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Jason Aldean Addresses 'Small Town' Backlash at Cincinnati Show: 'Cancel Culture Is a Thing'

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/jason-aldean-speech-small-town-backlash-cincinnati-show-cancel-culture-1234793720/

“I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us,” country singer tells crowd after “long-ass week” of con…

Jason Aldean Addresses 'Small Town' Backlash at Cincinnati Show: 'Cancel Culture Is a Thing'

"I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us," country singer tells crowd after "long-ass week" of controversy

105 comments

ArugulaZ

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Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash didn't act like this. Maybe you could aspire to be more like them, and less like... you.

YoBuckStopsHere

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Well they had class, still do.

ClopClopMcFuckwad

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Johnny Cash was a drug addict and a wife beater, Willie Nelson never paid his taxes and is a convicted felon, neither had class. Dolly is a fabulous philanthropist.

ArugulaZ

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That's a rather jaundiced read, isn't it? Johnny Cash was a drug addict because he was nearly disemboweled by his pet ostrich, and became dependent on pain pills. Willie Nelson is likely a convicted felon because he really likes dope, which has largely become societally accepted in 2023. (I won't defend the wife beating or the tax not paying.)

TheDoctorDonna

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But Dolly is most certainly a fabulous philanthropist.

GBU_28

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If anyone wants to contest that I'll meet them in the parking lot

LexiconDexicon

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So is Kim Kardashian, difference is she isn't white enough for you people

13igTyme

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No. Just no.

PeleSpirit

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Permanently Deleted

ArugulaZ

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She makes them glad they're not Kim Kardashian.

TheDoctorDonna

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Kardashians are terrible people and no amount of philanthropy will buy them out of that.

lingh0e

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Her race has nothing to do with the fact that she's a terrible fucking role model for girls.

FlyingSquid

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Armenians aren't white?

monkeyben

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TIL Johnny Cash was nearly disemboweled by his pet ostrich.

LexiconDexicon

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Willie Nelson:

1960: Driving Without A License (the horror!) 1974: Marijuana Possession (not the evil devils lettuce!) 1990: Unpaid Taxes (the most villainous crime ever committed by a human being, clearly) 1994: Marijuana In His Car (again, the evil devils lettuce) 1997: Partying Too Hard In The Bahamas (ok that's funny lol) 2006: Marijuana And Mushrooms On His Tour Bus (again...) 2011: Marijuana (lol)

Not exactly a criminal record I'd ever get bent out of shape over, it's just minor things, and weeds legal now anyways

at_an_angle

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I don't think Willie Nelson ever tried to pretend to have class.

Arcane_Trixster

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These dummies never understand that their country doesn't want them. Society grows and leaves some people behind. Adapt and grow or turn in to an old man yelling at clouds.

MisterMoo

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Psh, try saying that iN a sMaLL tOwN

PersnickityPenguin

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Well, they also believe that America is identified by its small town culture. But it really isn't. And I speak as someone who grew up in a very very small farming community.

The thing is that nothing happens in small towns. They're generally static and full of people who have escaped the rest of society in one way or another. They are not the harbingers of the future, more like the leftover dregs of yesteryear.

Seasoned_Greetings

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That's the rub. Nobody wants to be told they're irrelevant. Of course they believe that America is defined by people like them, because the alternative is to accept that America is defined by a culture that might as well be aliens to them.

They are losing a culture war. They feel like they have to announce their relevance, but they don't understand why that very thing means they are becoming irrelevant.

BrooklynMan

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ATDA

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Create an exclusionary song about not liking someone's behavior.

Whine about being excluded due to behavior.

Sounds about right.

paintbucketholder

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That entire song is just a thinly veiled threat saying "we're going to murder you if you're trying something we disapprove of here in this place, where we have all the power."

StarManta

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It’s veiled? It’s literally the title

cantstopthesignal

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Shoulda called sundown town

PersnickityPenguin

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That certainly would have been a more apt title.

Dlg

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Well it should say don’t start none won’t be none. End of story.

megatroid_skittles

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Let me guess: This choad thinks that "before all this bullshit started happening to us" is any time before April 12, 1861.

