We already know this guy is a right wing, racist prick, but what exactly are we accomplishing by amplifying this story?

Just hardening his fans to him. Aldean becomes a beacon, a rallying point for people just like him.

Meanwhile, the holier-than-thou police, most of whom have never heard of Jason Aldean, or only through the controversy of his wife vis-a-vis Maren Morris, are up in arms like their agitation and viewpoint will make a difference.

Twitter rules… You don’t respond, because if you do you amplify the story.

Yes, CMT was correct in banishing the video. But the endless pile-on thereafter has only flagged the flame of racism as opposed to waking up America to the despicable viewpoints of Aldean and his minions.

This is what the left wing doesn’t understand. You end up pouring gasoline on the story and in the end it hurts you.

After all, truth is fungible.

“Rolling Stone” reported that some of the protest images in “Try That in a Small Town” were actually shot in Canada. Aldean doesn’t care about truth, it’s all image. He wants to cement his bond with the ignorant and racist, truth has nothing to do with it.

As for small town values…

Why is it that rural burgs are seen as the true America? As if America hasn’t progressed in a hundred years, if not more. This is another right wing trope. Got to give them credit for forging it though, because not enough people live or have been exposed to small rural towns to combat it!

Man, the right wing is expert on this. The hellholes of the city. According to the right wing if you live in Chicago your life is endangered, it’s worse than Ukraine, which we should get out of.

It goes on and on, they’ve built a platform amplified by Fox News to the point where they want to elect a criminal. Whew! Get your knickers in a twist. Everybody knows that Trump is a delusional, dumb narcissist, but he’s convinced these same Aldean nitwits that he’s standing up for them. Aldean is standing up for no one but himself.

Meanwhile, Aldean didn’t even write the damn song. Because that’s not his talent. The words of cynical others are sung by this doofus, he’s responsible for amplifying something he can’t even articulate in the first place. But why did these “writers” write this. This is not Neil Young writing from the heart, or even Jason Isbell. This is cynical men, and they’re all men, no woman would write this tripe. They’re writing for a market. They’re fanning the flames of racism.

Meanwhile, all this hogwash about Black Lives Matter. Whenever you bring anything up to the right it’s Hillary’s e-mails, or Black Lives Matter, it’s false equivalence on parade. Meanwhile, did you see that New York City just agreed to pay $13 million to 2020 BLM protesters? Maybe the problem is with the police, ever think of that? 

Man this country has changed. Used to be people were suspicious of the police, that was the sixties mantra, amplified by Rodney King. Yes, thinking people realized that too often the police were a gang, a rogue gang, your enemy as opposed to your friend.

But then came the Iran crisis. And 9/11. And suddenly we’re all up the rear end of the police, they’re gods.

As for Defund the Police… Only the left could come up with such a bad moniker. There’s a problem. We all know we need police. But can we at least try and address the ills as opposed to make it a pro or con vision?

Believe me, when you want the police they oftentimes don’t come. And when they do they’ve got a hair-trigger, they don’t want to die. But you blindly defend them, ignorance on parade.

And as the right wing country singers double-down on their heinous values, the rest of the “artists” are silent, afraid of pissing off some potential fan. But Jason Aldean has proven that having a position actually advantages your career, it bonds fans to you, they want something to root for, they just don’t want bland platitudes. This is how hip-hop killed rock. Rock became safe, was no longer focused on the truth, and it was eclipsed. And in case you didn’t know, a lot of the heavier metal/Active Rock music is performed and loved by the right wing. That is the rock of today. Scratch these guys, they’re all right wing. Well, not all. But many believe in the police and gun ownership and under your very eyes, the landscape has changed. These are not the guys I want carrying the flag of rock.

Somehow it’s fine to have an identity if you’re right wing, but if you’re left wing, you must be silent.

As for Aldean… He is laughing all the way to the bank. Do you know how hard it is to get this amount of attention today? Nearly impossible. Now everybody, or at least a hell of a lot more than before, knows his name. He’s a hero to his constituents. As for Aldean and his fans saying he was canceled, this is one of the best, if not the best thing to happen to him in his career. I mean come on, when they made this video they didn’t think it would blow up and cause controversy? Of course they did! That was the goal! Meanwhile, the rest of the “artists” are dancing geeks or complaining about what some other “artist” said about them or dealing dope and going to jail. That’s another strange thing, we lionize these rappers who shoot others and do drugs. Talk about a sick society. Then again, we can’t address the problems of the Black man because it’s been almost two hundred years since slavery and they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like the rest of society. We’re color blind, don’t you know? Doesn’t this video illustrate this? STFU and be beholden to the billionaires, the upper class, they know better.

