[NCAC] PRIVATE CENSORSHIP – FIGHTING SUPPRESSION OF SPEECH BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ACTORS

read the first post of this thread

 

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/07/cmt-censored-this-video-and-thats-clear.html

42 minutes ago
"CMT censored this video, and that's a clear indication that it's great, so I looked it up, and it sure is!"
by noreply@blogger.com (Ann Althouse)
July 19, 2023

"Interesting how countless rap songs encourage murder sprees, drug dealing, pimping, and countless other crimes, and they're celebrated by the media, but a video by a country singer about self defense and neighbors looking out for each other is banned."

That's the top-rated comment on the Jason Aldean video "Try That in a Small Town" (YouTube).

I looked that up and watched it after noticing the NYT article "Jason Aldean Video for ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Pulled Amid Backlash/The country singer, who released the song in May, said the tune is an ode to the 'feeling of a community' he had growing up. Critics say it is offensive."

The video, released in May, was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., a site known for the 1927 mob lynching of Henry Choate, an 18-year-old Black man....

State Representative Justin Jones of Tennessee, a Democrat, condemned the song on Twitter, describing it as a “heinous song calling for racist violence” that promoted “a shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism.”...
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The NYT quotes from Aldean's response on Twitter. He denies that the song has anything to do with lynching and observes that the lyrics never mention race:

There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far. As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.

Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to- that’s what this song is about.
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And I'm seeing Shannon Watts responding (at Twitter):

Translation: Jason Aldean simply wants to return to a time in America when “good old boys” could shoot or beat the **** out of people who they didn’t think belonged in their town. Also, this song is two months old and now far past the legal song judgment period. Good day.
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And that provokes Roseanne Barr:

Him Talking about small town values is not the same thing that your mind controlled dipshit brain filters it as. All you are doing is showing that you’re batshit crazy and that does no good for anyone. If you don’t like the song don’t listen to it. certainly don’t project your insanity on to it. My god you people are INSANE. Maybe check yourself into a facility or something. Liberals in my day protected art and made fun of those that said it had satanic messaging when you play it backwards or **** like that. That’s what you guys are now, the epitome of what you used to hate. Go get help or maybe dicked down and shut the **** up. thanks.
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I added the boldface.

ADDED: I'm reading "Jason Aldean Already Had the Most Contemptible Country Song of the Decade. The Video Is Worse" by Chris Willman (Variety):

Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” is close to being the most cynical song ever written about the implicit moral superiority of having a limited number of neighbors, which is saying something, given how many attempts to write the Great American Small Town Anthem are generated in a single year. At least most of the others at least put up the appearance of celebrating local pride, not prejudice. But for Aldean, it’s about how tiny burgs are under the imminent threat of attack from lawless urban marauders who will have to be kept at bay by any means necessary — meaning, pretty explicitly, vigilantism.
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AND: Shannon Watts aptly and gracefully responds: "Please add to my obituary: 'She was honored to be called a dipshit by Roseanne Barr.'"
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kinda like Roseanne Barr's response actually

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