By When you live in a place that has a state religion or ideology, every action of your life—every belief, hobby, or statement—serves as a way to test your loyalty to the state and its religion. In Victor Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless,” he tells the story of a greengrocer who hangs a sign in his window that reads “Workers of the World, Unite!” while living in the Soviet Union.
The greengrocer does not necessarily believe in the message of the sign, but he displays it because it is what is expected of him by the ruling party. He knows that if he doesn’t hang the sign in his shop, he’ll be in trouble. Havel uses this story to illustrate the ways in which people in communist societies are forced to conform to the party’s ideology, even if it goes against their own beliefs. The greengrocer’s sign is a symbol of the oppressive nature of the regime and the ways in which individuals are made to participate in their own oppression.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass has learned the hard way what happens when you don’t hang the sign. Earlier in the month the pitcher posted a video on Instagram and said “Here’s the reason biblically why I believe Christians have gotta be boycotting Target, Bud Light, and any other corporation that’s pushing the things they’re pushing.”
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Fox News reported that “some consumers are condemning Target for selling women’s style swimsuits that advertise “‘tuck-friendly construction’ to hide male genitalia.
Target has had June Pride Month displays with rainbow and LGBTQ+ messaging for years, but the addition of female-style swimsuits that can be used to “tuck” male genitalia has outraged many online. The products, which can be found in a special pride section in stores, are also labeled as ‘Thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions.'”
The “tuck friendly” clothing allegedly had been designed by a “satanist” who “called Satan ‘cool’ but denied any affiliation with Satanism.
‘I am, believe it or not, not a Satanist. I lack the drive or desire to be a part of any religion—theistic or otherwise,” the brand posted. “I don’t believe in Satan (not [sic] do Satanists, actually) but I do think Satan, pentagrams, skulls, ghosts, and the occult are cool and interesting and I’ve been obsessed with horror movies and books since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” he told The National Review.
Target has lost $15 billion in market cap since the boycott was announced and Elon Musk has said that he expects to see a class-action lawsuit against the company’s board and leadership for the willful destruction of so much value.
Anthony Bass’s support for the boycott sparked massive backlash to him in Canada, and he was forced to delete the video and issue a groveling apology.
The Athletic reported that “Bass said he initially posted it multiple times because “the video reflected my (Christian) beliefs.” He said he did not view the video as hateful initially.
“That’s why I posted it originally,” he said. “When I look back at it, I could see how people can view it that way. And that’s why I was apologetic.”
Bass was asked if his views on the message of the video had changed in the past 10 days.
“The video itself, obviously, I took it down,” he said. “I just felt like it was too much of a distraction, right? But I stand by my personal beliefs and everyone’s entitled to their personal beliefs, right? But also I mean no harm toward any groups of people. And I felt like taking that down the second time was the right thing to do and not being a distraction. As a team, our job is to win baseball games. And that’s my focus.”
That was aparently not good enough for the woke Blue Jays. Over the weekend the baseball club bowed to pressure and cut Bass from the team and cut Bass from the team hours before he was going to catch a ceremonial first pitch to kick off the team’s Pride Weekend.
“The backlash toward Bass was the latest instance of a Major League Baseball team running into issues with the L.B.G.T.Q. community. Last month, the Los Angeles Dodgers were called out by some fans after the team, under pressure from Catholic critics, dropped the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from its Pride Night pregame ceremony. The Dodgers later backtracked on that decision after multiple L.G.B.T.Q. groups pulled out of the event,” according to The New York Times.
“Last year, the Tampa Bay Rays faced questions after the team allowed multiple players to opt out of wearing the team’s Pride Night uniforms.
The fallout in Toronto appeared to have settled down until Thursday when Bass, speaking to reporters, defended the message in the post he shared.
‘I stand by my personal beliefs,” Bass told reporters. “And everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right? Also, I mean no harm towards any groups of people.'”
In Toronto it looks like you cannot hold personal beliefs that go against the state religion and orthodoxy. Though it also may on whether or not you’re a hall of famer.
In LA, on the heels of the anti-Catholic group being celebrated by the club, Clayton Kershaw, one of the team’s all-time greats, stated that “he disagrees with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to welcome a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night.
Kershaw told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that the team’s decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season.
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw said. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (by the Dodgers).”
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that,” said Kershaw, who held a players-only meeting in the clubhouse before Monday’s game. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
The circumstances with Anthony Bass and the Blue Jays is the another example of how far Canada has gone down the path of coddling leftwing social movements, especially as it relates to euthanasia, which has become a tool to “cut costs” for its socialized medical system.
New Conservative Post reported last year that “with the recent passage of their new assisted suicide law, first enacted in 2016 but expanded to cover “mental illness” earlier in the year, families living in the Great White North now have to be concerned that their confused or depressed relatives may be convinced to kill themselves in order to save the government-run national healthcare system some cash.
Some say that with the law’s expansions, Canada is turning assisted suicide into an almost routine medical option, instead of treating it as an extraordinary measure taken in limited situations.
“Canada has the least safeguards of all of countries that allow it,” said Trudo Lemmens, the chairman in health law and policy in the faculty of law at the University of Toronto, referring to the assisted suicide legislation generally, “and it has the most open-ended system.”
‘It’s a state-funded, state-organized, medical system providing end of life,’ he continued. ‘What I find particularly troublesome is that there is no other jurisdiction that treats the ending of life by a physician as a standard medical practice.’
Tim Stainton director of the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship at the University of British Columbia told the media that Canada’s lax euthanasia regulations were, ‘probably the biggest existential threat to disabled people since the Nazis’ program in Germany in the 1930s.’”
The Blue Jays, noted ESPN, have “seven days to either trade or waive Bass, who has a 4.95 ERA in 22 relief appearances this season. The well-traveled righty has previously pitched for the Padres, Astros, Rangers, Cubs, Mariners and Marlins.
“We won’t stand in his way to be with another organization,” Atkins said, adding that it was not “a realistic option” for Bass to land in Toronto’s minor league system.
To replace Bass, Toronto reinstated right-hander Mitch White from the 60-day injured list.”
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