And then we’ve got RFJ, Jr. An antisemitic conspiracy spreading lunatic who is seen as an alternative to Biden. First and foremost, he’s being pushed by cynical right wing operatives, but how come nobody on the left can see Biden is flawed? Nobody wants him to run other than himself and some out of touch left wing operatives.

But we’ve got to play it safe. Just like the Democratic musicians. You don’t want to make a stand, risk blowback. I mean how can you win if you never go on the offensive? We need a rebirth on the left to combat the recalcitrance of the right, which wants no change. We’ve got to give people options as opposed to just pointing fingers at the bad behavior of people who aren’t listening anyway.

Morgan Wallen was not hurt by the n-word controversy. He’s the biggest act in recorded music, period. And unlike the classic rock acts, he’s not coasting on the past, it’s all new music, mostly derived from classic rock if you think about it. How come he can do this but no one on the left can?

In other words, you might hate Wallen based on the n-word controversy, but chances are you’ve never heard his music and his fans don’t care whatsoever, they’re happy, and Wallen is going straight to the bank.

If we want to change America people must vote.

Then again, Donald Trump says your vote doesn’t count. Put this guy in jail. Poor people pay consequences, rich people hire expensive attorneys and deny. And it’s not like there’s not evidence to prove Trump’s criminality, and we should continue to prosecute his bad behavior, but it is having very little effect on his voters, just like this Aldean blowback is having very little effect on his fans.

Yes, Aldean is from Macon, not a small town. Yes, Aldean is not struggling in a meth-infested village. Aldean is not reporting his truth, not whatsoever. But he’s got you amplifying his vision, what a joke.

You cannot convince these people they’re wrong. Please stop trying, you’re only emboldening them.

Meanwhile, all of you out there claiming to be socially liberal and financially conservative…. That makes you a Republican. Period. Don’t deny it. If you’re financially conservative that means you don’t believe in a healthy safety net, you don’t believe in more money for the IRS, you only believe in your own pocketbook. Everything takes money, and if you think you can run the government better why don’t you get involved instead of complaining. The fix is not to starve the beast, even though this is the right wing mantra.

The left is operating on an old playbook, as if the internet didn’t exist. And when someone on their side stands up and fights for right, like AOC, they’re isolated. AOC would be a hero to the right if she was on their side, why are she and her brethren anathema to the left?

That’s the story here, not that some redneck geek crossed over the line. Jason Aldean and his fans will be fine. They’ve won, complaining that they’ve lost all the time.

The song was on an album in the marketplace for months. No one even cared about the video until CMT took it down. Meaning if everybody on the left didn’t get pissed-off this song would have faded away and not radiated. But now it’s a cause celeb.

Don’t be knee-jerk, think about this. Stop amplifying heinous behavior. You’re only emboldening believers. If you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. Now people know more about Jason Aldean than they do about Biden and his economic policies, something the left has been trying to amplify for weeks under the label “Bidenomics.” Once again, the left has lost the battle. Will it lose the war? Yes, if it continues to turn nothingburgers into conflagrations.

I know this, doesn’t anybody in D.C? Doesn’t anybody on the left with a viewpoint?

Looks like no.

The left wing fans are hungering for a leader who speaks the truth. But all we’ve got is a tired old man, who can believe in that?

You want us to have hope? Then give us someone to believe in.

The right has this in spades, on the left? CRICKETS!

Tune in Saturday July 22nd to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

It’s a comedy show.

I’ve seen Sedaris twice before, but this was the first time I realized that first and foremost people come for the jokes, they come to laugh. I’d say they come to get away from everyday life but that would assume that Sedaris made no political comments, refused to take sides, but he did.

Now the most astounding thing I saw all night was Sedaris signing books BEFORE the show. There are so many lessons to learn from this, even if you’re a musician, even if you don’t believe in laughing, which we all do, which is part of Sedaris’s magic.

Sedaris has perfected the art of the anti-star. This used to be the province of musicians, but in an era where every act wants to be a brand, that has been forgone. Sedaris positions himself just like you or me, but a little different. And those differences are not hidden, like his homosexuality.

So I was stunned to see David in the lobby before the lights went down. Why not? Otherwise he’d just be sitting backstage alone, twiddling his thumbs. The people were there, why not work?

This is part of Sedaris’s shtick, after the gig he sits and signs books for hours, wants to hear stories and jokes, and not only does this make attendees superfans, it delivers Sedaris material.

