Alabama high school football game was not canceled because of memes — It was about the mob

Many eyebrows were raised after a rivalry football game in North Alabama between Grissom High and Huntsville High was postponed over some social media activity of some of the students from Huntsville High.

What were the posts? How bad could they actually be? How many students were involved? Were football players involved? What punishment did those directly involved receive? What is the reason for the postponement?

Answers to these questions were lacking, and school officials were using the usual deflections about privacy and minors to avoid answering any real questions.

Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Christine Finley was adamant that the postponement of the games was not part of the punishment, and at least two board members, Carlos Matthews and Elisa Ferrell, both echoed that statement during appearances on WVNN Huntsville radio’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”

Ferrell also confirmed what the imagery used actually was.

There were four images total in question:

1. George Floyd/Police
2. Adolf Hitler/Anne Frank
3. Chris Brown/Rihanna
4. Protesters/Police

The images pushed by “more than one” student and the offenders were from the Huntsville High side of the equation.

Ferrell noted, “[A]t this point, it’s lucky that Huntsville High didn’t have to forfeit the game.”

This pretty much checks every bad taste box with race, police brutality, religion, domestic violence and hot-button culture issues being used as rivalry fuel.

All of this is very bad and should carry some real-world consequences.

But the cancellation of a football game over this seems a bit much, given there is no evidence the kids on the team are involved. The reason for the cancellation has nothing to do with the kids involved.

It is about the fear of a reaction from the people we see on the television tearing up cities every night.

Ferrell opined that the game itself would be a target for non-students to make political points, and that would make the experience unsafe.

“We’re not going to allow other people to come in and use this as an excuse to cause unrest at an athletic function meant for high school students,” she advised.

So the truth is out there. The threat of an angry mob showing up to a football game because a small group of students made inappropriate memes means the game must be moved.

The game is set to be played in three weeks; it is unlikely that any threat of that which is present today will be gone at that time.

The bigger problem is the fact that public officials, elected and appointed, are cowering to mobs across this country.

A football game in Huntsville has to stop because terrible people want to show up and behave terribly. Why not just stop them?

These mobs are running wild because they are winning every battle. They are screaming that things must be shut down, and our leaders cave. In this case, they didn’t even have to show up.

This is like Portland where months of rioting have forced a mayor who completely supports the riots to move out of his condo. He told his neighbors he had to move because “protesters” are attempting to burn down his building, which would kill children if they succeeded.

This is happening all over the country. Every time they win, they get stronger. This has to stop.

Leaders believe they will never lose if they are over-cautious.

The reaction to the coronavirus has taught us that. We have learned this with the embracing of stay-at-home orders, safer-at-home orders, lockdowns, masks and other restrictions because we as Americans understand the virus can’t be reasoned with.

Americans are starting to refuse to believe the mobs taking over the streets of American cities need to be allowed to run their course. We know they can be stopped if leaders will lead. They can’t be allowed to dictate the lives of other Americans because they want to scream in the street, loot and cancel American life because they are angry.

This is important because t is obvious that their bully tactics are winning, as 95% of the American media, pop culture and sports world supports them. Their message is being heard and forced on everyone.

In America, it appears that there is only one correct opinion here and daring to get in their way of this groupthink is dangerous. Whether you do it on purpose, by accident or because you are a stupid high school kid with a dumb picture, that doesn’t matter. The mob needs to be fed something, so we give up something else.

This can not and will not go on forever.

At some point, Americans will stand up to these mobs and replace the leaders who continue to show them that this behavior works.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN