I’m sure nearly all of you recall the wave of media outrage over the release (or discovery) of country music legend Jason Aldean’s video and song, ‘Try That in a Small Town.’ In fact, some of that outrage is still going on. (You can watch the video at the link if you somehow missed it.) Variety called it “the most contemptible song of the decade.” NPR made the song out to be a blatant attack on Black Americans. The list goes on. All of “the best people” agreed that Aldean is a terrible person.

But over at Outkick, Christian Toto examines the hullabaloo and asks what seems to me to be an obvious question. If ‘Try That in a Small Town’ was so dreadful, where is all of the outrage over Tom MacDonald and his recently released music video “American Flags?” I’ll embed that at the bottom so you can watch it later. Or I suppose you can skip down and watch it now for context before proceeding. Let’s start with Christian Toto’s short explanation and then compare the two and the media reaction (or lack thereof) to each.

The same media that savaged Aldean are standing down rather than smite, or even mention, the new MacDonald track.

Why? For one, many still don’t know he exists. MacDonald’s fame exists outside the mainstream, so many potentially offended souls aren’t aware of his new, incendiary track.

It helps that he’s a hip-hop star, not a country crooner. The media and the Left (but we repeat ourselves) loathe country music. It’s why the press poured gasoline on the Cancel Culture fires when country superstar Morgan Wallen was caught uttering the “n-word.”

Some may prefer to say “better” while others would choose “worse,” but Tom MacDonald’s latest release is on another level entirely from Aldean, and some might arguably say he goes a step too far or more. Consider that Aldean’s video shows a lot of footage including violence, but it all shows the violence being committed by rioters, presumably from the 2020 BLM riots. Nobody is shown beating up rioters in response. And the lyrics never even threaten direct violence. It’s certainly implied that if the rioters “try that” in a small town like the one where Aldean grew up, it wouldn’t go well. But he simply advises them “not to.”

Now consider American Flags. It is basically the opposite. The imagery is devoid of violence. There is no rioting, no fighting, and nobody setting things on fire. Only patriotic clips of American tanks rolling by and fighter jets performing flyovers while American flags are being waved. But the lyrics? Hoo boy… that’s another story entirely. MacDonald sings it as a duet with fellow rapper Adam Calhoun. First, consider some of these early lyrics from MacDonald:

My patriots the craziest
They ain’t afraid of breaking fists on faces if
You really want a taste of this, no safety clip
Just aim the stick and spray the clip I pray you miss
‘Cause if you don’t they gon’ go wacko
Automatic gun smoke like tobacco

That’s pretty clearly a direct threat of violence, something we are repeatedly told should not be allowed on social media. But they are still song lyrics and they’re offered in an artistic context. And they don’t suggest an attack. Rather they describe a response if the “other side” comes to start trouble first. Then there’s this from Calhoun who, if anything, turns the knobs up to eleven.

It get dangerous go against the patriots
Got all the bangers
Take a look inside my closet
You gon’ see way more than hangers
Hammers like I do construction
Ammo, I’ma shoot at something
Why you think we own these guns
So we can just go do some hunting?
You must not play close attention
Government, they want division
Only treason if you lose
I guarantee we come out winning

Ouch. There’s really no way to sugarcoat that so I’m not going to try. “It’s only treason if you lose” is a literally revolutionary war-era concept, but in the modern day and age it’s a threat against the government and/or those supporting the current regime in Washington. I won’t lie. I enjoyed the song quite a bit as I do most of MacDonald’s work. But those aren’t the sort of things I would publish here or elsewhere.

So, as Christian Toto said, where is the outrage? I believe he’s correct when he points out that MacDonald is so far out of the mainstream that most of the usual leftist critics have never heard of him despite the millions of views his videos receive and the impressive sales of his albums. But at this rate, they’ll learn of him soon enough. And I have a feeling that Tom MacDonald will hear his critics’ complaints and just laugh and laugh and laugh all the way to the bank.

Here’s the video.