So I thought Sedaris was a writer. That it was all about reading his pieces on stage. But really, like I said, it’s about the jokes. But the jokes are not delivered in traditional standup fashion. In other words, Sedaris has created his own niche.

Wow, this used to be the province of musicians. The acts all used to sound different. You found your sound and pursued it, the rest of the landscape be damned. No one can imitate David Sedaris because there’s only one of him. Oh, I guess you could imitate him poorly, but could you draw a sellout audience live? No.

And it is all about live. The goal of a standup comedian is a TV special, maybe their own show. A special would be detrimental to Sedaris’s act. In other words, it’s positively old school, you have to go to know. It’s a club. And members tell newbies they’ve got to go and the whole operation flies under the radar.

And Sedaris paid his dues for decades. This is the antithesis of today’s music model. Hell, I get videos from parents of “artists” who haven’t yet hit double digits. They believe the ability to sing is enough, as if worldly experience was irrelevant. Sedaris has been broke, he’s struggled, he’s worked lousy jobs, and all of that informs his art. He’s been there, he’s done that, and he DOESN’T GIVE A F@CK!

That’s one of the best aspects of Sedaris’s act. He’s lived long enough to feel entitled to speak his truth and he doesn’t care what you think and this honesty is absent in politics and most of music and therefore it is enticing.

Talk about crossing the line… If a musician told some of these jokes, it would be a national scandal. Of course, Sedaris has the advantage of being a short, gay man when he tells jokes about women and sex, but everyone knows he’s not being evil. Today everything is a litmus test, the gotcha police are out in force, but somehow Sedaris goes unscathed. I think this is because he’s not eager to be part of THEIR world. He’s not dying to be more, to have more, he’s satisfied where he is. You know the musicians, they’re afraid of offending someone, hurting their career, after all you don’t want to eliminate half of your audience. They’re so busy protecting their “brand” that there’s not much brand there. They’re famous, they get on stage, and beyond that… I did a podcast with a successful comedian who refused to talk politics. How have we gotten here, why is everybody so afraid? Would David Crosby and his passing be such a big deal if this guy didn’t own his opinions? That was part of his magic. He spoke his truth and he didn’t care what anybody else thought. There’s a huge lesson there.

And Sedaris is constantly crossing the line into taboo. Dissing his dad, feeling released now that he’s dead.

This guy is a star. And I don’t think there’s a single person who’d go to his show and be offended, never mind dislike it. It’s like Sedaris transcends the rabble-rousing into our best self, and we are eager to get some of that. That’s what musicians used to provide, a beacon. And those of us in the trenches of everyday life desire that, need that.

And Sedaris is singular, he’s not commanding an army, he may speak to many, but he doesn’t want to unite them, he doesn’t want to mobilize them.

And the MONEY!

All we hear is artists bitching about the cost of the road, the buses, the trucks, the staging, the personnel. Whereas, Sedaris packs a suitcase, and that’s it. Travels by car. AND KEEPS ALL THE MONEY!

I mean he pays an agent, but after that…

Maybe a hotel room is part of the deal, maybe it’s not. But what is that, a grand a night? There are places Sedaris appears that there aren’t even hotels that charge four figures. Sedaris legendarily loves a good hotel room, being on the road is hard enough. Everybody else is trying to poor-mouth, saying they’re just like you and me, whereas Sedaris is owning his success and somehow ending up even more like you and me. I mean if it was free, or I was making a fortune, wouldn’t I like a nice hotel room?

And Sedaris does not have to conquer to succeed. He kept praising Fran Lebowitz, telling attendees to see her imminent performance at the Vilar. And he hyped Susan Orlean’s book. In other words, he broke all the rules of stardom while evidencing enough talent to be a star. He didn’t have to tell us he was a star, it was obvious.

And like a comedian, he points out the absurdities of life, and that which gets under his skin. But the cadence is different, the stories are longer, but not with the endless hesitations and self-laughing of Dave Chappelle. I mean Chappelle is very talented, but Sedaris is closer to the heart of America, and that includes the extremes.

It’s really quite something to see, something to experience.

I can only envy him. I know I can’t be him, I’m not a comedian, but the fact that he’s built it essentially all by himself, by writing words on a page…whew!

Just like everybody tells me to write a book, Sedaris says his limit is only a small number of pages, he doesn’t go beyond that. In other words, Sedaris knows who he is, is not trying to be somebody else. He doesn’t need world domination, his own vertical is enough, and it’s plenty wide.

And Sedaris puts all his quirks and failings on display for others to see. This is the opposite of the musicians getting plastic surgery and lying about it. We all age, as does Sedaris. He’s living life, and trying to laugh about it before it’s over.

