The Butker did it

From: Ben Boychuk, Opinion and Analysis editor [View this email in your browser]( [Blaze Media] [Blaze Media] Cooper Neill/Getty Images Blaze Opinion: The Butker did it If you've been watching the pro-Hamas protests on campuses around the country, you might also be aware that several major universities have canceled their commencement exercises this year. Though some parents might be disappointed, students should consider themselves lucky. They were spared hours of boring commencement speakers dropping bromides and clichés like rabbits drop pellets. Except, unlike the speeches, rabbit poop doesn't stink. Unless you happened to attend Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Then you were in for a treat! I'm Ben Boychuk, opinion and analysis editor of Blaze Media. Every week, I'll share with you a can't-miss story with insights you won't find anywhere else, some gems you might have missed on TheBlaze, and — if you're interested — some of my own reading that I think you'll enjoy. Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker laid down some unconventional wisdom at the small Catholic college last weekend. He said [some truly outlandish things]( for a man with three Super Bowl rings. Here's a sample: While COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years, it is not unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder. Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time, is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro- abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people, it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice. He is not alone. From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common. They are Catholic. This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it. These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society to not bring up. You know, the difficult and unpleasant things. But if we are going to be men and women for this time in history, we need to stop pretending that the "Church of Nice" is a winning proposition. We must always speak and act in charity but never mistake charity for cowardice. So far, so good — and nothing you would not expect a conservative Catholic to say to students at a generally conservative Catholic school. But that isn't what got Butker into trouble. As far as I know, not even his sharp criticism of the priesthood (with a sly Taylor Swift reference) elicited any rebukes or admonishment. It was his emotional encomium to marriage and stay-at-home motherhood that caused such an uproar and even led to his doxxing on X/Twitter by a Kansas City municipal employee. (The state attorney general's office is [investigating](.) "I’m on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation," Butker said. "I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker." I've heard from people in the know that the faculty and administrators on stage were "uncomfortable" with Butker's message. But the graduates clearly loved it, often interrupting him with applause and giving him a standing ovation at the end of the 20-minute address. Blaze Media columnist [Delano Squires says the negative response]( to Butker's perfectly traditional view of marriage and family shines a fresh light on America's deepening cultural rot. "If you want to read stories about women destroying their families in the name of self-love, the Atlantic has got you," Squires wrote Friday. "If you want glowing profiles of women in polyamorous relationships, New York magazine will supply them. If you want to learn that sex work is no different from social work, Teen Vogue will be glad to inform you. If you want to hear how abortion empowers women, you can listen to any Democrat running for office." "But the moment a professional athlete expresses his love for his wife and lauds her devotion to her husband and children, pundits and influencers come out to scold him and conservatives about our 'hatred' of women. Even the NFL condemned his remarks." "Fearless" host [Jason Whitlock also lauded Butker]( for his courage while calling out the cowardice of his critics — in particular, activist Shannon Watts, founder of the anti-gun Moms Demand Action. Watts attacked Butker on X for railing against abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, gays, and "liberated women" but failing to mention “the gun violence that killed a fan at the Super Bowl parade. Gun extremism is part of the religion.” When Whitlock pointed out her hypocrisy, she responded to him with "distortions and lies." "Watts is scared," he wrote. "She’s afraid of gangs, and she’s afraid of Black Lives Matter, woke cancel culture. Lawmakers did not give the shooters access to guns. Other criminals did that. A 23-year-old, a 20-year-old, an 18-year-old, and a 15-year-old were charged with firing weapons at the Chiefs Super Bowl parade. Lyndell Mays, 23, Terry Young, 20, and Dominic Miller, 18, were charged with second-degree murder. The unnamed 15-year-old