform at the White House. \u201cWe want liberty, justice and freedom for all,\u201d she said at the time, citing concerns around transgender Americans\u2019 eroding rights<\/a>, and American funding<\/a> of Israeli military operations, as some of her specific pain points. \u201cWhen you do that, that\u2019s when I\u2019ll come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to Roan\u2019s reluctance to endorse, Harris supporters took to social media<\/a> to call her names, to call her a covert Republican, to call her plain stupid. The outcry lasted long enough, and was consistent enough in nature, that Roan then took to TikTok<\/a> this week to clarify some points. No, she will not be voting for Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump on Election Day \u2013 she will, indeed, cast her ballot for Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she won\u2019t be stumping for her anytime soon, Roan added \u2013 she still has too many concerns, and she\u2019s \u201cnot settling for what has been offered.\u201d Roan clarified that \u201cI think it\u2019s important for me to question authority, and question world leaders, and question myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this not her right? Not just her right \u2013 her responsibility as a concerned citizen? Is this truly behavior and thought and engagement with electoral politics that we wish to discourage, especially in younger generations? Do we really think the best course of action to guide us to a better day \u2026 is to tell young women with strong opinions to shut up? To belittle their intelligence, simply because their points and perspectives challenge our own?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"Michelle\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n DNC’s Most Powerful Lesson:\u00a0 \u2018When They Go Low,\u2019 People Must Fight Back\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Perhaps such dissent and complaints will be better received from an older person. So let me say, as someone 15 years Roan\u2019s senior, that I am not entirely pleased with Harris either, or with the Democratic Party. For example, I\u2019ve no love for the hawkish linguistic notes making their way into her campaign speeches \u2013 no, I actually don’t want the \u201cstrongest, most lethal fighting force<\/a> in the world,\u201d and I am, frankly, dismayed at desire for such a thing. And, I am distressed by the broader party\u2019s shift away from platform items such as, say, abolition of the death penalty<\/a> \u2013 an anger I feel especially keenly this week, in the wake of the unjust death of Marcellus Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, will you just tell me to shut up, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look. I, like Roan, understand that the alternative to Harris is the man who appointed most of the judges<\/a> that let Williams die, despite mounting evidence of innocence \u2013 the same judges that gleefully ushered the fall of Roe v. Wade<\/a>. A man who offers protection<\/a> to women while hiding from viable accusations<\/a> of (and court settlements<\/a> confirming) sexual harassment and assault. A man who would bring about changes<\/a> to the laws of the land that would erode our rights and alter the very fabric of our democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one of the main reasons he\u2019s been buoyed to the levels of prominence and power that he now enjoys is that he leads a group of zealots \u2013 each one happy to follow him, Pied-Piper style, off a cliff, inevitably dragging us along for the plummet. They refuse to refute him<\/a> – or if they once did, they take it back<\/a> as soon as it’s personally or politically advantageous<\/a> to do so. A fear response from his base to the prospect of a tomorrow that doesn\u2019t center them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ethos cannot win \u2013 in any sense. One should vote, and one should do so guided by their moral compass, with eyes trained on horizons beyond their own. But our ballots should be cast with the expectation that the recipients of our votes will be ready to do some serious listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, speaking up is how we have Harris as a candidate at all. Remember that after Biden\u2019s disastrous debate performance in June, a groundswell<\/a> quickly emerged calling for his ouster as the Democratic candidate. And in those first days, an equal and opposite reaction<\/a> sprouted up to shut down those who wanted Biden replaced \u2013 a fear response of its own, to the prospect of another Trump term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, the shift was made to Harris in July, and a sense of hope<\/a> reverberated throughout the political left. The joy was tangible \u2013 and that joy was fought for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because to argue, to protest, to shout what you believe, is to fight for what you love, for who you love, and for what you believe in. (Even if, for those backing a cheat and abuser for POTUS, what they love and believe in is themselves, and an imagined past.) And most times, one fights with the intent to win \u2013 it\u2019s an expression of hope, really, to fight. Hope that a voice might be heard, a heart might be turned. That the person before the fighter will see the damn light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear is a tool used by the Trumps of the world to squash opposition for personal gain. It cannot become progressives\u2019 raison d’\u00eatre<\/em> to do the same, even if the motivations are more altruistic \u2013 and certainly not at the expense of women\u2019s voices. ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"Taylor-Swift-Kamala-Harris-Election-2024\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Taylor Swift Endorsed Kamala Harris \u2013 And Yes, It Could Actually Matter\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chappell Roan came under fire for not endorsing Kamala Harris. Shouting down young women with genuine concerns isn\u2019t a flex of progressive solidarity, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":74419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[21326,19637,19645,19715,19682],"class_list":["post-74411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-dissent-in-democracy","tag-election-2024","tag-opinion","tag-political-engagement","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRead about Chappell Roan, Kamala Harris, Election 2024<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OP-ED: Chappell Roan came under fire for not endorsing Kamala Harris. 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