The Left’s Cultural Domination and Impact on Sports
The great Andrew Breitbart famously — and correctly — once said, “politics is downstream to culture.”
Progressives understand this far better than the right. It is why they have infiltrated and currently dominate our culture. This includes movies, music, visual arts, literature, comic books, and even entertainment aimed specifically at children.
This domination helps explains much of the behavior of our teenagers and young adults, age groups who seem especially susceptible to the influence of the world of arts and entertainment.
As one can see from this poll, those considered Gen Z — people born after 1996 — are much more likely to be Marxist than those of other age ranges. Some of that is due to the influence of leftist academics upon college-aged kids, but much of it is due to the influence of our culture.
Those who follow AACONS know we speak to this point often; especially with guests like actor Nick Searcy, and writers Eric July, Richard Paul Evans, and Mike Baron.
Progressives have infiltrated more than the arts, however. Their influence has bled into sports as well. Baseball, football, and basketball openly support the DNC-BLM-LGBTQIABCEDEF+ agenda with actions ranging from moving All-Star games to punish states for their voting laws to funding a group working to defund the police.
Inevitably, the NHL joined the party. That officially began in November of 2017 when the hockey league hired Kim Davis as “Executive Vice President, Social Impact, Growth Initiatives & Legislative Affairs” who immediately lectured that sports can “drive positive social change.”
Sadly, this urge to drive positive social change somehow cost the NHL the good sense to be able to distinguish between the two sexes, a weakness that they felt compelled to share with the world:
More recently, the NHL has continued its campaign to appease fans more interested in gay inclusivity than other stuff like, for example, hockey. They had a PRIDE night that required Philadelphia Flyer players to wear rainbow jerseys during a pregame skate-around, as well as wrap their sticks with rainbow tape.
Ivan Provolov, a Russian Orthodox Christian, declined to participate, saying “I respect everybody's choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion."
To the NHL’s credit, it made clear that Provolov was not required to celebrate homosexuality. In fact, Provolov was allowed to play in that night’s game. But, the reaction of others is noteworthy.
One NHL analyst determined that “go back to where you came from” may be a nasty remark in most contexts but is perfectly appropriate if that immigrant’s Christian faith offends you:
Another viral response came from a reporter who ranted that the Flyers should be fined a million bucks for not forcing Provolov to violate his religious beliefs:
It seems doubtful that this reporter would have argued that the San Francisco 49ers should be fined for allowing Colin Kaepernick to play after he refused to stand for the National Anthem, even if he had done so after the NFL passed a rule requiring that players to stand for the anthem or stay in the locker room during its playing. As I mentioned, the NHL has no rule that requires its athletes to cover themselves in the gay flag.
In it's pursuit of wokeness, the NHL also looked into some very odd hiring practices:
As part of its forthcoming All-Star game weekend in Sunrise, Florida, the National Hockey League planned to host a special event called the Pathway to Hockey Summit. Part of the league’s Hockey is For Everyone initiative, the summit was described in a now-deleted LinkedIn post as a “career event for diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey”.
In addition to be over 18 and a US resident, participants had to “identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability”. Also welcome: veterans.
This post was taken down after a complaint from Florida governor Ron DeSantis. I suppose that was easier than changing the name of the event to “Hockey is For Everyone...Except White People.”
Provolov is not the only athletic figure subject to this sort of totalitarian, anti-Christian, buffoonery. Tony Dungy, an Evangelical Christian as well as the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, has been under attack for agreeing to speak at the March For Life rally, something some consider to be a crime that should be a fireable offense:
My issue with the woke folks isn’t just that they insert their politics into the culture, it's that they want to stop people with other points of view from inserting theirs. Politics is downstream to a culture that progressives seek and have largely succeeded in dominating. They protect their domination jealously. They are willing to destroy the lives and livelihoods of any who challenge it, whether it be on a concert stage, a movie, a comic book, or on a hockey rink.
— DK