TikToker who debunked Jason Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town' video receives racist, violent hate mail - eviltoast

Since countering Aldean’s claim the video only contains “real news footage,” Destinee Stark has received a wave of hateful messages from defenders of the song.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Stomp on the flag and light it up
    Yeah, ya think you’re tough.
    Well, try that in a small town.
    See how far ya make it down the road.
    Around here, we take care of our own.
    You cross that line, it won’t take long.
    For you to find out, I recommend you don’t.
    Try that in a small town.
    Got a gun that my granddad gave me

    Flag burning is 1st Amendment protected free speech and he is threatening gun violence which is an actual crime.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s very telling that they thought this song was in defense of and promoting small towns. It’s the exact opposite.

      For one, I doubt many small towns are having liberal protests. Largely, I imagine, because two, they’re proudly declaring they’re close minded and violent. This song is just “patriotic” violence porn over imagining someone protesting for equal civil rights. Frankly it just reminds me, a non-white person, to stay the hell away from small towns.

      Is it too cruel to suggest that we let small towns fend for themselves completely if they’re so proud of it?

      • thelongshot93@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And it’s not like we haven’t let towns die before. There’s so many along railroads in the middle of nowhere that just stopped existing because people didn’t need to take trains everywhere anymore.

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Flag burning is 1st Amendment protected free speech

      Were you under the impression that he was going to call the cops on them? Because whoosh

      he is threatening gun violence which is an actual crime.

      Saying you own a gun is not the same as threatening to murder someone.

      • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        What a wild two statements to make back to back. Yeah, my entire problem with it is that it is a call for illegal vigilante violence, against someone exercising their constitutional right. As a political statement, it’s a messed up thing to be promoting.

        And right after you “correct” me and tell me no, the people in the titular small town are not going to call the police, aka they are taking care of things themselves illegally, you try to also claim they’re not threatening the hypothetical flag burning person with a gun? They are obviously violently threatening repeatedly, and the next line is about a gun. If you want to claim the mentioned gun is not necessarily being brandished, I see why you’re saying that but “this is a man with a gun who is threatening physical violence…he never explicitly said he is threatening GUN violence” is such a weak point. Fine, remove the word “gun” from my point. He is still threatening violence which is an actual crime.

        • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          my entire problem with it is that it is a call for illegal vigilante violence

          Or a notification that destruction of property won’t be tolerated? Could be either. I mean really it could mean any number of things. As with most songs, it’s intentionally vague. But you’re the one going around proclaiming what’s “obviously” going on.

          Fine, remove the word “gun” from my point. He is still threatening violence which is an actual crime.

          Also no.

          “If you try to rape my wife, I’m going to kill you.” Is this a criminal threat of violence? If it’s preceded by “if” and *if *the consequences are perfectly reasonable given the situation?

          Only difference is I’m being much more explicit.

    • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      You got it wrong.

      The implied threat to use a firearm comes after that, in regards to trying to take the firearm in question, not in regards to the section quoted.

      If you’re going to point out hypocrisy, point to the accurate hypocrisy :)

      • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        See how far you make it down the road because he has a gun… which he will use as a pointing device to politely direct you elsewhere.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean this song is dumb as fuck but the quote is misleading.

          That last line is the start of a second verses focusing on how you can’t take his granpappy’s gun - it’s not part of a continued threat from the first verse

          OP definitely knew this, because the punctuation doesn’t even line up as if it were the end of the verse. This is deliberately misleading, which is weird, because the song is obviously already ridden with shit lines.

          • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            The entire thing is a threat of violence, see all the un-bolded parts. Like literally what is different about a small town in this song which forces people to stop burning flags, except that they will violently prevent you from exercising your first amendment rights?

            Immediately mentioning a gun is specifying gun violence but threatening violence in reaction to free speech in general is illegal and an immoral call for vigilante justice.

          • czech@no.faux.moe
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            1 year ago

            Yes the implied violence and the introduction of grandpas gun are purely coincidental! How misleading of OP!

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It is misleading. The second verse literally has its own implied threat.

              Got a gun that my granddad gave me

              They say one day they’re gonna round up

              Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

              This is just how songs, paragraphs, and language in general work.

              • czech@no.faux.moe
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                1 year ago

                Just because the second verse literally has its own implied threat does not mean the first verse is unrelated. In songs and paragraphs adjacent sentences are typically related- its how English works- but I can’t speak for all languages.

