Whilst perusing Facebook over the past week, I’ve been struck by the huge number of postings about the country music song “Try That in a Small Town” and the movie “The Sound of Freedom.”

There is much controversy both have brought to public discourse, and it makes me sad. We Americans in the last couple of decades have demonstrated a nasty habit of getting really geeked up about issues that don’t actually matter. Meanwhile, we seem to ignore matters that deserve our undivided attention.

I hear tell a lot of people who like and defend Jason Aldean’s country song from criticisms it is racist, homophobic and full of hatred, have essentially insisted those Libtards suck it up. They cite “It’s a free country” and Aldean is entitled to his opinion, no matter how unpopular, because of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

I agree and I urge those who oppose the song not to buy it, to suck it up and move on because Mr. Aldean indeed is entitled to his opinion.

Yet at the same time, many of these Aldean defenders screamed the loudest against professional quarterback Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem, in protest over alleged police mishandling of black suspects. Can you spell hypocrisy?

Then comes “The Sound of Freedom,” which advocates say raises important awareness about sex trafficking of teens and even younger children. To be sure, the issue exists and should be handled appropriately by authorities, but there has been little or no evidence that these so-called case histories actually occurred. It almost smacks of the infamous “Satanic Panic” from the 1980s. The movie doesn’t qualify as a documentary without evidence and verification.

But for me, my greatest reason for rising my voice in righteous indignation is that we aren’t paying enough attention to the real bogeymen of our times — climate change, wealth inequality, continued racism, extremism on behalf of authoritarianism, alarming gun deaths statistics and the reluctance of people to work together to solve problems.

At the same time we’re being sidetracked by nonsense bickering over the removal of Aunt Jemima from a package syrup mix or bottle and the promotion of a transgender person the cover of Bud Light.

It was about 20 years ago that we collectively wasted a lot of time changing the name of French fries to freedom fries because the French declined to send troops to Iraq in support of our disastrous and horribly misguided war. And many asserted the Dixie Chicks were somehow unpatriotic when they dissed President George W. Bush at a public concert.

I’m not certain just who it is, but I suspect somebody or some organizations are working hard to keep the working stiffs of this country fighting amongst themselves so perhaps they won’t pay attention and connect the dots in determining who has been selling this country down the river.

Wasn’t it no less than Abraham Lincoln who once famously said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand?”

It feels too much like mission accomplished for those very adept at pushing our buttons and keeping the fires of hate burning.