Actor Chris Pratt swims against the current of the majority of his Hollywood colleagues, openly professing his Christian faith, love for hunting and farming (including operating a farm of his own), and a generally conservative personal world view, so that makes him a target for the online scolds who enjoy creating controversies out of nothing at all.
The latest “non-troversy” began when Pratt was photographed wearing a t-shirt that showed the American flag with the rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” slogan from the Gadsden flag superimposed on it.
— positive attitude hunter™️ (@hunteryharris) July 15, 2019
The Gadsden flag, as most people who took high school history classes could tell you, was created during the Revolutionary War, and used the rattlesnake because it was viewed at the time as a uniquely American animal and symbol. It’s been used throughout our country’s history by those who wished to voice their support for civil liberties or opposition to government overreach, like the tea party movement and various libertarian groups.
But in the eyes of Yahoo News, it’s a “white supremacist” symbol.
The headline of this article (posted on Yahoo Movies UK) originally read “Chris Pratt criticised for ‘white supremacist’ T-shirt” — it’s since been toned down to “Chris Pratt criticised for T-shirt choice” — and writer Hanna Flint’s argument starts with smearing the tea party as “Far Right” and Second Amendment supporters as “gun-toting,” and then makes a claim that the flag is “sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts.”
To support her claims, Flint writes, “Many have posted their feelings about it on Twitter.”
As Twitchy pointed out, “many” is in reality just four.
“Many have posted.” Can you guess how many is “many,” according to Flint’s article? Four. Four people. Including one person who deleted their tweet. The three people who didn’t delete their tweets have a combined following of around 3,000.
It’s a bizarre and ridiculous attack, to be sure. The Gadsden Flag has been adopted by many Americans over the years — including by those on the left, such as this Ms. Magazine cover opposing anti-abortion laws…
…and for non-political purposes, such as the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team…whose 2010 World Cup uniforms displaying “D.T.O.M.” — an abbreviation of “Don’t Tread on Me” — were designed by Nike.
So wait, Nike cancels a sneaker with the Betsy Ross flag because Colin Kaepernick said it was racist but their 2010 soccer uniform was fine then but it’s racist now on Chris Pratt’s shirt…it’s so hard to keep up these days.
“Journalists” engaged in a never-ending quest to find outraged people on the internet will always be able to find them, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to join in their insanity.
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