                • irmoz@reddthat.com
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s not “unrelated”. It’s just not part of the same shitty statement. It’s part of a different shitty statement.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  No. I’m against people intentionally misleading others even when I agree with their general thrust.

                  If people stopped buying in when they were being obviously mislead, we wouldn’t have had Trump

                  This really shouldn’t be such a hard concept for you to grasp.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Except that’s not how songs are received. We don’t read them. We listen to them. And the two topic dog whistle is as old as Jim Crow.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Imagine listening to music and not being able to tell where different verses are. Song must be confusing!

      • zaph@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Flag burning is protected and threatening gun violence is a crime. What the gun violence is a reaction to is irrelevant.

        • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          It matters in this case because the quoted lyrics imply the gun is linked to the flag portion of the song but it’s the start of a different verse. Not getting the facts straight devalues the (valid) criticisms and allows people to dismiss the whole thing outright. The point can be made without being misleading or being inaccurate, so why undermine it?

          • diablexical@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            But the section about having a gun immediately follows one about burning the flag? Comes across to me as hero fantasies of the flag burner escalating and giving the gun holder a justified reason to shoot them.

      • CannaVet@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Really speaks to Republicans actual priority when the only take they can apply to anything in society is “It’s my god given American right to ensure everybody at all times knows exactly how hard my dick gets thinking about murdering them”

      • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The fact that this is down voted… hey guys maybe listen to the actual song so you can hear how this is very obviously an entire new verse, and the gun is not related to the flag burning? Why do we care more about bashing the song than being actually correct?

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          this is very obviously an entire new verse, and the gun is not related to the flag burning?

          One story or one argument can very much span multiple different verses. Plenty of songs will use different verses to each provide a similar argument to the core point of the song, and plenty will tell a single story across all verses.

          And looking through the lyrics, the entire song is at any point either listing actions or hinting at consequences. Which honestly makes it worse since that effectively suggests protected first amendment expression deserves the exact same vigilante violence as armed robbery and carjacking?

          maybe listen to the actual song

          Honestly I’d rather not. Mostly because country is one of the few music genres I absolutely can’t stand. Just whatever it is, the style absolutely grates on me to where I struggle to make it through a single song.

          Also it’s lyrically pretty lazy. Write some sentences, change words around so the syllable count matches the tempo and verse structure, throw in some loose rhymes, an identifiable chorus and some callbacks to earlier in the song and you’ve got lyrics for a song. It would be entirely forgettable if it wasn’t so disgustingly racist. And worse than just being racist, it’s all painfully obvious dogwhistles which is just insulting the listener’s intelligence

          • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            ok this song in particular has generally supported “country” ideals separated by “try that in a small town,” with each ideal being a new verse. It’s possible this is the only verse that’s actually a continuation of the previous verse while having already traversed a 20 second chorus, making no mention of the previous verse, but that seems very unlikely.

            The only verse that I’d say directly implies violence is the taking away our guns line, because knowing the culture in places like that most of these things would likely just get you laughed at or threatened/chased away (maybe could consider that violence). For first amendment I’m not saying it’s correct but just don’t be stupid about it. I’m not going to walk into Texas saying howdy fellas gonna vote to take your guns and stomp on the flag, just like I’m not gonna walk into a place in Manhattan and say yo guys deport all immigrants amirite?

        • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Knee jerk, probably. People see the first line and don’t bother to read the rest without carrying over the initial reaction.

          Which, that’s the humor of it. You start out with a jarring intro, switch to a lighthearted part, and finish with a wink and a smile. Alas, a lot of people can’t let go of their first reaction in text like they would in person. Kinda silly, but this is the internet lol.

        • Ghostc1212@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Modern society cares more about fighting perceived evil than they do about being good, or honorable. Even the truth must not stand in the way of the wrath of the angry mob of keyboard warriors.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No, that’s not what it implies at all. No one was talking about 2A or taking guns away. He’s literally mentioning the gun in direct response to the last infraction (burning the flag). Read it again.

        • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Read the lyrics to the actual song again

          Edit: the relevant verse is emphasized

          Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk Carjack an old lady at a red light Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like

          Cuss out a cop, spit in his face Stomp on the flag and light it up Yeah, ya think you’re tough

          Well, try that in a small town See how far ya make it down the road Around here, we take care of our own You cross that line, it won’t take long For you to find out, I recommend you don’t Try that in a small town

          Got a gun that my granddad gave me They say one day they’re gonna round up Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

          Try that in a small town See how far ya make it down the road Around here, we take care of our own You cross that line, it won’t take long For you to find out, I recommend you don’t Try that in a small town

          Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right If you’re looking for a fight Try that in a small town Try that in a small town

          Try that in a small town See how far ya make it down the road Around here, we take care of our own You cross that line, it won’t take long For you to find out, I recommend you don’t Try that in a small town

          Try that in a small town Ooh-ooh Try that in a small town

  • MicroWave@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    Last week Country Music Television, which initially aired the video, pulled it from rotation. But after Aldean defended the music video by stating that “there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage,” Stark said it was easy to prove him wrong

    In a TikTok video that’s gotten at least 1.5 million views, Stark found that two of the clips in the video came from stock footage. One showed a woman flipping off police at at labor day event in Germany and another was a commercial stock clip of a molotov cocktail.

    Lying about it and then getting caught.

    Stark shared screenshots with NBC News of hateful messages she’s received since posting her videos about Aldean’s song, which included racist slurs, fatphobic remarks and death threats.

    Just bizarre.

    • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s not bizarre, the right wing are terrorists. This is how they respond to anyone who challenges their fiction.

      • FaneW@kbin.social
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        That’s a very bias comment, there are hateful people on both sides. And calling a whole group of people terrorists isn’t going to do anything but divide people more.

        • Radium@sh.itjust.works
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          Last I checked only one side wrote a super racist song about killing the other side of they “come to our small town and try that”.

          I don’t see left wing terror attacks in this country do you? Because I see a lot of right wing ones, at pride, at power stations, at events with people reading books to children…

          You have an incredibly stupid take and the “it will only divide us further” narrative is just pleading with one side to accept the terrorism of the other as not to make it worse. It’s like saying that the abused in an abusive relationship is also at fault, “They are both good people, she just makes him so mad sometimes that he hits her, she should stop making him mad” .

          Also love that this is your only comment on lemmy….

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            Last I checked only one side wrote a super racist song about killing the other side of they “come to our small town and try that”.

            I mean if you’re looking for anecdotes, I recall a certain militant liberal celebrity who posted a photo of herself with Trump’s decapitated head…

            • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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              I had to look that up because I wasn’t sure what you’re talking about. I agree, that was a shitty thing Kathy Griffin did in 2017. She shouldn’t have done that.

              Still doesn’t change the fact that the republican president literally attempted to overturn a free and fair election via a violent insurrection. Still doesn’t change that republican politicians and pundits use violent rhetoric while attempting to take away human rights from everyone who isn’t a wealthy white male.

              • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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                And tens of thousands of people looted and burned down businesses and vehicles and several people died across the country when some cops killed a guy outside a convenience store.

                Those people weren’t trying to overturn a “free and fair” election. They were trying to overturn an election they believed to be fraudulent. Now I don’t think it was fraudulent, but also you and everyone else are intentionally misrepresenting the situation. And I would hope you would do the same if you believed that to be true.

        • PizzasDontWearCapes@sh.itjust.works
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          The public actions taken by right-wing activists include showing up a events heavily armed, attempting to abduct politicians, and militia-style parading

          This isn’t a “both sides” situation

        • Laticauda@lemmy.world
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          Anyone still trying to claim “both sides” at this point are just willfully ignorant.

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            Anybody who thinks “both sides” aren’t responsible for horrific shit are just as primally tribal as conservatives. Try thinking for yourself sometime.

            • Laticauda@lemmy.world
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              One side is literally trying to erase the rights of people like me and my friends, while the other isn’t. So what I think is that you should shut the fuck up.

            • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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              Want to know the difference between people who vote Democrat and people who vote Republican? Most people either vote for Republicans or against them. There isn’t a “both sides” it’s “these people scare me because they stand for violence, hate speech, less rights for anyone who isn’t a wealthy white male, and they attempted a literal insurrection when their guy lost an election”

        • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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          It’s really not at this point. And claiming both sides are hateful is completely disingenuous at this point. One side is making death threats, talking about holy wars against Jews and intimidating the other side. It’s like saying your raving gun toting uncle is the same as his brother who said some bad stuff 20 years ago. Sure what was said 20 years ago is awful, but the other uncle is planning to shoot up a school because it won’t teach kids that slavery was good.

        • ashok36@lemmy.world
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          The right wingers and their former president literally attempted a coup. Yes, they are idiots and did a shit job of planning and preparing and trump lost his nerve but they still tried it.

        • teamevil@lemmy.world
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          In all fairness if the right stopped being terrorists they’d probably not be called terrorists.

