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.
During Operation Cross Counter XII the FBI identified 84 children who were sex trafficked, Aug 2022. Google child sex trafficking and you will find way to many cases. Be careful agreeing with the First Amendment may get you canceled.
Good for you standing for free speech.
Nicely expressed, Mr. Editor.
Our freedoms go both ways in listening to the opinions of others, then either taking time for intelligent discourse about differences of opinion or just moving on.
We have the choice of whether to take issue with a message in a song, or to take issue with some group’s bad manners toward a president. But we shouldn’t confuse the two and respond in hatred and division. It should be enough to censure poor behavior without muddying the waters.
Our elected officials – on both sides of the aisle – are not serving their constituents when they ignore the important issues and fail to work together to correct the major problems in America today. We are mired in stupid arguments about wokeness and treehuggers, when education in America is underfunded and teachers are underpaid, and when people shout about whose fault global climate change is instead of cleaning things up in their own back yards, and when wealth inequality plagues such a enormous portion of the working poor.
It’s time to sweep away the bullshit and get down to the real issues, and we could start by voting out any Democrat or Republican who choses to engage in stupid distractions.
Consider that when election day comes around.
One of the biggest problems is citizens united, which did away with the Tillman act that didn’t allow cooperations to contribute to federal elections. We can thank a few members of the Supreme Court for that.
PART of the problem with our government today is that THEY designed the rules/laws for their benefit. This has created such a strong, must have at all cost attitude that the job affords them such lifetime healthcare benefits, pay and security that they won’t give it up no matter what! So what we have now are benefactors who do nothing but lie, cheat, criticize, denigrate the people on the other side of the aisle in order to keep those positions. I believe we need to have term limits for congress and the speaker same as we do for president. That eliminates the greed factor from play.
Just my opinion.
Amen!!! I agree 100%. No free lunch!!
David David David.
It’s always much easier to be against a political position, public personalities and crime, along with speaking about needing a strong military, supporting law enforcement, wanting a balanced budget, cutting taxes and being pro-family.
It’s what sells. Hence Mr. Aldean’s tough talk song and a movie about child trafficking are popular. They both hit a nerve. A mythical small town that can operate outside the U.S. Constitution (see Texas and Alabama as states doing the same). A movie about child exploitation business and internet child pornography based in a foreign county.
I suspect the fictional movie has South America (Columbia) as a location because highlighting U.S. states, popular theme parks and event destinations (like the annual Super Bowl) would step on too many state Chambers of Commerce and governors’ toes. Big splash, but no one stateside wants to own it as a domestic issue. Make a movie like it’s not U.S. children being exploited.
Holding political office gets difficult if you’re expected to explain what needs to be done, how it’s going to get done and most importantly, how do all the positions get financed.
Move existing money at the federal or state level around? A recent move is to shift state responsibilities to cities and counties by changing revenue sharing formulas that keep some of the funds with the state. (MI did this in a lame duck legislative session about five years ago). The key is make big campaign statements then go into the weeds about your votes on particulars and what you actually accomplished if running for re-election.
There is real political power of targeting through social media, commentary channels and talk radio. It’s why locally we had newly elected State Rep. Angela Rigas making a talking point about protecting our right to keep our natural gas stoves. A momentary hot take that a first term state rep in MI has ZERO control. Public ally staking out a position like getting more revenue sharing to the counties would have people on both sides of the aisle listening.
State Rep. Rigas (MI 79) who voted against the Democrat to be MI House Speaker then proclaim/complain about not getting on one committee is simply a headline grabbing public statement. Serious legislators understand how government works. MI House District 79 isn’t well served by no representative presence on any committee.
Want good government? Then vote for serious people who will speak to rather than shout over their political counterparts from the other party and work for solutions. Everyone who disagrees portions of any agenda isn’t the enemy.