DAN MCLAUGHLIN: Let Harrison Butker Be Himself.
The worst response came from the NFL, which insisted on distancing the league from Butker’s opinions. Notably, unlike Colin Kaepernick, Butker did not use the NFL’s property or airtime to spread his opinions; he did so in his free time. There’s already a long and inconsistent record of the NFL and other sports leagues attempting, and failing, to come up with a consistent approach to punishing non-game-related things done by athletes off the field. The league wasn’t nearly this quick in the past to denounce violent crimes committed by its players. Nobody actually believes that it has been, or will in the future be, vigilant about making statements every time a player says or does something politically or socially controversial from the left. The point of this is to send a message that people who believe what Butker believes are apt to face discipline in the workplace for their faith and opinions. (That’s not just private action, either, given that the NFL is an association of franchises, one of which is publicly owned by the government of Green Bay, Wis.) And it is, to boot, a misreading of the NFL’s fan base: Do we really think that pro football fans are overwhelmingly left-leaning on cultural matters?
Plus: “So, let Harrison Butker be himself. His opinions are outgrowths of virtues in short supply today: faith, fidelity to the traditional family, and respect for the different, complementary, and mutually supporting roles played by husbands and wives. These are mostly opinions that were not even controversial until a few decades ago, and it should alarm us to see so little tolerance for their mere expression in the public square.”
Everyone must genuflect to the pieties of the Gentry Class, even though the Gentry Class itself doesn’t really live by them.
The richer you are, in general, the more conservative your life choices are. Most left wingers talk left but live right. They live in gated communities, put kids in private schools, maximize tax avoidance, have stay at home wives, pay attention to what they do not what they say.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 18, 2024
Not one single NFL player has criticized Harrison Butker for what he said. You know why? Because almost all of them agree with him. The gap between what players — and coaches — believe and what the sports media who covers them believes is seismic.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 18, 2024