Now that he’s finished handing every Thunder player, staffer, and groupie their own championship keys to the city, OKC Mayor David “McSelfie” Holt has found a new way to get himself noticed and invited onto the cable news circuit – declaring his wokeness via a "guest essay" in the NY Times!
Yep, that’s right. Mayor McSelfie – a life-long Republican – has gone full McWokie, and instead of demonizing and degenerating diversity like GOP politicians are supposed to do, he’s actually embracing it!
In addition to that, he also called out 90% of Oklahoma Republicans, essentially labeling their anti-diversity leanings as “repackaged bigotry, misogyny, and racism.”
As residents of a purple city in a red state, we’ve been hearing a lot of talk that portrays the drive for equal opportunity as a form of reverse discrimination, that says we should not celebrate greater diversity as evidence that we have expanded opportunity or even that we should not support L.G.B.T.Q. Pride or other celebrations of our residents’ unique identities.
Sometimes this language is cloaked in patriotism, but it is really just repackaged bigotry, misogyny and racism. To cast equal opportunity as a threat rather than a goal is to move backward.
I usually like to give Holt a hard time for his attention-seeking antics, his tendency to dodge accountability, and the blatant kowtowing he does for the ruling elites, but I’ll give him a rare TLO Attaboy for that one.
First of all, it’s nice to see someone attempt to refute the stereotype that all Oklahomans are bigoted, reactionary mouthbreathers who genuinely think diversity equates to reverse discrimination. I don’t know if this puts a dent in it, but at least he tried.
Second, he actually brings up some decent points. Thanks to the puritanical culture war being fought by the Intolerant Crazy Woke Left and the Intolerant Crazy Nutjob Right, diversity's meaning and justification have been blurred. Holt at least tried to bring it back into focus.
Although I applaud Holt for going political kamikaze and essentially destroying what’s left of his Republican career in Oklahoma, you do have to wonder what he’s trying to accomplish.
For example, it’s not going to help refute the rumor literally rolling around town that he’s secretly a woman. Via OKC Reddit:
Yikes. I guess I'm lucky Mayor McSelfie is a gender neutral nickname, huh?
Anyway, those are real words that a real person used real shoe polish to write onto the back of their truck. Although I’m sure Holt's wife, kids, and most voters assume he's a man, we do live in diverse times, so who knows – maybe he's been a woman this whole time! I guess that could explain his, her, or their fascination with pantsuits.
But getting back to the real question here, why is Holt suddenly sharing his diversity leanings?
Pretty much everything he does ties back to the Thunder, so they have to be involved, right?
The answer is yes.
Yep. The same week Holt celebrates diversity in the NY Times, the Thunder unveil new “City Edition” jerseys that celebrate our city and state’s diversity. And you know what? Nice! We live on Native land and gamble in Native casinos, so I fully endorse the Thunder embracing our diverse Native and indigenous cultures. Now look at me being all woke!
Although Holt’s editorial and the Thunder jersey drop may connect in some way, I think we all know the ultimate reason why he wrote the essay – to get on cable news!
While embracing diversity – which is good – may get Mayor McSelfie excommunicated from the Oklahoma Republican Party, it’s making him a star on the national media circuit, landing him spots on CNN, MSNBC, and whoever else asks.
It makes you wonder – is David Holt basically just a woke Ryan Walters? A self-serving political grifter who – although he says the right things and projects a positive image – still uses public office, taxpayer dollars and allied-business interests (a.k.a. the Thunder) as a stepping stone to boost his brand, polish his image, and pad his future net worth?
Hehe. Just kidding. He's not a right-wing bigot who's trying to destroy our state's public education system under the ruse of combating diversity so we can look past it.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
