MLB cancels MLB: Cancel culture reaches peak asininity
Major League Baseball has canceled...Major League Baseball.
Recently, MLB pulled its annual All-Star game from Atlanta in protest of an election law passed by the state of Georgia's general assembly and signed by its governor, Brian Kemp.
The 95-page bill in question does, among other things, gives state officials authority to remove county and local level election officials with a non-partisan, state legislature appointed board, limits drop box locations, drastically effects absentee voting among other things you can read about.
Quite possibly the biggest change is the food and drink restrictions. Simply put, food and drink cannot be provided by anyone within a certain distance of a polling place. People will have to lug their own coolers or have Bitesquad on the ready when they stand in a long line because a polling place is crowded in metro-Atlanta.
Make sure you don't forget your voter ID, driver's license, birth certificate, social security card, marriage license (for you ladies out there) and at least three utility bills proving your place of residence.
For you students though, sorry, that college ID is worthless and no good here.
Three groups currently have lawsuits filed, calling the law discriminatory.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said plans for "finalizing a new host city and details about these events will be announced shortly," according to Alden Gonzalez with ESPN.
"Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box," Manfred said. " Fair access to voting continues to have our game's unwavering support."
The once-host team Atlanta Braves also released a statement, conveying their "deep disappointment" with the decision.
"The Braves organization will continue to stress the importance of equal voting opportunities and we had hoped our city could use this event as a platform to enhance the discussion. Our city has always been known as a uniter in divided times and we will miss the opportunity to address issues that are important to our community.
"Unfortunately, businesses, employees and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision."
The pulling of the All-Star game is, according to Axios, expected to cost the state an estimated $100 million in tourism revenue.
Joining MLB in protest as been Georgia-based corporations Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines. The two companies employee a combined nearly 40,000 people in Georgia.
The echoe of "cancel culture" has been a steady outcry on social media and political punditry, and rightfully so.
Where are we as a country when our biggest corporations are taking a stand on political issues? Giving unsolicited, nearly unlimited money to campaigns and super PACs to peddle undue influence and advance their interests through government officials is one thing, but speaking out publicly and using their influence and financial weight on a political issue?
What is next, a segment of a society that throws faux outrage around and lives in a double-standard, supporting businesses when they reinforce the status quo but feigns outrage when those same businesses throw their weight behind an issue those same people don't agree with?
Georgia is losing money, baseball fans in the south lost a chance to see an All-Star game (which let's be honest, the only thing you go for is the home run derby and maybe, maybe the celebrity softball game) in person.
People may want to act like this is a new thing, but big business influecing politics is not a recent paradigm shift in American society.
My recollections go back as far as the 1980s, but this isn't new. South Carolina faced something similar.
Before the Confederate flag was taken off the state capitol dome in 2000, and off the grounds in 2015, the NAACP and NCAA protested and barred the state from holding any type of basketball tournaments.
Businesses protesting American legilsation is, American. Hell, Major League Baseball integrated the game in 1947, nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Acts were passed. So this move is on brand for the league.
Maybe those in Georgia need to look around and instead of being mad at businesses for taking a stand either publicly or financially on a political issue, like they alwasy do, be upset at the state legislators who penned this law.
I mean it isn't like a GOP controlled state legislature wrote this bill and a Republican governor signed it after the opposing party won two national senate racers in a key election year, and experts say this bill will target those who historically vote Democrat in future elections.
Surely our elected officials, those who are meant to epitomize the best of us, wouldn't be that petty?
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