Really, the next time Sedaris is in town, go. It’s not cheap, but it’s not expensive. And although he does sell out, it’s not everywhere. Not that there are any stiff shows. In other words, you don’t have to worry about getting frozen out during the initial Ticketmaster on-sale. You can go, if you care, if you take action.

In other words, David Sedaris is more of a rock star than most of the rock stars, if not all of them. He’s not doing endorsement deals. He’s not employing carpet bomb publicity. He’s not bragging about his grosses, the breaking of records. Rather, like I said above, he’s being David Sedaris, and that’s enough.

Sedaris is just like you and me, but different. Not better, not worse. And this is his magic. He’s us. We’ve all got opinions, we’ve all got insights, we think no one else feels what we do, is frustrated the way we are, but Sedaris shows us this is untrue.

Don’t stumble through life blindly. Don’t just jump through the hoops. A little bit of thinking, a little bit of life will pay untold dividends. Don’t be so busy working that you miss it, that you have no perspective.

Be more like David Sedaris.

But you can’t.

And that makes a star right there.

It just pisses people off.

If you make a mistake, own it. You’ll get a whole hell of a lot more respect for that rather than trying to explain why you were right and should not be culpable.

Nobody knows everything, and you’re not expected to. So, admit what you don’t know, it enhances your reputation. Funny, I find the more successful someone is the more they’re willing to admit they don’t know something.

You’re defending yourself, but it’s not a court of law, there’s no advantage to this. The person you’re talking to is rolling their eyes, they think you’re a child. Being an adult means accepting responsibility.

Defensiveness pisses people off and ends conversations, to everybody’s detriment. Only if you’re open and honest can there be a conversation, where things can be learned and a consensus can be reached.

If you are defensive people won’t want to interact with you, they’ll leave you out of discussions, gatherings, business…because it’s just too much of a hassle to have you around.

You can always learn new tricks. Being defensive illustrates that you think you know it all and are impervious to criticism.

You’re oftentimes being defensive about things that the other person isn’t even thinking about or doesn’t care about.

Oftentimes what is very simple becomes complicated because you are defensive. What was going to be an easy interaction is now long and tense because you’ve got to explain what you did and why.

Accept blame, it actually feels good. If you’re always trying to be right, you’re wrong.

Don’t confuse defensiveness with standing your ground.

You’ve got to let some things slide. Even if the speaker is wrong, sometimes it’s best not to say anything. Oftentimes the point is irrelevant, or evanescent, but if you defend yourself in some bogus search for truth, then the interaction becomes memorable.

You may think life is a competition, but in reality it’s an interaction. Life is all about interacting with other people, learn how to do this and it will be to your advantage. I’m not saying you can’t have a contrary opinion, but you also need to know not to hammer it.

There is no box score, no one usually cares that you’re right other than you, and oftentimes you’re wrong, because you can’t see the entire picture.

Your superior or boss will like you more if you admit fault, take responsibility, than if you try to weasel out of it. You will be labeled difficult and your rise in the entity will be hindered.

Conversation is two-way, defensiveness makes it one way, and that’s not a conversation.

What do you expect someone to say in reaction to your defensiveness? Do you expect them to get into the details with you, which they usually don’t care much about? Do you expect them to apologize, say you’re right, when the matter is almost always trivial? What are you trying to achieve here?

You’re gonna be wrong. Otherwise you’re not living life. Own it and you’ll go up the ladder as opposed to staying where you are, if not getting kicked off entirely.

If your boss is an a-hole, accept it. Trying to prove to them that you’re right and they’re wrong is worthless. Try to work for someone else. The funny thing is most people know who the a-holes are, and unless they own the company, their tenure is limited. Life is long, don’t let momentary hurdles get in your way.

Go to therapy. The more you know about yourself, the better you’ll interact, the more you’ll succeed in life. But the funny thing is the defensive people are the ones who don’t go to therapy, even though they need it the most. You see therapy is an open process, where you’re supposed to learn about yourself, gain insight, change to your advantage. But if you can’t hear you’re less than perfect, it doesn’t work, but that doesn’t matter, because like I said above, these people don’t even go.

Therapy is a badge of honor for Millennials and Gen-Z. People want to date others who’ve done some work on themselves, who have some insight into themselves and others.

You get to choose how you interact. Think about that, how do you want to engage such that when the conversation is over you’ve got the best chance of getting the result you want? This is the antithesis of defensiveness. Defensive people don’t think, they just react. And the rest of us are sick of it.