Grow Up, Kid Rock
- jim Young
“You know what I heard? I heard… two girls over here singing in harmony. That’s alright honey, this is a free country. Live like you wanna live, baby! Yeah. Ain’t nobody gonna knock it darlin’. Yeah. FREEDOM! Yes sir. One guy right over here was singing ‘My’ too. That’s alright brother. Yes sir. You got a right, baby. Ain’t nobody gonna bother you.” - Chuck Berry singing “My Ding A Ling”, 1972
I fully support everyone’s right to their own sexual identity. I don’t even mind their parades and rallies, although I’m not likely to attend them. I will support their right to have parades and rallies even if I don’t support their cause by going to them.
Growing up in the 60s I adopted the philosophy of “Live and Let Live” preached by psychedelic drug guru, Timothy Leary. It’s kind of like another well known philosopher’s adage of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Now, when I say “it doesn’t bother me,” what I really mean is, “It doesn’t bother me as long as it involves consenting adults.”
A lot of people are going to miss that very important point, so let me repeat it. “It doesn’t bother me as long as it involves consenting adults.”
That addendum is a key factor to the context of this article.
So with that in mind, just what is Kid Rock’s problem?
Following a Bud Light commercial featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which Kid Rock (and many others, I might add) took exception to, the singer best known for “All Summer Long” released his own video which can only be described as grossly homophobic.
Kid Rock's video begins with a close up of Kid Rock who says, “Grandpa’s feeling a little frisky today. Let me, uh, say something to all you and be as clear and concise as possible.”
The camera pulls back for a wider angle shot of Kid Rock as he raises an assault rifle he is holding and fires it on several cases of Bud Light beer.
Kid Rock turns back to the camera, extends his middle finger and says, “Fuck Bud Light and Fuck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.”
The video is nothing more than a thinly veiled threat to both Mulvaney and Anheuser-Busch and begs the question “What IS Kid Rock’s problem?”
Why does Kid Rock care if Bud Light chooses to advertise to a specific demographic market simply because he does not identify with that particular market?
Is he feeling left out? Is he sore that Bud Light never put his picture on a can of their beer? Is he afraid that drinking Bud Light might turn him gay?
Or could it be that, as many studies show often happens with closet gays, Kid Rock is threatened by gays because he fears his own homosexual impulses and cannot be accepting of them because he cannot be accepting of himself?
I don’t know and I don’t really care beyond the mild curiosity I have for what might cause one to have such a violent outburst over such a minor issue. What would possess a celebrity to publish such an embarrassing display of a violent, childish temper tantrum?
What does disturb me is Kid Rock’s violent use of an assault weapon to express his anger. (Let’s not get bogged down with the actual definition of the gun that Kid Rock used. From my perspective, any weapon that is used against another human being, either literally or figuratively, is an assault weapon - enough said.)
In his video, however, Kid Rock inadvertently sent out a secondary message that is also very “concise and clear”... “Guns are NOT just for hunting, self defense and target practice… they can also be used to threaten and intimidate and by implication kill people.” But we already knew that, didn’t we?
In a world where the rights of gun ownership are being challenged every day, Kid Rock has set the cause of gun owners back by a long shot, pun intended.
I don’t personally own a firearm of any kind other than an air pellet gun. Regardless, I have actively lobbied against unreasonable gun control just on principle, since before the Liberals introduced the long gun registry in Canada in the 1990s. However, I’m growing weary of fighting a cause in which I have no vested interest, on behalf of others who do nothing to help themselves other than cry “foul”. So many gun owners seem to be hell bent on “shooting themselves in the foot”, pun also intended. Many gun enthusiasts, like Kid Rock, are their own worst enemies.
Kid Rock used what I presume was a legally owned rifle on what I presume was a legal piece of property to fire a weapon to shoot up what I presume was legally acquired beer to express his opinion under his right to free speech.
No laws were broken. The morality of it however, is questionable. It’s pretty hard to deny the video was anything other than an implied threat of violent action against another or others.
While gun owners continually question, “Why are you imposing on my rights?”, in light of acts such as this, it becomes a matter of “Because I want to proactively ensure you are not going to impose on my rights in a much more violent way.”
Whether or not you are opposed to or against gun control, any responsible person, having watched that video, could not help but ask the question, “If Kid Rock responds so violently and childishly to something that affects him so little… what might he do when something really important affects him?”
The take away to anti gun control supporters in all this is, if you don’t object to Kid Rock’s video you are part of the reason that gun control supporters exist. And if you don’t see that, you are fighting a lost cause.
Right or wrong, it’s all about perception and “perception becomes the reality”.
And the message to Kid Rock is simple, “It’s time to grow up, Kid.”
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