Two of many things that bother me about politics these days are closely allied. One is the Outrage Industry. Something happens that is not 100% in lockstep with your political beliefs and instantly, others on your side are spotlighting it and screaming about it and possibly distorting it to try and get you as angry about it as they can. In some cases, they're using it as clickbait to get you to pay attention to them on TV or on the web; in others, they're trying to get you to feel you're in a war and they need you to get more furious against your common opposition.
And the other is this notion that if someone says something you don't like, you respond with The Worst Possible Insult You Can Think Of. When I make unintentional detours to websites where this kind of mindset holds forth, I see this. The most frequent seems to be to accuse the person you don't like of being a pedophile. There's no evidence or any children being molested at all and certainly nothing connecting the accused to any such heinous crime…but it is probably The Worst Possible Insult They Can Think Of.
A close runner-up is to accuse the person of hating America, which I always think is an empty, usually-baseless accusation. I mean, if the person is on record as saying something like "You know, I really despise the United States," okay. Then it would be valid. But people who hate America rarely say it and people who accuse others of hating America can't read minds and know that. It's just something you say when you don't have a real criticism but you want to throw something.
Okay. So the other day at a pre-Olympics match, an 98-year-old World War II vet played the National Anthem on his harmonica. Members of the U.S. National Women's Soccer Team seemed in some videos of the event to be turning their backs on the man and the Outrage Industry had a new opportunity it couldn't resist. The athletes, of course, were widely accused of "hating America."
They weren't accused of hating harmonica music or hating the National Anthem — which I think a lot of very patriotic Americans think is not the best song that could have that distinction. They weren't even accused of hating that one World War II veteran. They were accused of hating America. Rod Dreher, a Conservative pundit I often follow, wrote…
The U.S. women's team is the overwhelming favorite to win the gold in Tokyo, but after this stunt, I'm rooting for anybody who plays against the U.S., because I don't want to see those two ungrateful creeps shame this country by doing that stunt on the platform in Tokyo.
Why do I often follow Mr. Dreher? Because even though I disagree with much of what he says, he strikes me as a smart guy. And unlike too many pundits these days, he admits when he's wrong. He posted this comment he received…
Rod, I'm afraid you've been duped by a clickbait story designed to gin up outrage. First off, you have your facts quite literally backwards. As it happens, the players you highlight in the photo are facing toward the veteran playing the anthem…The players who are accused of "turning their back[s]"…all of whom are vehemently and correctly denying this story on Twitter…turned solely [to] face the large, highest flag to their right.
And to his credit, Dreher admitted his mistake and apologized. Very few people in today's political arena ever do this. Standard Operating Procedure these days when you're corrected seems to be to insist you were right, double-down on your accusation and call everyone who thinks you were wrong a pedophile.