PersnickityPenguin

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Judging by his videos, more like anything prior to the 1960s civil rights movement...

Kuvwert

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What a whiny loser

Tigbitties

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whiny loser

Describe country music in two words.

ArugulaZ

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Even the guitar sounds like it's wallowing in self-pity. "Waaaaahw. Waaaaaahw. WAAAAAAHW."

GBU_28

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Lots of great folk, bluegrass and Americana, even some good "country".

"Pop" country is the one you hate

Give some Sturgill Simpson a try, and if that's too "country" for you still , try his "fire and fury" album which is quite a departure, complete with custom anime music videos

HeyJoe

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Restore it to what? A time when we didn't acknowledge how terrible we always were? I always find it funny that the people with the least amount of things to worry about are always the most vocal about being "hurt".

The worst part is always how little they can relate to anyone who has always had it bad living in America, no matter what year it was. I guess it is ok for some to suffer as long as it's not them.

negativeyoda

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I want to go back to 3 days ago when I'd never heard of this chuckledick.

Seriously: just ignore this dingus. He's a waste and any press/ clicks is good press

pottedmeat7910

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This right here.

When he does, sings, or says anything worth paying attention to, someone let me know please?

TechyDad

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Restore our country to what it was? Oh, you mean having black people in the back of the bus and LGBTQ people in the closet.

Personally, if we're going to revert anything to the 1950's, I say bring back the 1950's tax brackets. In 1955, anything a person earned over $400,000 ($4.4 million in today's money) was taxed at 91%.

Robbeee

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When I grew up we bullied gay children until they killed themselves. I'll take cancel culture going too far over that any day.

Steamymoomilk

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your reading to far into it. just like the people who think the song is racist. which btw prove me wrong and find one line in the song that mentions, race religion, or ethnicity

PersnickityPenguin

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Well Mr Aldean did choose a stunningly iconic shooting location for the video. As the Washington Post reported:

Aldean’s performance backdrop is the Maury County Courthouse, which at times appears to be on fire as images of burning American flags are projected onto it. It’s the same building where a mob hanged 18-year-old Henry Choate from the balcony in 1927. The teen had been accused of attacking a White girl who never identified him as her assailant, and whose mother begged the mob to let him stand trial.

Columbia is also the site of an infamous 1946 race riot that nearly resulted in the lynching of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall.

The footage he used in the video seems to equate civil rights protesting as violent crime and rioting, in in the judicial use of footage from these types of events that are juxtaposed to each other in his music video.

The video itself is a little silly in that small towns are not responsible for civil rights movements as they are inherently a very conservative environment, that does not foster independent thought. Surprise surprise. However, the video has a very pro conservative tone that implies that protesting will be met by violence.

TotallynotJessica

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You're arguing in bad faith. The poster said that wanting culture to regress ignores the fact that our culture used to be cruel to minorities. The reason people weren't canceled for being conservative is that liberal democracy was oppressing minorities to satisfactory levels for these bigots. Now that liberal democracy is being less bigoted, conservatives like this guy want to get rid of the it. The statement is racist, while the song is anti freedom of speech and definitely anti American.

jerome

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Here... https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1682935514989756417

Chocrates

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Welp assuming Mr. Aldean had any hand in editing the video that is pretty damning. If he didn't and doesn't think his song is about race then he should publicly disavow his own video. Since he hasn't, I think that is pretty straightforward.

Steamymoomilk

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this is in no way reliable information you might as-well give a a hand written note saying "i want to be right" the music video that you are trying to reference at https://invidious.slipfox.xyz/watch?v=b1_RKu-ESCY which is official. Has no newspaper clipping that your false information has, also site your sources for credibility

also lets say the hypothetical that this is real Tictok is by no means credible for news, secondly music videos are done by hired directors which usually have nothing to do with the song for example, Hoziers take me to church. if you read the lyrics it says nothing out gay people when the music video shows about the over reach of the catholic church on gay people. two completly seprate things the music and the music video

Here… https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1682935514989756417

jerome

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It's from the man himself. Why does Jason Aldean's racist dog whistles have to be in the same container for them to be relevant?

