MLB Becomes Next Professional Virtue Signaling Organization

On Friday April 2, Major League Baseball announced their decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta, Ga. in response to the state’s new election reform laws. The decision comes just days after President Biden expressed support for such a move, comparing the new laws to Jim Crow and repeatedly making false claims about the new legislation. 

Of course, the politicization of American sports is nothing new. In 2016, the NCAA moved its championship events out of North Carolina, citing the state’s alleged anti-LGBTQ laws, with the NBA following suit for their 2017 Championship game. Heated controversy has surrounded the NFL ever since Colin Kapernick kneeled for the flag in 2016.  American sports are now the center of political wokeness; the days of Americans on both sides of the aisle just sitting down and watching a baseball, football or basketball game together, it seems, are long gone. 

However, MLB’s decision is particularly concerning for several reasons. First, the decision was a direct result of partisan propaganda hacks, the mainstream media in this case, promoting utter lies about the true content of the Georgia legislation. If you turned on the news, you would think the bill was a resurrection of Jim Crow, attempting to eliminate all minority voting rights. If you actually look at the bill, rather than just regurgitating mainstream headlines, you would realize the bill actually expands voting rights. The bill expands early voting, prohibits the distribution of water or food from some groups within 150 feet of a polling place (polling workers can still distribute these items), and strengthens voter identification requirements.

None of these things are extreme or unconstitutional. In fact, to the average citizen, they seem pretty commonsensical. Throwing around allegations comparing the legislation to Jim Crow is not only abhorrently incorrect, but it is a slap in the face to people who have faced real discrimination. In reality, the 100 million dollars stripped out of Atlanta, a city full of minority-owned small businesses, is going to hurt minorities a whole lot more than this legislation will. 

The media’s false portrayal of the bill is only one issue though. Perhaps more prominent is the blatant hypocrisy of MLB. The left hates corporate money influencing politics, yet they demand these same corporations use their power to punish Republican states for whatever issue the left conjured up today. 

In the wake of this decision, I have to wonder, is MLB going to cut ties with Cuba and China, two oppressive countries that have legitimately restrictive voting laws? Are they going to end their financial relationship with Tencent, who actively assists the Chinese Communist Party in violating human rights? If MLB is truly concerned about human rights, they should probably start by ending all ties with the Chinese government as they carry out the largest persecution of religious minorities since the Holocaust. 

As a staunch proponent of free speech and association, I support MLB’s right to speak out against laws they disagree with and move their business elsewhere. However, I do not agree with their decision to cry out “racism!” and leave Atlanta while their business partners abroad actively commit genocide. If anyone looks at this situation and genuinely believes MLB is committed to uplifting human rights and defending minority communities, you need to look again. 

Human rights only matter to the left when the phrase can be utilized as a weapon against their political opponents. When Nike or Apple drive their underpaid sweatshop laborers to suicide, the left is silent. Why? Because Nike, Apple and dozens of other companies push the woke agenda, meaning their blatant human indecency gets to fly right under the mainstream media radar. 

So, was MLB’s decision really about racial justice? Or was it about the activist media propaganda? Considering Robert Manfred still holds his golf club membership in Georgia, I am not inclined to think he is really out seeking racial justice and to boycott some Jim Crow-type legislation. This is just a good old case of virtual signaling, plain and simple. 

At this rate, American culture is on its way toward collapse. A culture that is fiercely unwilling to acknowledge diversity of thought or any form of dissent simply cannot survive. A culture that shuns voter identification but embraces oppressive regimes and corporations masked in wokeness is certain to fall apart. The demise of America’s national pastime is just another fallen domino.