Politixia
Hypocrisy can be infuriating and hilarious at the same time.
Many on the political right like to toss around the word “snowflake” to describe people who speak up about their aversion to certain speech, ideas or treatment by others. They demean their sensitive targets, calling them “triggered.”
Admittedly, some of the demands of those who think they should be shielded from anything they find offensive are over the top and leave many of us shaking our heads.
But there are no snowflakes so triggered as those on the right.
The hypocrisy of the anti-woke mob has been on full display recently, as the mobsters are demanding people refuse to drink Bud Light.
Full disclosure: I don’t drink much Bud Light. I’m more of a Guinness guy.
But I’ve laughed out loud at the ridiculous display of “righteous” anger from those whose knickers are in a knot over a Bud Light ad campaign featuring Dylan Mulvaney, a trans woman who has a large social media following. I guess they need a safe space to protect them from being exposed to the existence of a woman whose gender identity is none of their business.
The silliest, but least surprising, example is a video circulated by Kid Rock, a pop star of limited talent who is more famous for outrageous behavior than for any music he ever created.
Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, can be seen and heard in the video shooting up a few cases of Bud Light with an automatic weapon, then using profane language and gestures toward Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser Busch.
Ritchie and his followers probably think it’s cool. I think it’s sad and pathetic to need attention that badly.
It’s just the latest example of the mob going after someone who hurt their feelings. They cry about “cancel culture” when something they like is criticized, but seek to cancel anybody or anything that doesn’t toe their line.
They did a pretty good job of canceling Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who dared to kneel during the playing of the national anthem in a protest against the killing of black men by police.
Well, maybe they didn’t do such a good job after all. They canceled his on-field career, but they made a martyr out of a mediocre quarterback who likely would be retired and getting little attention, these days, instead of having a successful career as a civil rights activist and author.
Heck, the mob tried to cancel the NFL, entirely. Some of them seemed to think they had. I remember reading social media posts about how “nobody watches the NFL anymore” as I watched games that were played in sold-out stadiums.
They tried to cancel Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2018 when the sporting goods giant decided to no longer sell guns as a response to the killing of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
There are a couple things all these situations have in common. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Colin Kaepernick and the NFL are doing just fine. Anheuser Busch has, indeed, seen a decrease in sales of Bud Light. But the executives aren’t panicking because they know it’ll pass. They’re probably hoping Kid Rock-wannabees buy it so they can destroy in in copycat videos.
And Dylan Mulvaney is far more famous than ever. How many of us had any idea who she was before this silliness?
The other common factor here is that none of these targets of the right-wing mob were actually hurting that mob, or anyone else.
They couldn’t buy their guns at Dick’s, but they could still buy them elsewhere. The national anthem continued to be played at football games, regardless of what posture Kaepernick or other players adopted. And trans women are not drinking so much Bud Light that there’s not enough for the rest of us.
If someone’s worried about that, they can have my share. I’ll have a Guinness.
The ringleaders of this foolishness are active hypocrites, exploiting the others who display a stunning lack of self-awareness.
Infuriating. And hilarious.