Steamymoomilk

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so you just admitted that you dont like Jason Aldean because of his whistles, which i will say i have never seen nor could find on google. and that you in fact put that comment on this thread because you just dont like him. Which has nothing to do with topic of the song being considered racist, not Jasion Aldean being Racist. which by those terms means lemmy is communist because its made by a socialist developer, which btw it is opensource which is why it is not communist based on each instance having freedom from each other.

PersnickityPenguin

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That's not what dog whistle means:

"...Yet there's another dog whistle we've been hearing about lately: a coded message communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a particular group of people, but not by others."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/dog-whistle-political-meaning

Steamymoomilk

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thanks i did not know that term!

jerome

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I understand why you defend him so strongly, now. Have a good one.

Steamymoomilk

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read lower, i was having a civil discussion hince what this thread is about, your rude comments are not welcome.

PersnickityPenguin

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The video you are responding to by the previous poster was a critique of the original TikTok video posted by Mr Aldean. That video was posted on May 19th, prior to the official music video release from a few days ago.

Danny Collins, a former minor league pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, posted a video in which he dug into a promo of the song that Aldean posted on his own TikTok page. In that TikTok video that Aldean posted back on May 19, several images of vintage newspaper clips and headlines are used.

Source: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2023/07/jason-aldean-facing-new-racism-accusations-after-pro-baseball-player-turns-tik-tok-sleuth.html

That original TokTok video can be viewed here:

https://www.tiktok.com/@jasonaldeanmusic/video/7234750082174848302

Edit - The full newspaper listing is here... I wish the TikToker had actually put a link in his description but here it is.

August 30, 1956 issue of the Petal Paper:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=1956&date2=1956&proxtext=NAACP+republican+party&x=0&y=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic

So, as you can see, this is not bullshit. Mr Aldean chose a very specific newspaper clip from a very obscure newspaper that is anti-civil rights, and pro-white. That newspaper clip was featured in a way that was very difficult to read without freezing the frame of the video, but was in his video. So ask yourself this: why would somebody feature this kind of an Easter egg in a music video?

Steamymoomilk

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i stand corrected, thank you for using sources instead of caveman, "im right because" i also apologize for my ignorance and commend you for using credible evidence and taking the time to prove me wrong.

PersnickityPenguin

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You're welcome. I know, information posted on the internet is oftentimes confusing, contradictory and either incomplete or there's just a lot of false information.

I try to keep it simple and acknowledge the fact that it's difficult to understand information and to know what is the truth and what isn't the truth. Truth and honesty are a hard thing to come by these days...

Steamymoomilk

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b

thanks for being understanding for my ignorance, im not trying to be rude or racist i just wanted to know both sides of the argument, to understand what people and news outlets are bickering about. may everyone have a nice day :D

YoBuckStopsHere

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Have you heard of a sundown town? This song is about sundown towns and that is part of what the issue is.

FlyingSquid

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Was your schooling so poor that you never learned about using figurative language?

Steamymoomilk

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we just never learned that exact phrase, or what the petal papers said. many schools are trying to take racism out of history which defeats the purpose of teaching racism is bad. so alot of units got cut by the school board because of being racist which i still dont understand because we read to kill a mocking bird, that book made me feel very uncomfortable. although i did enjoy the discussion on this thread and i got to learn alot of history. also im assuming this isnt satire or poor shaming and is an actually question. thanks

YoBuckStopsHere

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The problem is "his country" is the Confederacy and by restored he means slavery reinstated. That is my take until I see him prove me wrong, which he won't.

keeb420

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He's a whiny little snowflake.

emeralddawn45

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Lil Nas x (or someone else current idk, just seems like he'd be a good fit) should write a response song called "try singing that in an urban center"

ArugulaZ

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There's always The Ramones' "The KKK Took My Baby Away."

synae

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I like Body Count's KKK Bitch

SulaymanF

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That would only validate the racist stereotypes in their heads.

acrobaticpenguin23

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Maybe try to release a less inflammatory video concept next time. He is appealing to the Maga crowd but is turning off many others.

