Latest news with #liberal
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Ron Howard didn't write 'I'm a liberal' letter
Claim: Director Ron Howard authored a letter starting, "I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does." Rating: Since 2018, an open letter listing examples of what it means to be "a liberal" has circulated online. Many internet users attributed the letter to actor and director Ron Howard, often including a photo of Howard in posts sharing the text. The letter, which is around 1,300 words, began as follows: I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines: The remainder of the letter consists of 16 numbered points describing the author's beliefs. Various social media (archived) and blog (archived) posts have attributed the letter to Howard over the years. In July 2025, multiple posts on Facebook featured the claim. (Facebook user Dan Walters) As we reported when we first looked into the text's origins in 2020, Howard was not the real author of the letter. Instead, the words were the work of novelist Lori Gallagher Witt. As a result, we rated the letter as misattributed. Witt first posted the letter on her Facebook (archived) and Tumblr (archived) accounts on Jan. 7, 2018. A screenshot of her original Facebook post is below. (Due to the letter's length, we split the screenshot into two roughly equal halves that appear side by side.) (Lori Gallagher Witt) Witt's original letter included a longer introduction than the version that circulated in 2025. The original version opened as follows: An open letter to friends and family who are/were shocked to discover I'm a liberal… This is going to be VERY long, so: TL;DR: I'm a liberal, I've always been a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Some of you suspected. Some of you were shocked. Many of you have known me for years, even the majority of my life. We either steadfastly avoided political topics, or I carefully steered conversations away from the more incendiary subjects in the name of keeping the peace. "I'm a liberal" isn't really something you broadcast in social circles where "the liberals" can't be said without wrinkling one's nose. But then the 2016 election happened, and staying quiet wasn't an option anymore. Since then, I've received no shortage of emails and comments from people who were shocked, horrified, disappointed, disgusted, or otherwise displeased to realize I am *wrinkles nose* a liberal. Yep. I'm one of those bleeding heart commies who hates anyone who's white, straight, or conservative, and who wants the government to dictate everything you do while taking your money and giving it to people who don't work. Or am I? Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: Not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines. The Facebook post's edit history showed that on Feb. 2, 2018, around a month after she originally published the letter, Witt added a notice reading "(c) 2018 Lori Gallagher Witt. Feel free to share, but please give me credit, and if you add or change anything, please note accordingly." A similar notice also appeared at the bottom of her Tumblr post. In an email to Snopes in February 2025, Witt said she was inspired to write the letter not because of a single event but because she believed her social circle did not understand her beliefs. She said: It had been brewing in my head for a while, especially because I have/had a lot of conservative friends and relatives who would often parrot things about "those liberals." There was a lot of comments about how we "hate America," we're communists, we want to destroy everything, etc. It was this really vile and disingenuous picture of who and what we are, and I felt the need to set the record straight. I genuinely had no idea it would resonate with that many people or that it would go viral. How the misattribution spread The letter's misattribution to Howard began in 2020, when, as Witt explained in a Facebook post, someone named Ron Howard — no relation to the director — shared her post without attribution. That person eventually corrected his post to note Witt as the text's author after she reached out to him. But by that point, other internet users had already begun sharing the letter with the name "Ron Howard" attached. Since then, Witt has posted numerous times about her frustration with the persistence of the misattribution, which she has dubbed "the Howarding." In 2025, Witt posted a photo of Howard holding a poster with images of social media posts containing the letter and a line reading "I didn't write this" with a checkmark and Howard's signature next to it. Witt said over email that the photo was from Howard's April 2025 appearance at Pittsburgh's Steel City Con, and that her husband had brought the poster for Howard to sign and pose with. As of this writing, readers have shared Witt's original 2018 Facebook post around 30,000 times. By contrast, a Feb. 9, 2025, post that incorrectly attributed the words to Howard amassed more than 100,000 shares — more than three times as many as Witt's original post — in just a few days. Witt said although Howard was by far the person she's most frequently seen miscredited with the letter's authorship, she's experienced other people attempting to take credit for — and even make money off — her words in the past. "I could live with a post going viral and getting separated from my name, but I draw the line when people try to monetize it or otherwise use it to elevate themselves," she said. Witt also said she believed a connection between Howard and U.S. Vice President JD Vance may have spurred renewed interest in the misattributed letter. In 2020, Howard directed and produced the film adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance's 2016 memoir. We've previously looked into other claims involving Howard. They included a rumor that a clip from the television show "Arrested Development" in which he appeared was proof the 1969 moon landing was fake. Evon, Dan. "Did Ron Howard Pen the 'I Am a Liberal' Essay?" Snopes, 31 Jan. 2020, ---. "Ron Howard Didn't Say That the 1969 Moon Landing Was Fake." Snopes, 31 Mar. 2016, Hillbilly Elegy. Directed by Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment, Netflix, 2020. Jr, Mike Fleming. "Ron Howard On His TIFF Film 'Eden', Viggo's 'Thirteen Lives' Comments, JD Vance Evolving Into Trump's Polarizing Veep Candidate, And How Being Changeable Has Sustained A 65-Year Career – The Deadline Q&A." Deadline, 7 Sept. 2024, Vance, J. D. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Reprint Ed. edition, Harper, 2016.
