'I'd March with Her': Mike Rowe Unleashes on Critics After He Gets Backlash Over Standing Up for Megyn Kelly
The difference between the new gender ideology agenda of the left and every other ideology it has pushed so far is that this one is less sneaky than the others.
Leftist gender activists were overconfident with this new “cause,” sure that they could silence any opposition by throwing around words like “bigot” and “sexist” as they did with gay marriage and abortion.
They didn’t push the line slowly, trying to brainwash people with media and images so they didn’t realize what was happening. This time, the radicals went all out from the start, telling parents they had no right to keep their kids from cutting off their genitals and forcing girls to change their clothes in the same locker rooms as boys.
Bud Light and Target showed us that this time, they went too far, too fast. The tide has turned, and it is coming in with a fury.
But the left isn’t used to being challenged.
Mike Rowe, former host of “Dirty Jobs,” got splattered with some leftist vitriol for writing a single post in favor of Megyn Kelly.
Fortunately, he isn’t backing down, either.
It started a few months ago when Kelly became very vocal on her show about her opposition to trans ideology, especially when it comes to men competing in women’s sports. Predictably, she received hatred and backlash from the left.
Knowing that she faced the possible cancellation of her show by Apple, Kelly put out an ultimatum daring the tech giant to deplatform her and promising to “rain hell down” on the company if it did.
“For a woman speaking up for girls and for her fellow women and our rights to be safe and to have our spaces? I dare you. I will unleash hell on that company,” she said. “I will actually lead protests in the street. I will go to the outside of Apple headquarters.
“They cannot do it, they can’t — they will live to regret it. I will make them a Bud Light.”
On Aug. 26, Rowe shared the video on Facebook.
“If it comes to that, I’d march with her,” he wrote. “Would you?”
Well, that was enough to get the crazies going.
The next day, Rowe posted a “love letter” he received from a woman named Jessica Pranger.
“Nope, not for one second would I stand next to this farce of a woman,” she wrote. “Mike, your desperate grabs at popularity are embarrassing. Stay in your lane, please. I thank you in advance for not inserting your bullcrap pandering for women in any other scenario that includes women.
“You don’t belong and you most certainly are not choosing the right woman to be in complete support of. She is a brainwashed, phobic, fear driven, fear mongering blow hard… much like the faction you love pandering to so much. You and your ilk are so off base that I am actually embarrassed for you.”
Rowe’s response was eloquent and unapologetic.
“Thanks for your response, and thanks for following this page,” he wrote.
“Obviously, you’re not the only one to dislike Megyn Kelly, and you are certainly not the only one to admonish me for wandering ‘outside my lane,'” Rowe said. “The question is, do you care at all about the underlying issues? If not, that’s okay, but if you’re going to share your feelings with 6 million people, why not take a moment to include some actual thoughts?
“Specifically, some thoughts on the right to speak freely, and the right for women to compete fairly? Those are the issues in question, not your feelings about Megyn or me. Unless of course, your feelings are the only thing you have to share?”
“As for your personal comments about Megyn Kelly,” he continued, “I don’t share your view that she is a ‘farce’ of woman, but even if I did, I’d support her right to speak freely, and her daughter’s right to use a locker room free of biological men. Do you? Who knows? You haven’t said.
“All you’ve argued here, is that I’m pandering to women. You seem to believe that because I’m not a woman, I have no right to hold an opinion on anything related to women. If so, am I also precluded from expressing an opinion on slavery, simply because I’ve never been a slave, or owned a slave?
“You advise me to ‘stay in my lane’ in much the same way people used to tell women and minorities to ‘know their place.’ That strikes me as a convenient way for people to silence those with whom they disagree, without offering an actual argument.”
Rowe went on to talk about other celebrities who have used their platforms to weigh in on the headlines.
“It’s painful, (for me, anyway) to listen to Alec Baldwin talk about his views on a great many topics,” he wrote. “Why? Because Alec Baldwin is a funny and talented actor whose work I enjoy immensely. His opinions, however, have made it difficult for me to enjoy his work. Not impossible, just difficult.
“Why then, would a celebrity, or a company for that matter, knowingly put their fans and customers in such a position? Why did Bud Light make it so hard for so many of their customers to support them? Why did Target?
[firefly_poll]
“As I type this, I see that Alice Cooper has been dropped by a cosmetics company for suggesting that children are not in a position to decide for themselves what gender they are. And poor Carlos Santana … he doesn’t know what to do. A few weeks ago, he declared during a concert, ‘a man is a man, and a woman is woman.’ The outrage was swift, and Carlos issued a lengthy apology on Facebook. But two days ago, he removed his apology, and replaced it with a poem!”
“So, did Carlos Santana wander outside his lane? Did Alice Cooper? Alec Baldwin? Bud Lite? Target?” Rowe asked. “Or, did they all take a highly principled position on a topic that mattered deeply to them, and exercise their first amendment rights?”
He went on to lament the state of discourse today.
“I’m worried that people have become increasingly unable to separate the message from the messenger,” Rowe said. “I’m worried that we’ve entered into a time when the experts disagree on every serious topic, where journalism has been replaced almost entirely by editorial partisanship, and everyone on both sides of every issue believes the ‘science has been settled’ in whatever way confirms their own beliefs.
“Climate change, Covid, mask and vaccine mandates, immigration, homelessness, transgender rights, criminal justice, reparations…the certainty is everywhere. Mostly though, I’m worried that people – and corporations – are determined to silence the opposition, rather than make any attempt to persuade, or even put forth a rational argument.”
He then reminded Pranger that 12 years ago, the Textile Service and Rental Association was upset with him because he had “wandered outside of my lane” and participated in a campaign that promoted disposable shop towels.
“When I refused to apologize, or distance myself from the people who hired me, the TRSA published a list of everyone I did business with — Discovery, Ford, Wrangler, Caterpillar, Viva, and Kimberly Clarke — and then called for a general boycott of all things related to Mike Rowe,” he said. “In short, they tried to silence me, and then they tried to destroy me. It scared the hell out of me, and I fought back — on this very page — and they eventually went away.
“I wonder, though, what would happen today? And to be clear, I’d prefer not to find out. But not if it means forgoing my right to speak freely, or standing by, while women’s fundamental rights are being cast aside, or being told to shut up or else.
“To sum up, Jessica, this page is ‘my lane,’ and you are a guest on it. To be sure, you’ve said some rude and unpersuasive things, but I would never ban you or block you for those reasons.
“On the other hand, it’s worth remembering that this page is not really my property. This page belongs to Facebook, and you and I are both here with their permission. Tell me, if they were to close ‘my lane’ because of this post, would you object? Would you join me in protest? Or would you celebrate my banishment?
“That was the question inherent in Megyn Kelly’s video. I’ve answered it as best I can. You should, too.”
Rowe couldn’t have put it better.
Do you have to have been a slave to opine on the fact that slavery is wrong?
“Stay in your lane” is a line the left uses to try to silence conservatives. And yet leftists are quick to step into the Christian lane, for example, quoting Scripture about love out of context to justify whatever cause they may be promoting, no matter how vile.
If everybody “stayed in their lane,” there wouldn’t be a problem.
There wouldn’t be discrimination lawsuits against Christians who believe making cakes or websites that promote gay marriage is “out of their lane.”
Parents wouldn’t be worried about their kids being indoctrinated and even socially transitioned into another gender in schools if teachers would “stay in their lane.”
Christians and conservatives have followed the “stay in your lane” command, while the left not only crosses lanes but drives over medians and into oncoming traffic on the other side with tanks.
The left may not like it, but the road crew is already here.
We’re widening our lanes.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
