It would not be a day ending in “y” without the activist left finding something over which to get outraged.
Sure enough, that’s what happened after country music singer Jason Aldean released the video earlier this month for his song “Try That in a Small Town,” a tune with a message that revolves around how “small-town” America takes care of its own despite the insanity of what’s going on in the world, like police being spat upon, “old ladies” being carjacked at red lights, radical leftists burning the U.S. flag and/or rioting and destroying entire city blocks in the name of “social justice.”
Aldean was accused by his critics, including Shannon Watts from the “Moms Demand” pro-gun control group, of “racism” because some of the authentic news footage used in his video showed black protesters in the streets and black men trying to rob stores.
What those critics left out of their rants, though, was the numerous clips shown of white people behaving badly, like a woman who was screaming in the face of a police officer, another lighting an American flag on fire, and a man who threw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail at a courthouse.
The Washington Post was also quick to point the finger at Aldean, reporting that the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee where the video was filmed was once the scene of the 1927 lynching of a black teenager, Henry Choate, by a white mob.
Left out of their story, of course, was the fact that Tacklebox, the production company behind the video, said in a statement that Aldean had nothing to do with the selection of the courthouse for the video. The company also noted that it was a “popular filming location” in the Nashville area that had previously been used by the Lifetime Movie channel and the Paramount Network among others.
But in this day and time, scoring cool points by appearing “woke” and in tune with the concerns of so-called progressives is more important to media outlets and left-leaning political commentators, all of who continue to smear Aldean and his defenders as “pro-lynching” even though the song had nothing to do with that and despite the fact that the video has resonated with people of all colors and backgrounds who are fed up with what some have called the demise of common sense, decency, responsibility, and respect.
“Try That in a Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief,” Aldean wrote in a statement in response to the outcry.
“Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night,” he went on to say.
“But the desire for it to – that’s what this song is about.”
Contrast the outrage mob’s unhinged reaction to Aldean’s song with their defensive reactions to far-left groups like Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, and Black Lives Matter literally lighting up city streets during their “protests,” and I think you’ll see they pretty much made Aldean’s point for him.
Fortunately, Aldean’s song now sits at the one spot on the iTunes chart, so it appears he’s gotten the last laugh on his detractors, which goes to show that when The Usual Suspects crank up their campaigns to cancel someone, the best way to counter them is by showing strong support for their target when the situation calls for it.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