MIDItheKID

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Is this country song racist?

themeatbridge

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That last one could be a verse from Small Town.

Smokeless7048

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Thanks for sharing, hadn't seen this one!

Link for the non Americans: A Racist Country Music Sing-A-Long

PipedLinkBot

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PersnickityPenguin

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Oh that's fucking good Thanks for sharing!

Pratai

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Permanently Deleted

reddig33

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“I personally believe that U. S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should—our education over here in the U. S. should help the U. S., uh, or, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq, and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.”

paintbucketholder

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Weird how it sounds like a Sarah Palin interview if you read it.

Pratai

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Permanently Deleted

PersnickityPenguin

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Hey man, don't be too hard on her. She did advocate later on for more maps and geography courses in school, lol.

LexiconDexicon

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"A DEFIANT JASON Aldean"

Really RollingStone? Defending a bigot? What a shame

acrobaticpenguin23

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Why doesn't Aldean make a video about the other side of the coin? Another example of police brutality against young black men!

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2023/07/23/circleville-ohio-police-k9-arrest-stop-unarmed-man-sandoval-nr-vpx. 🤬

markr

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Two words: Bud Lite.

Xariphon

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Have you tried, y'know, not being an asshole, dude?

joekar1990

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He's kind of always been an asshole or caught up in drama.... so no he definitely hasn't tried that

TokenBoomer

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This distillates why I hate country music.

NielsBohron

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This ~~distillates~~ distills why I hate country music.

FTFY. "Distillate" has a very specific scientific meaning (it's the liquid that condenses and is collected as the product of the distillation), and it's a noun, not a verb.

I hope I don't sound like a dick, but I teach chemistry and I have this nearly pathological need to correct misused scientific terms. So... Sorry? You're welcome? Either way, have a nice day!

TokenBoomer

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I don’t mind. I’m secure enough with my own stupidity. That’s how I learn. I can also apologize for my mistakes. The world needs more dicks. Btw, can you make me some LSD?

NielsBohron

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You get me the right precursor, I can make you whatever you want 😉.

Turns out anyone with a 3-4 years of chemistry lab classes, some money for reagents and glassware, and bit of patience can make just about any illicit substance. The trick is getting the starting material and scaling it up, which is why the DEA watches who's buying iodine and pseudoephedrine (used for meth), sassafras bark (MDMA), and ergot (LSD), etc.

Edit: and also, don't mistake not being educated in a certain field for stupidity. I'm not educated in lots of areas and I would be certain to make a fool of myself if I tried to use specific terms in a philosophy context, for example. So, you're totally good

TokenBoomer

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I read how to make it a while ago. It was detailed and specific. That’s what struck me as impossible. How to get industrial chemicals for production. They make huge batches when they get it all together. Like, supplying the east coast kinda scale. Oh, and there’s only like 2 or 3 cooks active at a time. Insane. Use mushrooms (the right kind) instead kids, it’s safer.

NielsBohron

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For sure shrooms are safer. With acid, there's a really good chance you're actually getting an LSD analogue (aka "research chemical" aka "designer drug") being passed off as acid, the way that lots of "ecstasy" bought on the street is actually mostly meth with a little something extra added and lots of heroin is more fentanyl than anything else.

That's a lot less common with shrooms (although not impossible or unheard of). Buy a test kit if you're buying drugs, people!

PS for anyone looking to get into hallucinogens, there are relatively safe substances that are very similar to acid, but there's little to no research into the long term effects, so it's fairly uncharted territory. Try to find a dealer that will be up front with what you're actually buying and read up on the choices before you get in over your head.

PipedLinkBot

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Boiglenoight

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The song is fine. The video is full of fear-mongering and conflates people protesting injustice with petty criminals. So while you can infer what you want from the lyrics, since the band's in a video associated with this imagery tells me they're ignorant, somewhat racist, and pugnacious about it.