Almost every week, Alabama is subjected to a dishonest cycle of news coverage from something that is either misinterpreted or an outright lie.
This week is no different.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill attended a Republican meeting in Fort Payne over the weekend and during a question and answer period, he responded to a question about the culture war by making a reference to “homosexual activities.”
Media outlets pounced on the quote to feed the outrage beast because nothing generates click like “Alabama politician” and “homosexual activities.”
The explanation of those comments is far less interesting than the media narrative surrounding it, the headlines it generated and the social media reaction it attracted.
The question Merrill was responding to was about changes in America’s pop culture. Merrill lamented the lack of television shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Andy Griffith,” which included him musing, “We’re too interested in homosexual activities.”
When Merrill appeared on WVNN radio’s “The Dale Jackson Show” Wednesday morning, he was asked what exactly he meant by that line.
He elaborated that he was talking about all of the media attention directed to the United States women’s national soccer team as the “most significant cultural event “ and how the focus on their activism and lifestyle opposed to their exceptional soccer accomplishments turned off many.
The 2020 candidate for U.S. Senate talked about how the media focused more on personality than the country they were playing for, saying, “The liberal mainstream media has promoted a narrative that has identified them as gay and as advocating for gay rights and homosexual issues related to their participation on the field as a secondary item.”
My takeaway:
Merrill is dead on here.
You were told either support the teams’ politics or you were not welcome.
Sports and entertainment used to be a respite from the real world, but that is now gone.
You will now have to view every aspect of your life through the social justice prism or risk the backlash.
Even the Apollo 11 anniversary.
The progression here, I'm cracking up LMAOOOOO pic.twitter.com/axKHsRjdwR
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) July 16, 2019
The culture that put men on the moon was intense, fun, family-unfriendly, and mostly white and male https://t.co/x5vQBuU4IN
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 16, 2019
The Apollo program was designed by men, for men. If we do not acknowledge the gender bias of the early space program, it becomes difficult to move past it. https://t.co/Mt7rVLgAaf
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 17, 2019
A large number of Americans are generally tired of this, which is what John Merrill is accurately dialed into.
Listen:
https://audioboom.com/posts/7318675-dale-and-secretary-of-state-john-merrill-discuss-his-comments-made-over-the-weekend-regarding-who
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.