Washington Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
The antisemitism task force carrying out Trump's anti-DEI agenda
For years, conservatives have criticized American universities for being too woke, too liberal, and too focused on DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. These critiques were reignited when students on college campuses around the nation began holding pro-Palestinian protests as a response to the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. Under both the Biden and Trump administrations, these protests prompted concerns over increased antisemitic sentiments. Now, under the Trump administration, an internal government group, the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, has been created to address these concerns. Supporters of the task force say that it will help protect Jewish students and make campuses safer for them. Opponents say antisemitism is just a pretext used for pushing a more conservative agenda on U.S. universities. Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with education reporter Laura Meckler about The Post's investigation into the Trump administration's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, and how this group could fundamentally change the way universities are run in the United States. Today's show was produced by Sabby Robinson with help from Thomas Lu. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
New York Magazine writer encourages democrats to 'cut off' MAGA relatives
A liberal writer is encouraging fellow progressives to cut off family members who support Donald Trump. New York Magazine's Sarah Jones insists that going 'no contact' is the only way to deal with right wing family members. 'Sometimes the act of knowing a person leaves you with no choice but to move on without them,' Jones wrote. 'If my parents liked Alligator Alcatraz, I'd no longer speak to them. 'If they were rude to my LGBT friends, I'd block their numbers. Though shunning won't work as a political strategy, there are still natural consequences for the way we speak and behave.' Her comments were a response to a guest essay by former Obama speech writer David Litt in The New York Times, in which he advocated for reaching across the aisle when it comes to families with opposing political views. Jones said she hails from a conservative family and suggested this has been a source of contention. 'I come from a conservative family and a conservative place, and I nurture my pain like it's a small pet,' she wrote. 'But I speak to my family and sometimes I even go home to see them.' She shared a link to her article on Friday on X with the caption: 'Should you cut off your MAGA relatives? That's up to you, in the end, but I think it's a perfectly reasonable choice to make.' In the piece she cited a study by marketing firm The Harris Poll which found that half of American adults are estranged from a relative, with one in five citing political differences as the reason why. This is a phenomenon which has been exacerbated since Trump returned to office, according to Jones. Her views are in contrast to Litt who talked about how he connected with his anti-Covid vaccine, Joe Rogan loving brother-in-law over their love of surfing after previously keeping his distance. 'Shunning plays into the hands of demagogues, making it easier for them to divide us and even, in some cases, to incite violence,' Litt wrote. However this approach was slammed by Jones as, 'so naïve it borders on malice'. Jones' stance was condemned by social media users who flooded her post to express their disagreement. 'Seriously, the only one that would be hurt over time in this situation is you,' one person wrote. 'Putting politics before family and not being able to take the high road says that you're unable to be neutral and keep the peace. Just agree to not talk politics and be civil with friends and family.' 'Dear Sarah, LMAO, how arrogant! You keep cutting people off, soon you will have no one. Good Luck! Laughing at you!' another added. 'Sounds like they are better off without you. Disregard everything they ever did for you in a snap, what a great person you must be,' a third person agreed. However, Jones is not the only progressive to advocate such drastic action. MSNBC's Joy Reid previously interviewed a Yale psychiatrist that it's fine to disown family members who voted for Trump. Dr. Amanda Calhoun, a child psychiatry fellow at the Ivy league school, made the comments during an interview on Reid's show The Reid Out last at the end of last year, while discussing coping strategies for people upset by Trump's election win. 'There is a societal norm that if somebody is your family that they are entitled to your time and I think the answer is absolutely not,' Calhoun said.
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
No, Glastonbury does not reflect a new England
John Harris paints Glastonbury as a reflection of England's liberal heart, but let's not kid ourselves (At Glastonbury, I saw what England's silent majority really looks like. Why aren't politicians listening?, 13 July). Glastonbury might be progressive in spirit, but it's also pricey, exclusive and overwhelmingly middle class. Tickets sell out in minutes. Getting there costs a fortune. That's not the everyday Britain most people live in. Yes, millions of people in this country care about fairness, climate and compassion. But many are too exhausted to believe politics will ever work for them. They're not watching headline sets. They're dealing with rent hikes and bills they can't pay. Glastonbury is a great vibe, but not the voice of the silent majority. To find that, the left needs to look somewhere less BerryLiverpool We need a Bob (as demonstrated by Band Aid and Live 8), someone who can harness the power of the silent, stifled majority; someone who would shout loud enough to be noticed, who would point out the divisive hatred and hypocrisy of Nigel Farage. Someone to talk sense and act sensibly on climate change, migration and child poverty in this country. Someone to give us hope. We can, and did, vote for the Greens, Liberal Democrats and independents recently in the council elections, but by splitting the vote we allowed Reform in the back door. So where's our Bob? We need Kerry Belper, Derbyshire John Harris seems to believe that people he met at Glastonbury are representative of a new England. No, John, they are representative of a self-selected group attending an overhyped music festival, and no more representative of England than members of the MCC at Lord' HarrisPoundon, Oxfordshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
South Korea's new president vows to 'restore democracy'
South Korea's new liberal president, Lee Jae-myung, pledged on Wednesday (June 4) to revive the economy and raise the country from the near destruction of democracy he says was caused by his predecessor's bid to institute martial law.
