What ‘The Most Controversial Commencement Speech in U.S. History’ Says About America
I have always been a fan of Harrison Butker, but now I am an even bigger fan.
On May 11, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered what has turned out to be the most controversial commencement speech in U.S. history. During his address at Benedictine College, he expressed traditional Christian viewpoints that nearly the entire country would have agreed with a few generations ago. But expressing those same viewpoints today has created a firestorm of controversy. Enraged leftists are seething, and demanding that the Kansas City Chiefs release him immediately.
So exactly what did he say that was so controversial?
At one point during his speech, he dared to suggest that most of the young women in the audience are more excited about marriage and family than they are about their future careers.
The portion of Butker’s commencement speech that got the most backlash were the comments he made about women being sold “diabolical lies” regarding their professional careers.
“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” Butker said. “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
Many on the left have been throwing fits of rage over these comments.
But the truth is that we should all value marriage and family over our careers.
If we had our priorities in order, fertility rates would not be way below replacement level all over the industrialized world right now.
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Butker also told the crowd that we need to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”
And he is right.
There has been a relentless assault on masculinity in recent years, and it gets worse with each passing year.
Today, most of our young males don’t even know how to act like men, and that is because our culture has trained them to regard true masculinity as something bad.
During his speech, Butker also spoke out against abortion, and he greatly criticized Joe Biden for being a pro-abortion Catholic.
“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” Butker said. “He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”
When Joe Biden made the sign of the cross at a pro-abortion rally, it truly was a blasphemous act.
Sadly, today there are way too many Americans that claim to be followers of Christ and are also staunchly pro-abortion at the same time.
As Vox has pointed out, at this stage most Catholics in the U.S. are pro-choice.
Butker’s statement explicitly argues that there’s a correct way to be Catholic, even though in reality, most Catholics are supportive of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
“Harrison Butker got a lot wrong in his commencement speech, but one thing he did get right is that Joe Biden and pro-choice Catholics are not alone—63% of Catholics support legal abortion,” Catholics for Choice, a Catholic group that backs abortion rights, said in a statement on X. Fifty-seven percent of Catholics in the US also favor same-sex marriage, according to a Pew poll.
Those poll numbers should make all of us very sad. This is our country now, and it is going downhill very rapidly.
On top of everything else, Butker dared to suggest that “dangerous gender ideologies” are doing damage to our young people.
Butker also criticized “dangerous gender ideologies” that politicians are pushing onto the “youth of America,” an oblique critique of trans rights.
Personally, I don’t see what all of the fuss is about.
Harrison Butker is a Catholic that was expressing traditional Catholic viewpoints to an audience of Catholics at a Catholic institution of higher learning.
But in today’s environment, any public figure that dares to challenge the social programming that is being forced down our throats is likely to get into really big trouble.
Once Butker’s commencement address started making headlines, the NFL quickly distanced itself from his views.
“His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told People.
The NFL was such a great organization in the 1970s and 1980s. But now it has become a sick joke.
Leftists want the Kansas City Chiefs to get rid of Harrison Butker immediately, and a petition calling for his ouster has already garnered more than 100,000 signatures.
A petition calling for the Kansas City Chiefs to dismiss kicker Harrison Butker has racked up over 100,000 signatures as of Thursday morning amid a furious backlash to a controversial commencement address he delivered at a Catholic college over the weekend.
Thankfully, that isn’t going to happen.
In recent days, the wife and the daughter of the owner of the Chiefs have both expressed their support for Butker.
Tavia Hunt argued that it is not bigoted to affirm motherhood, praise your wife and highlight the “sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a mother.
“Countless highly educated women devote their lives to nurturing and guiding their children. Someone disagreeing with you doesn’t make them hateful; it simply means they have a different opinion,” she said.
Her daughter, Gracie Hunt, 25, appeared at a church outreach event in Dallas. She was asked on “Fox & Friends” about the controversy over Butker’s statements.
“Well, I can only speak from my own experience, which is, I’ve had the most incredible mom who had the ability to stay home and be with us as kids growing up,” she said. “And I understand that there are many women out there who can’t make that decision. But for me, in my life, I know it was really formative in shaping me and my siblings to be who we are.”
And the fans are having their say, too.
Right now, Butker’s jersey is one of the “top sellers” on the official NFL website.
Harrison Butker currently has the top-selling jersey on the Kansas City Chiefs following the controversial statements he made during a recent commencement speech at Benedictine College. As of Friday afternoon, sales of the veteran kicker’s jersey are even outpacing those of teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, according to the official NFL Shop.
Listed among the “Top Sellers” on the official website, Butker’s No. 7 jersey has gotten quite a bump after the kicker’s polarizing remarks. CBS Sports has reached out to the NFL about the specific sales numbers.
Last February, Harrison Butker kicked the longest field goal in Super Bowl history.
But this commencement address is what he will be remembered for.
Once upon a time, most Americans would have agreed with Butker’s views.
But now he is being labeled a “right-wing extremist” because he won’t go along with the new values that are being imposed upon our society.
Our culture has been radically transformed, and those that are transforming it have absolutely no tolerance for those that still embrace the old ways.
Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
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