October 24, 2021

Aaron Rodgers vs. cancel culture.

"Back when I first got into the league and I grew up watching it, I feel like trash talk was a little more normalized. You didn’t have to apologize if you said something to offend a few people.... If you don’t like it, that’s fine. That’s your prerogative.... There is this culture that exists that gets off, I think, on shrinking people, keeping them small, keeping them in a box, quieting them through cancelation or demeaning comments. I stand behind what I do. I like to speak the truth. I’m not a part of this woke cancel culture that gets off on trying to silence people all the time." (Link.)

16 comments:

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

Curious what is the point to this post. Just another data point on resistance? I guess it's a good sign that not all celebrities are either mentally ill or totally lacking in courage. Yay.

Scotty, beam me up... said...

Rodgers attended the University of California-Berkeley in the mid-1990’s, which at that time was a hard left campus when it came to crazy, insane politics and issues (which now appears to be the norm at most college campuses nationwide). I am presuming his politics are left of center based on some of his cryptic comments over the years. However he has been fairly honest with his comments over the years, so maybe he is part of a group of liberals that is waking up to the danger that the far left politicians, their minions, and anarchists pose to this country, its citizens and their freedoms, and its culture.

Critter said...

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Rodgers’ point is how quickly the cancel culture has emerged. Just in the span of his professional career.

Good rule of thumb: any culture monement that emerges quickly is likely to go away just as quickly in favor of the new shiny object. It has already started to happen with cancel culture as players in a game find out that they themselves can fall victim to cancellation. What? Moi?

Big Mike said...

Whenever I hear of yet another episode of cancel culture the image that comes to mind is of Lilliputians tying down a sleeping Gulliver. IMHO the problem is not so much the Lilliputians — there have always been small people aggrieved by something someone else said. The problem is managers and university administrators willing to be responsive to the Lilliputians.

Tommy Duncan said...

I saw a post on the Internet a few days that summed it up nicely:

"If you want to pretend you're a girl, go ahead. But don't expect me to pretend along with you. If you want to claim you're offended by something I've said, that's OK. Just don't expect me to play along. And don't expect me to use your special designer pronouns."

Sebastian said...

"I like to speak the truth. I’m not a part of this woke cancel culture that gets off on trying to silence people all the time."

Good for him, and a good sign.

But like Althouse and the nice liberals, he slightly underestimates the progressive game plan: the point is not simply to "shrink" or "silence" particular people by canceling them, the point is to scorch the earth by sending a message to people who are not Aaron Rodgers.

So, Aaron, to take some examples in your own field, will you stand by Sage Steele or Rachel Nichols? How?

exhelodrvr1 said...

Not an Aaron Rodgers fan, but he's absolutely right about this!

Iman said...

Good for him! Rodgers speaks the truth.

wendybar said...

Hear, Hear!!! Let's go Packers!!

Quaestor said...

There is this culture that exists that gets off, I think, on shrinking people, keeping them small, keeping them in a box, quieting them through cancelation or demeaning comments.

Brilliant! I predict this goes mega-viral.

There's an epic-scale work of philosophy/political science waiting to be written about the utter madness democracies can unleash on themselves. The Shrinking Citizen would be a catchy title for it, sorta the reverse of Laviathan.

mccullough said...

Larry Bird was the greatest trash talker in all of sports.

The opposing team loved Bird’s trash talking. He told the opposing team’s bench once that the next time he had the ball he was going to hit a three-pointer from the corner on their trainer’s lap. He took the shot and fell back toward the trainer. When the shot swished, the opposing players on the bench cheered.

Bird also asked Chuck Daly, the Pistons coach, why Daly had Dennis Rodman still covering Bird after Bird scored 4 straight baskets.


“Who’s guarding me, Chuck? Is anyone guarding me? You better get someone on me or I’m gonna go for 60.”

Trash talking is an art.

Deion Sanders was the greatest trash talker in NFL history.

Ann Althouse said...

"Curious what is the point to this post."

I loved this phrase: "shrinking people, keeping them small, keeping them in a box, quieting them through cancelation or demeaning comments."

Joe Smith said...

'Deion Sanders was the greatest trash talker in NFL history.'

Bird and Sanders could back it up.

Nobody threw to Neon's side of the field : )

Aggie said...

One theme that emerges again and again, with commentary like this..... also with the independently-minded work of Glenn Greenwald, Taibbi, Weiss, and others: Being articulate and well-spoken, being able to convey one's ideas in an original and thoughtful way - almost always, these people are capable of regulating their emotions in service of their intellect, they can express subtlety of thinking, they can refine thoughts and emotions into productive channels of interest.

But on the extremes of the political spectrum, left right and center: These people are lazy. They prefer the bludgeon, thinking it will be a labor-saving device, allowing them to accomplish more. But by choosing the rhetorical bludgeon, you don't accomplish more - you just make the world smaller for yourself, and thus enjoy the illusion of Big Progress for Little Mean Efforts.

Scotty, beam me up... said...

I made a mistake in my post about Rodgers’ time at Berkeley - he was there from 2003-2004 not mid-1990’s (brain lock from my 60+ year brain!). He is a great quarterback no matter his political leanings and I am glad that he has been with the Packers the past 16 years!

Curious George said...

"Nobody threw to Neon's side of the field : )"

How'd he get 53 interceptions?