As the drive is currently underway the lack of merit is completely exposed.

We as a nation right now are being subjected to a sweeping cause where numerous players are rising up with manufactured morality to root out what they deem to be socially seditious behavior. A growing faction of accusatory justice seekers are targeting numerous aspects of our culture, from our history to our entertainment, and they are only becoming more ardent and more ridiculous. Scalps gathered are more important than common sense.

In this climate it is inevitable that Dave Portnoy, the president of Barstool Sports, would find himself and his outlet targeted by the torch-and-pitchfork outrage mobs. If unfamiliar, Portnoy is an unapologetic sort who revels in being politically incorrect with his sports portal. His delivery may be tough for some to take but one thing you need to give him credit for is facing down the hypersensitive crowds who frequently go after him over his use of insensitive language. This weekend Portnoy has come under fire once again, and the effort to ‘’cancel’’ him is revealing while it is currently a work in progress.

It begins in what is very familiar fashion to us — old comments dredged up to become today’s outrage. A twitter account dedicated to this very activity — Resist Programming — posted a video from a podcast appearance Portnoy made…four years ago. In it Dave made some disparaging remarks regarding Colin Kaepernick. Potentially racist comments alone would be enough, but that he dared insult the icon of the outrage set is more than can be tolerated.

With an assist from former ESPN personality Jemele Hill, herself an energetic cancel culture figure, the video grabbed the attention of many intolerant sorts on social media. Resist Programming is in a full court press to get Portnoy and Barstool Sports to suffer all of the effects of being canceled. That Portnoy has been dismissive about the effort (In a response to the this Portnoy offered, ”They’ve been trying to cancel me for two decades — I’m uncancellable.”) This has only stoked the efforts of his opponents.

The Resist Programming account is wholly dedicated to projecting Portnoy’s offenses and it now going after those who have business relationships with Barstool Sports; NASCAR is a preferred target right now. A number of automotive journalists have jumped in, seeking to apply pressure to the racing circuit to disconnect its relationship with Barstool.

It's also telling (and this is kind of what concerned me) that not a single other media member has gone after them during this. If no one will pressure NASCAR on this, nothing will happen. More tweets about Kyle Larson's dirt wins than B*rstool being horrific.

— jake sundstrom (@jakesundstrom) June 30, 2020

I asked. #NASCAR said no comment. From there it is up to each individual person to determine how they feel about that position. Personally, I feel like the messaging and strategy is clearly blurred. https://t.co/YcirCL6EYg

— Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) June 30, 2020

I often don’t mention this, but Jake is right.

Come on, y’all. Hold NASCAR accountable. Your voice matters. When the organization actively harms people or doesn’t live up to its words, say so. https://t.co/AHIlZjsNak

— Alanis King Jones (@alanisnking) June 30, 2020

Here you see the presentation of the misguided nature of the cancel movement. Nothing — at all — in the Portnoy video that has been deemed ‘’unacceptable’’ had anything to do with NASCAR. These writers are jumping at the racing circuit, demanding answers, or even more. USA Today has weighed in to say the relationship needs to be severed, and Sports Illustrated is now challenging the Cleveland Browns to also disassociate from Barstool.

NASCAR has done nothing objectionable here, and the Browns are connected only in a distant fashion. This all surrounds an appearance from FOUR YEARS ago. Nobody was bothered, offended, or impacted in any fashion — for four years. But then this weekend the video is posted and outrage erupts, as people claim offense to something that had zero effect on them, until they were essentially instructed to become offended. This proves that Portnoy’s words held no import or had no influence, not until they were unearthed and people were coached to become offended.

To display the idiocy, trace the path to NASCAR’s doorstep. Four years ago, on a podcast few saw and everyone forgot, Dave Portnoy made disparaging comments, about a former NFL quarterback. There was no mention of NASCAR, no participation by NASCAR, and no connective tissue to NASCAR in any fashion. The partnership between the two began after this podcast appearance. Anyone who responds to that timing with, ‘’Well no one knew about these comments, before,’’ can then be faced with this reality: Those pre existing comments could not have been so grievous if no one had been bothered prior.

Just behold the disconnect from reality here. These journalists are projecting numerous social crimes onto the racing circuit where none have transpired. NASCAR is being demanded to be accountable for someone else’s unconnected comments. Alanis Jones states directly ‘’the organization actively harms people’’, regarding words spoken by someone else, years ago, not in any way related to NASCAR. But the organization is told it is guilty.

This is exactly what a manufactured outrage looks like, and we can see the gears turning on this one in real time. We are being screeched at about ‘’tolerance’’ from people who cannot tolerate that something was spoken in the past which they never heard, which had no impact on them, and never knew existed. This is the very attitude that needs to be faced and corrected — otherwise everyone will be found culpable of something, someday.