        • nac82@lemm.ee
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          Republicans are terrorist traitors and should be treated as such.

        • Addv4@kbin.social
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          Looks at people on the other side of the divide, ranting about the latest conspiracy theory, very against abortion (to the point of stoning women who want an abortion), saying that slavery was beneficial towards slave’s skill sets, wanting to expand child labor because “No oNe Wants to woRk aNYmoRe” (rather than no one paying enough, which seems to be the real reason):

          "I think I’m good. "

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          Domestic terrorism in the US is overwhelming committed by the right. Look up the FBI’s statistics if you don’t believe me.

          People are divided for a reason: because one side is full of fucking Nazis, terrorists, and their sympathizers.

          Oh, and “bias” is a noun, not an adjective. Maybe try consulting a dictionary before you misuse it again.

        • yata@sh.itjust.works
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          There is no “both sides” to this. And the radicalisation of the right wing has been a very deliberate process.

        • Misconduct@lemmy.world
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          Ayo remind me real quick which political party is forcing women to give birth to babies that won’t live and putting their lives in danger? Also, which one put up barbed wire in a river to try and drown people/children legally seeking asylum? Which political party was it again that had a shit-fit about being “forced” to make a website for gay people and it turned out that never happened but legislature was made anyway because your right to discriminate matters more than treating people like human beings?

          If these are the people that you willingly affiliate with then you’re one of them. At least own it.

        • InternetUser2012@lemmy.world
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          Yeah that two sides shit isn’t going to fly anymore. There is nothing more to divide. They are literally terrorists at this point and defending it puts you right with them.

    • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
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      Don’t you see? Since the whole video is news now, by definition all footage contained in it is news footage. Check mate

  • dangblingus@lemmy.world
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    Newsflash: unironically listening to modern country like Jason Aldean or any other arena country act, makes you an idiot. It’s a bad song, with bad lyrics, with bad music, sung by a millionaire larping as working class. Everything about Country is a lie.

      • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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        I’ve been trying to comb through (haha) why I’m so annoyed with the fact that Luke Combs just released a cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car. At first blush I just thought “God damn, what an appropriating prick.” I’ve always thought of it as kind of a feminist song, and since Tracy is Black, as an intersectional song. And here is some rich white country star singing it in a less good way and making mountains more money than she ever made on it.

        Intellectually, I know that there are instances where men are heavily burdened by becoming default caregivers of ailing parents, but it falls on women much more often.

        I realized it is a bit sexist of me that it rubs me the wrong way for a man to complain about financially supporting his female partner who refuses to work, and it feels like an empowering feminist notion when a woman has had enough of the same and moves out on her own because of it. I guess that’s a pretty backwards thinking on my part.

        But also, when he sings, he sounds like he’s constipated and trying to poop.

        • 1847953620@lemmy.world
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          It bothers me that the original is much better and his just sounds lifeless and generic af. Like the videos of taking pitch correction to a bunch of classics and making them dull and ruined.

      • littleblue✨@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Or, you know, discover the roots of it all and actually come to recognize that modern music was largely ripped off non-white artists. 🤷🏼‍♂️

        • Fazoo@lemmy.ml
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          Depends on what you listen to. You’d be hard pressed to claim something like power metal, or folk metal to go further, has much of any roots in Black rock, beyond a long trail of this guy did a thing, which lead to another thing, and several artistic choices later you get the very basic foundation of metal itself.

          A lot of those genres base their inspiration in folk music of Nordic and Euro origin, and the fantasy elements being just as local or more Tolkien in nature.

          Saying modern music all distills down to ripping off black guitarists of the early 1900s is, at this point, an assinine discussion to hold. There is so much nuance, creativity, and departure from the norm in all the decades to follow.

          • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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            Agreed. You can go to the artists in the early 1900s and find connections. Even the 1950s and they admitted the took inspiration from non white artists. But today with the internet and everything being accessible I just don’t see it.

            • Fazoo@lemmy.ml
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              Thank the gods for the internet when it comes to music. Mongolian throat singing got more attention then it would of, especially now with the Hu reviving interest after Tengger Cavalry brought it around in the 2000s. So much obscure goodness getting some main stream attention.

      • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
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        Seems I need to broaden my folk punk knowledge, all of the stuff I’ve listened to is more ska punk-adjacent, like Syke! Life Is Awesome by BTMI.

