I don't know if you've seen it yet, but a video went viral online that featured a bunch of girls dancing to a song at a gas station. I'm unclear as to all the details but it appears that this is some sort of festival judging by the speakers that were set up and people milling about in the background as far as the eye can see. 

But the video has caused a pretty mixed reaction with some people condemning it as an example of the state of Western women and others defending these girls. 

“Why don’t men want western women?” pic.twitter.com/DmacXcv8ow

— Chase Austin • Girls, Confidence, Power (@Playboysparadox) February 27, 2024

My loyal readers will know that I'm pretty critical of the modernization of Western women but in this case...I find myself in the latter camp. I'm not sure what the problem is here, and the overt negative reaction to it reeks of one of two things. Either they're trying to garner attention by putting out controversial takes or, more likely, they've witnessed so much modern Western women crap that anything that remotely resembles it automatically gets the hair to stand up on people's necks. 

After watching the video a few times, I've come to the conclusion that there's not much wrong with this video. The girls' dance moves aren't all that sexually charged, and in my opinion, look like moves I've seen from cheerleaders. The girls are clearly having fun just dancing to a choreographed routine. I don't see anyone grinding up on anyone and there wasn't much twerking, if any. 

If I had any criticisms it's that everyone had a Stanley Cup and that's just me thinking that Stanley Cups aren't all that great, but hey, trends are a common part of humanity and the Stanley Cup is in.

There are definitely people out there who are trying to make this a larger deal than it actually is because they benefit from doing so. We live in an attention economy, and as I wrote on Thursday, even negative attention is good attention when that attention could result in monetary benefit. 

(READ: The 'Negative Attention' Economy)

But I'm less interested in the people who are generating faux outrage on purpose and more interested in the people who are susceptible to it because they're tired of modern culture. To be clear, I don't wholly blame them. Western culture is currently in a state where it's exhausting to interact with, and when you're exhausted, everything even slightly annoying seems much bigger than it is. 

Let me say this. Getting worked up over videos like this, where nothing being done is actually wrong, does no one any favors. It will only make the stressed feel more stressed, the people who find commonality with the girls feel spite, and the overall conversation about the modernization of Western women gets muddy and nastier than it needs to be. 

We shouldn't be expecting Puritans. People are allowed to have fun, and while degradation takes on many forms, this video is not one of them. It looks like innocent fun and I feel like we should be encouraging innocent fun, not denouncing it because it doesn't look like something you'd see on a church stage or, in the leftist's case, because it's white women appropriating music or whatever nonsense they're coming at it with. 

Pick your battles in the culture war. This isn't one of them.