Super Bowl champion Tony Dungy has come under fire after announcing he would be
headlining
this year’s March For Life in Washington, D.C. Most prominently, Dave Zirin, sports editor for the Nation, ripped the Hall of Famer in his
column
for Dungy’s choice to attend the pro-life march.
Zirin called Dungy a “right wing zealot” and an extremist on Twitter and in his piece, using Dungy’s views on abortion as an example of alleged extremism. One must be hopelessly out of touch with reality to believe that one of the most basic conservative ideas, that human life in the womb is sacred and that killing the unborn is immoral, is an example of right-wing extremism.
‘FAR FROM COMPLETE’: MARCH FOR LIFE CHARTS NEW COURSE 50 YEARS AFTER ROE
A better example of political extremism is the fact that only one Democrat in the House of Representatives
voted
in favor of the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which would require doctors to perform lifesaving treatment on babies born alive after surviving an abortion, as opposed to letting the baby who could otherwise live succumb to his or her wounds helplessly, but there’s no national outrage about this.
In his piece, Zirin wrote that Dungy’s outspokenness on his conservative beliefs “confuses” some fans: “After all, this is the same Dungy who was a widely admired trailblazer as the first Black coach to win an NFL title.” These comments are especially bewildering, as if Dungy is just expected to go along with the Democratic Party platform because he’s black. It’s unclear what’s so confusing about a black man thinking for himself, but according to Zirin, “Dungy should feel shame.” Liberal talking heads such as Zirin make it difficult and risky for minorities to voice any right-of-center opinions, yet claim a fictitious moral high ground on all social issues.
Astonishingly, Zirin claimed that notoriously socially progressive companies such as the NFL and NBC not only “coddle” but “celebrate” Dungy’s “right wing extremism.” So it’s not enough for the NFL to promote every leftist social cause, including
LGBTQ Pride
,
banning
“assault weapons,” vaccine and mask
mandates
,
Black Lives Matter
, and more — nor is it enough for NBC to be a blue chip outlet for Democratic National Committee propaganda. No, instead these companies should not even tolerate independent thought and should further ostracize those who disrupt the liberal echo chamber of sports media.
Complaining that these companies are even remotely aligned with conservative political views is especially rich coming from one of the most partisan sports commentators out there. The guy whose Twitter feed looks more like Keith Olbermann’s than a sports editor’s is clearly oozing political objectivity himself.
Dungy isn’t the only sports figure to get slammed for standing up for his beliefs this week. As the Washington Examiner’s Zachary Faria
noted
, sports media threw a “tantrum” after Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov chose not to participate in “LGBTQ+ Pride Night” on Tuesday. The 26-year-old defenseman was labeled “homophobic” after he chose not to virtue signal with the rest of his team, “stay[ing] true to myself and my religion.”
These media fits of outrage over the espousing of ordinary conservative beliefs reflect a wider trend of the Left demonizing any and all dissenters as extremists, fascists, racists, bigots, and otherwise — regardless of the issue. When devoid of arguments, leftists resort to public name-calling and silencing of opponents. Zirin himself has already responded to the criticism his piece has garnered on Twitter,
labeling
his dissenters “christo-fascist bot[s].” The Left has become the boy who cried fascism, yet most liberals probably couldn’t define the word.
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Peter Cordi (
@PeterCordi
) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.