was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action." In Shannon Watts' world, Whitlock contends, "guns are more harmful than broken families." Truth. While you're at it: Charlie Kirk, the firebrand founder of Turning Point USA, made his debut on TheBlaze Opinion page Thursday with his own take on the Butker brouhaha. "Butker told the truth to women, rather than repeating the same lies that are everywhere in a society, where women are increasingly medicated and increasingly miserable," Kirk argued. "For that, he’s being treated like a pariah. Outlets like Rolling Stone have spread the deranged lie that Butker’s speech was somehow an anti-Semitic screed. This is baseless, but it shows how seriously they want to hurt him." By all means, [read the whole thing](. It packs a punch.   GEMS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED "[How to drain the swamp next time](" by Mark Moyar Moyar is a Hillsdale College historian who worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development under Donald Trump. His new book, “Masters of Corruption: How the Federal Bureaucracy Sabotaged the Trump Presidency,” tells the story of how he took on the administrative state. Although his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, the lessons he learned provide a blueprint for bringing the deep state to heel and draining the swamp at last. "[AI and the end of free will: Are we doomed to be controlled?](" by Glenn Beck "[How the Washington Post, not Nixon, covered up Watergate](" by John D. O'Connor "[Pastors remain silent as Canada perpetrates a mass anti-Christian hate crime](" by Auron MacIntyre "[Democrats love abortion more than their black voters](" by Delano Squires "[The consensual truth behind the left's manufactured outrage](" by Paul Gottfried "[Wisconsin high court’s ruling marks a dark day for religious freedom](" by Frank DeVito "[Why do Republicans care more about foreign aid than foreign policy?](" by Daniel Horowitz "[Europe’s war on food is coming to America](" by Glenn Beck "[Charles III: A portrait of quiet traditionalism](" by Helen Roy [Read more opinion & analysis from Blaze News](   WHAT THE EDITOR IS READING "[The Rise of Left-Wing Nonprofit Journalism](" by Scott Walter Fact-checking groups assist with control of social media and political narratives. Here as everywhere in the media landscape, the Left enjoys more groups and more money than conservatives. Harvard’s Nieman Lab says, “Publishers hope fact-checking can become a revenue stream. Right now, it’s mostly Big Tech who is buying.” Nonprofit support comes from the usual suspects, including Soros, Tides, Ford, and Carnegie. "[Fenced Minds](" by Chris Bray, Tell Me How This Ends Journalists warn that the dangerous American far-right is maneuvering to prevent the passage of a bill to punish anti-Semitism, and they also note that opposition to the anti-Semitism bill is being led by Jerrold Nadler — a liberal, Jewish congressman from New York City. Why does this make sense? It doesn’t. It doesn’t begin to. They’re insane. They don’t see the most obvious reality in the most basic way. They have broken with the world of the real. "[Is Common Sense Realism Making a Comeback?](" by Jeff Minick, Chronicles The real battle being fought in America today is not between the right and the left. It is a battle between common sense and nonsense. And if that big, whopping crowd at the Wildwood rally is any indication, the commonsense crew is making its voice heard loud and clear. "[Torch the Higher-Ed Sector](" by Sumantra Maitra, The American Conservative The correct lesson is that too many people go to colleges for degrees that are irrelevant, accruing debts that they don’t need, extending their perpetual adolescence and the resulting ethos of victimhood and tantrums. "[The Implosion of the Universities](" by Michael Millerman, IM-1776 Universities can still be something more than assembly lines for the construction of political propaganda and political propagandists. They only need to recognize the possibility of a different approach to education, one that privileges thoughtful questions, well-founded argumentation, and genuine freedom of thought. You can expel nature with a pitchfork — but only for so long before it no longer returns. “[The cult of ‘my truth’](” by Frank Furedi, Spiked Online When the truth is seen as something dangerous, it is almost inevitable that it will be suppressed. It is only a matter of time before free speech is limited to protect the public from potentially harmful facts.   WORD TO THE WISE "Sometimes men come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede — not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above fourteen." — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Reflections (1799) [Blaze Media] © 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive emails from Blaze Media. [Privacy Policy]( | [Manage your preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( 8275 S. Eastern Ave, Ste 200-245 Las Vegas, Nevada, 89123, USA