    • orbitz@lemmy.ca
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      I wouldn’t go far enough to say that for the reason that enjoying the instrumentals (unsure if the correct word, but I mean the melody from non-vocal sounds) is a personal taste. Most people don’t care for my taste which is mostly electronica genres not much lyrics usually, but to each their own.

      Personally country music sounds like nails on a chalkboard but I wouldn’t ever say enjoying a certain sound makes someone an idiot. I have read about this story and as a whole it does sound like someone scoring points on an ignorant (and false) view that I have no interest in checking out, for more reasons than just being country and annoying to personally listen to.

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    1 year ago

    Someone with better video editing skills than myself (none whatsoever) should remake this video but exclusively use footage from the January 6th insurrection.

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      She debunked that "“there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage,” as Aldean said in defense of the music video. She showed that some of the footage was from a an event in Canada, and a protest in Ukraine, as well as some stock footage. The article explains more.

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      The title “TikToker who debunked Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ video…” is a little silly and confusing but the TikToker, Destinee, was pointing out how racist the music video is and also debunked Jason Aldean’s claim that all the music video footage is exclusively real American protests.

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      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKkjJAIFGNE

      there are a bunch of black people in this reaction video saying it isn’t racist. watch the reaction video then come back and let me know what you think about the reaction video.

      Edit: I like how people are downvoting me. I wonder how many of them are white. Watch the reaction video, then come back and let me know you actually watched the reaction video all the way through. Also let me know if you are black or white. What I’m trying to figure out is what percentage of people that are pissed are they white or black. The more knowledge we have the better off we are.

      When I first started hearing about this song, and they were people feeling was racist, I thought maybe I should start asking is it racist or not?. I am a middle-aged white guy, so I’m probably not real well qualified to determine what it is or is not racist towards Black people. I can make an assumption of how people, Black people, might view it. But I’ve never walked in the shoes of a black man or a black woman.

      I’ve never been pregnant and I’m not a female so there’s no way I can know what it is like to be pregnant. Nor can I figure out what it is like for the emotional stresses of what a female goes through. I can make an assumption or a guess that a certain situation might be stressful or that a certain certain situation a female might not like, but I am not a female so I cannot know it for a fact. So I would have to go talk to a female.

      I’m not a Marine so there is no real way for me to know what a Marine goes through.

      So I thought the best way to figure out of what do Black people think about this video is effectively go online and look at YouTube videos of Black people responding to the video. That is why I am encouraging those who are down voting this to go watch that video and then come back and respond and tell me what do you think of that video. And also to state are you black or white. for example if I get a bunch of Black people come in here and tell me yes it’s racist as hell, well then obviously that’s where Black people are at and I need to listen to that.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s a terrible way to judge it. Part of the effect of systemic racism is that it obscures itself. Part of the tactics of white supremecy is to gaslight and deny. The people who chose to shoot this video at the site of a lynching and race massacre know that this video is racist as fuck, but they deny it and obscure it. It’s dog whistling and it’s not even that subtle.

        I’m sure if it ask Kanye or Clarence they have no problems with the messaging in the video. Maybe it’s because they are tokens or maybe it’s because they don’t recognize the symbolism of lynching black people at a courthouse.

        What do academics and social scientists say, students of history and anthropology?

        The video says that in small town, the law will not protect you from extrajudicial murder if you burn a flag, which is a lawful, First Amendment protected activity. Any attempt to deny, excuse, or justify this messaging is yet another act of complete, unironic ignorance, or is intentional gaslighting.

      • Arobanyan@lemmynsfw.com
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        I clicked on the link and literally none of the top comments are from black people, they’re from white people, so something is certainly wrong here and I don’t think it’s those downvoting you

        What’s happening here is very typical with marginalized communities, pandering to White Supremacists to gain some semblance of respect. It isn’t the first time this has happened. Shall we take a walk back down memory lane to the time Malcolm X sat beside George Rockwell?

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        When I first started hearing about this song, and they were people feeling was racist, I thought maybe I should start asking is it racist or not?

        If you read the article and watch the TikTok video a person of color is telling you that she considers it racist. It’s fine if some other PoCs disagree. But the discussion here started with the opinion of Ms Stark.

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    At this point I only know I’m right when I get death threats. We should wear em as a badge of honor at this point.

    • III@lemmy.world
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      Probably not a good idea. People being proud of upsetting others is how we got here. And we have all seen how slippery that slope is.

      • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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        It is not only okay to upset intolerant assholes, it is a service to society. Bigots literally get offended over other people’s existence. They are the ones causing the problem in the first place, and they should be made to feel unwelcome as they do to others.

