Israel is preparing to invade Gaza. The president has admitted that there is a “humanitarian crisis” on the southern border. The Internal Revenue Service’s Lois Lerner may have sought to hide documents from congressional investigators. VA whistleblowers testified that they were intimidated and targeted for retaliation by their superiors. And if all of that substantive news isn’t really your thing, LeBron James did something or other today, too.

It is with that backdrop that this painfully silly segment on CNN becomes even more obscenely ridiculous.

On Friday, CNN anchor Don Lemon hosted a heated debate over whether white gay men are “stealing” black female culture. This critically important topic of paramount relevance was brought to you by Time , which did the world a favor by republishing an op-ed in a University of Mississippi newspaper penned by a student.

Here is an excerpt from University of Mississippi senior Sierra Mannie’s piece:

What I do know is that I don’t care how well you can quote Madea, who told you that your booty was getting bigger than hers, how cute you think it is to call yourself a strong black woman, who taught you to twerk, how funny you think it is to call yourself Quita or Keisha or for which black male you’ve been bottoming — you are not a black woman, and you do not get to claim either blackness or womanhood. It is not yours. It is not for you.

And to think that it was just last week when we were all one nation watching soccer together. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Fortunately, CNN made everything worse on Friday when the network erected an altar to the church of the self where the religion of identity was celebrated in a manner fundamentally incongruous with comity or mutual understanding (h/t @MeredithDake.

You don’t have to watch the segment if you don’t want to. Believe me, I understand. The bottom line is that both of these two guests resent each other because they believe the other is encroaching on and adopting aspects of the other’s sacred identity.

These people appear to be young, and it is possible that no one has yet told them to get over themselves. It is coming. Try to be patient with them in the meantime.