﻿

The left is incensed at Hip-Hop artist Kanye West. They’re about as mad as a priest who just caught someone spitting on the crucifix. This is not an exaggeration. Over the past week, the internet has been set ablaze by people fervently attacking – or for some, defending – the artist. Several online media outlets have mobilized their forces to combat West’s apparent blasphemy.

Here are some of the headlines:

Hot New Hip Hop – “Kanye West’s Team Reportedly Concerned For His Mental Health”

The Washington Post – “How Kanye West became an alt-right darling”

PopSugar – “Kanye West’s Return to Twitter Was Glorious — Until He Decided to Become a Hero For the Far Right”

The Washington Post – “Kanye West fell for the worst black Republican sales pitch there is. Here’s why”

Kanye West, who is no stranger to controversy, appears to have committed a cardinal sin against the Church of Leftism. How? He expressed conservative ideas.

Kanye West’s Conservative Crimes

It all started with conservative YouTube personality Candace Owens — AKA RedPillBlack. She tweeted about a video of a recent speech she gave at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA):

“Black Lives Matter protesters showed up to my @UCLAevent to protest. Here is a video clip of me smacking them down with the truth; they’re a bunch of whiny toddlers, pretending to be oppressed for attention.”

When confronting the members of Black Lives Matter at her speech, she said “What is happening right now in the black community — there is an ideological civil war happening. Black people that are focused on their past and shouting about slavery, and black people that are focused on their futures, okay? That’s what it really comes down to.”

Kanye West had the unmitigated gall to express his support for Owens. He tweeted: “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.”

Little did he know; those seven words would ignite a social media firestorm. To make matters worse, he posted a series of tweets slamming the “thought police” of the left. He even lashed out against the Democrats’ message of victimhood. “Self-victimization is a disease,” West tweeted. He also stated that he appreciates Owens for challenging “conventional black thought.”

But he didn’t stop there. He also appeared on “Ebro in the Morning,” a radio show. While speaking with the host, he stated: “I do love Donald Trump.” He also criticized former President Barack Obama. He said he “reached out to Obama for years and couldn’t get anything done, but Trump gave me a meeting.”

Uh oh. He committed another cardinal sin: criticizing Obama. For those of you who don’t know, for many on the left, a black person criticizing Obama is like a U.S. Marine joining ISIS. It is deserving of the harshest punishment the left can inflict.

The Blowback Against Kanye West

As you might imagine, Kanye West has become one of the left’s primary targets. However, even some conservatives have criticized the artist. The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro wrote, “Kanye West is the same fellow who once accused George W. Bush of targeting black people during Hurricane Katrina.”

Shapiro goes on to state that West “is not a thought leader.” He slammed conservatives for celebrating the fact that a famous celebrity expressed ideas similar to theirs. However, as much as I love Ben Shapiro, he’s wrong.

West did not claim that President Bush targeted blacks, but he did say that the former president did not “care about black people.” In 2010, the rapper apologized for his remarks in an interview with Matt Lauer. Moreover, West may not be a “thought leader” in the sense that Shapiro means, but when it comes to the black community, he has influence.

Compared to the left’s reaction, Shapiro’s comments were a compliment. The Washington Post published a piece claiming that West is somehow part of the alt-right. They contended that West could be just “another lost man seduced by the far right’s promise to provide a sense of purpose.”

The Root claimed that West had gone to “the sunken place,” which is a euphemistic way of saying that West is a black man who has been taken over by whites. Other left-wing publications spent time claiming that West’s mental health issues are to blame for his recent statements.

Kanye West Makes the Left Afraid

Don’t be fooled, dear reader. The left isn’t reacting this way because they are concerned about West’s mental health. They don’t believe that he has been seduced by whites — although that is a common claim they make about minorities who reject their views.

The left is afraid. And rightly so.

Kanye West is not a YouTube personality. He can’t be demonetized, dismissed, or mocked into oblivion. He’s not old and irrelevant. He is one of the most famous rappers on the planet. He is dangerous, and the left knows it.

West is not the only rapper to express conservative ideas — indeed, many artists rap about entrepreneurship and self-reliance. However, West decided to make some of his views public on social media, where they cannot be missed, or lost in a dope beat, and this frightens many on the left.