        There is no way for LGBTQ and minorities to live in certain communities in this country without being offensive to the white Christian Nationalist hivemind. Just the fact that they exist and want to live their lives and have their own culture is enough to upset these types.

        Look up the tolerance paradox in case you somehow haven’t heard of it. We must not tolerate intolerance if we want to live in a nice society.

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        People who make death threats are garbage people who deserve to be upset. Nothing wrong with being proud of upsetting them.

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      So? He chose to record it. Pretty sure he understands English at at least a rudimentary level, and the choice of setting for the video was NOT a coincidence. He deserves all the derision he’s getting.

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        I agree, I’m just a bit baffled as to why he would choose to do this song. I mean, it would be bad enough if he composed it, but to hear it and think “yes, I want to say that” is just beyond understanding for me. It’s almost like setting a trump speech to music. So. Weird.

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        All the derision like being #1 or #2 on all the charts?

        Guess you can’t cancel someone in a small town either. 😂

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          But you can “cancel” the Dixie Chicks for criticizing Bush Jr. Weird that that is what contemporary country fans can’t handle and implied threats of violence are just fine.

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          Small towns do enough to “cancel” themselves lmao. Keep voting for that corporate boot that turns small towns into barren shitholes full of meth and bigotry.

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        He knew there’s enough idiots who will take it up as their anthem as he rakes in the cash and laughs at how gullible his trash fans are

    • Saneless@sh.itjust.works
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      No different than every other samey sounding auto tuned pop star

      Country…hah, they wish. A pop artist having an accent and tickling the lizard parts of uneducated people’s brains doesn’t make you a country singer

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      It’s all AI, these days. Or at least most of it sounds like some garbage an AI would write

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        With how garbage the lyrics are it’s definitely AI. If I had no moral scruples and was asked to write a song like this, I could do a far better job.

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    I lived in conservative california and that sounds about right. Only thing that kept us alive was that my spouse happens to be a vet and we’re asian so we get a pass. We lived there for a while until my spouse got a job after covid. They literally think that it’s a warzone out there. So much bullshit spread about the city. Of course the news just fans the flames.

    This lady I knew never went to the fashion district in LA because she pretty much believed that her blond and blue eyed kids would be snatched off the streets by minorities. The ironic thing is that we lived off the I-15 which is a huge human trafficking corridor so the kidnapping would have more likely happened closer to where they live. Also phelan is full of meth heads but you know, that doesn’t matter.

    The song is about sundown towns and that makes it racist AF.

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          By making this argument you appear to be supporting those who are sending the death threats. That’s not a good look. In every conflict in history between those who used racism as a reason to do things and those who oppose them, the racist people happened to be the bad guys. Probably not a good idea to align yourself with racists…

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      You’re being disingenuous. Violence doesn’t have to be a physical threat to be considered violent. If colors, coughing, and arguments can be described as violent, hate mail most certainly can. Especially if it’s threatening someones life or livelihood.

      US Department Of Justice: “The “crime” in hate crime is often a violent crime, such as assault, murder, arson, vandalism, or threats to commit such crimes. It may also cover conspiring or asking another person to commit such crimes, even if the crime was never carried out.”

      Merriam Webster’s definition of violent:

      • 1b: extremely powerful or forceful and capable of causing damage (e.g. violent coughing)
      • 4a: notably forceful, furious, or vehement (e.g. violent argument, a violent denunciation)
      • 4b: extreme, intense (e.g. violent pain, violent colors)
      • EmperorHenry@lemmy.world
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        You’re being disingenuous. Violence doesn’t have to be a physical threat to be considered violence.

        Words aren’t violence. And threats are already illegal.

        • sweetviolentblush@sh.itjust.works
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          Words aren’t violence.

          Do you need me to post the definition of argument and denunciation too? I mean it’s right there. In the definition I posted. Maybe you personally believe words can’t be violent, but that doesn’t change that they can be.

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            No point debating dumbasses that try to “gotcha” about semantics. Like you said, disingenuous. Troll. Edgelord maybe. Hopefully he’s not actually this stupid.

            • sweetviolentblush@sh.itjust.works
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              It’s just such a myopically ignorant thing to say. According to mental health professionals the effects of verbal abuse can cause a slew of issues both mental and physical, and we know bullying can lead to suicides, swatting people is literally using your words to invoke violence. Three ways words can be violent just off the top of my head. Words can absolutely cause violence, what a shitty take.