(Article by Warner Todd Huston republished from WesternJournal.com)
Leftist commentators have lined up like dutiful little robots to attack Aldean’s new song, “Try That in a Small Town.”
They’ve labeled it “pro-lynching,” “racist,” “pro-vigilantism,” and “violent.” Meanwhile, conservatives and most country fans have leveled counterattacks of their own, saying that the song is none of what the left claims and blasting progressives for engaging in its typical, fascist, cancel culture.
Regardless of the left’s outrage, not one of the allegations the left is making against this song holds water. There are no allusions to race, guns are not lauded other than a warning to criminals who want to break the law that “small town” people are armed, nor does it tell people to go out and hunt down lawbreakers. It merely warns lawbreakers that small-town America won’t stand for their violence.
The only way one might see “racism” in the song is in its references to street crime (“Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk / Carjack an old lady at a red light”), but that would in turn mean that taking all references to crime as automatically a reference to race, which in itself is racism.
Naturally, what really enrages the left is that the country star, who is a vocal conservative, warns leftists, “If you’re looking for a fight, try that in a small town.”
The song came out months ago with barely a notice, really. But early this month, Aldean put out a music video for the tune and that is what drove the far left into conniption fits.
Likely because the video is replete with real-life surveillance videos showing crimes being perpetrated in big cities — by perpetrators of all races.
There is one other part of the video that leftists are claiming makes Aldean’s song about “racism.” Parts of the video were filmed in front of Tennessee’s Maury County Courthouse, which was the site of a lynching almost 100 years ago.
But, somehow the left never called loony left-wing singer Miley Cyrus a proponent of lynching when she filmed part of her “Hannah Montana: The Movie” on the same site, as Fox News pointed out.
Rolling Stone was one of the more shrill left-wing outlets to attack Aldean with its July 20 screed titled, “Here’s What’s Wrong With Jason Aldean’s Vision of America."
It’s basically a one-on-one interviewer between Rolling Stone writer Jonathan Bernstein and Karlos K. Hill, a professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Hill is entitled to his opinion, of course, as is Rolling Stone, but it would be helpful if it was more than simply viewing everything through a predetermined racial lensed.
The professor called Aldean’s song a “dog whistle” to the racist right, and claimed it is racist for comparing a “rural area where it’s tranquil and calm and peaceful” to the “images of urban America on fire, with protests.” d.”
“All of what I see and feel is just the conservative narrative of Make America Great Again,” Hill said. “‘Look at the chaos, the ways America is unraveling. You better not try that transgender stuff in a small town. You better not try that abortion rights stuff in a small town.’ That’s the cultural polarization in this country. That’s the irresponsible part.”
So, it’s conservatives who are causing cultural polarization?
Rolling Stone’s blathering caught the eye of many who noted that while this supposed “music” magazine is today railing about “violence” and “racism” and “dog whistles” with Jason Aldean’s song, its heart went all aflutter in 1992 when rapper Ice-T put his song “Cop Killer” that is explicit about murdering people, hating white cops, and making a direct calling for violence in the streets.
(Warning; The lyrics are full of obscenities and violence, but if you want to see them, they’re available here,)
Many conservatives jumped to social media to blast “Rolling Stone” for its hypocrisy of excusing rap song after rap song that describes beating up women, killing whites, killing cops, drug dealing, and any manner of other crime even as the publication attacks Aldean for his song celebrating small town America for its love of law and order..
This is the outlet that celebrated and defended Ice-T's "Cop Killer", and put him on the cover in regards to that call for violence. Today, they are melting down when Jason Aldean does not call out for violence directly. Grow the hell up. https://t.co/A0MOX7pYoNpic.twitter.com/0uPqzs6x4n
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) July 20, 2023
Has @RollingStone ever done a story about domestic abuse and cop killer lyrics in hip hop? https://t.co/EHKkwk0opo
— GayPatriot (@GayPatriot) July 21, 2023
Everything? Dam! Is it this song in particular, the singer, the genre? Do you have the same opinions about violent hip hop like Ice-T’s “Cop Killer”?
— Jbone (@Jbone57675494) July 22, 2023
So Jason Aldean is catching A LOT of shit for his new song because of the lyrics in this video.
Let’s highlight some music lyrics that aren’t causing any controversy and see why that might be. Shall we?
• DMX: ‘If you got a daughter older than 15, I’mma rape her/Take her on… pic.twitter.com/IAJoCMWvXw
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) July 19, 2023
The criticism must have gotten to “Rolling Stone” because not long afterward, the magazine went into hyper defense and put out a followup piece blasting “conservative trolls” for trying to talk about rap music instead of Jason Aldean.
“Some right-wing trolls, though, don’t want you to think too hard about any of that. They’d rather talk about rap music,” the magazine wrote right after publishing its first attack on Aldean — who by the way is not backing down. The article went on to note that conservatives had been blasting Ice-T and saying how the 1992 rap tune evoked violence far more explicitly than Aldean’s.
When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of “we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.” It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new… pic.twitter.com/b5E92j0YQ5
— Jason Aldean (@Jason_Aldean) July 14, 2023
This redirection of the topic is typical the magazine insisted. “This is a familiar pattern to anyone who’s paid attention to the past few decades of conservative punditry. When the heat gets too high on the right wing, they try to change the subject to hip-hop.”
Just to make sure the message got across, this is the summary headline Rolling Stone used: “When right-wing pundits change the subject to hip-hop, they’re pulling from an old playbook.”
Well, there you have it. Don’t look at Rolling Stone’s decades of hypocrisy. Focus only on conservative “playbook” — and the hate the magazine wants to foster for Jason Aldean and conservatives.
Because, you see, conservatives are not allowed to concern themselves about making their communities safe for their families and to keep out the dangerous chaos fostered by the Democratic Party in America’s deep-blue and failing cities.
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