thependulumswings

With so many working from home you’d think the traffic would be far lighter.  But, on the corner of Sports Street and Life Lane, it’s busier than ever.  And once again yesterday, to make matters worse at rush hour, that damn train rolled through as well.

You know the train by name.  It’s a passenger train outbound to nowhere.  It’s called the Cancel Culture Express.  Except for this time a passenger that The Movement was trying to throw off decided to step right in front of it and dare the engineers to hit him.

If you’re an NFL fan you’ve heard of Luis Moreno, Jr. haven’t you?  He’s with the Carolina Panthers.  He has been for 10 years and counting.  Well.  It’s ten years and counting until yesterday.

No, he doesn’t play linebacker and he doesn’t kneel when the National Anthem is played.  Moreno is a Spanish-language broadcaster for the Carolina Panthers and a darn good one.  He says felt pressured to leave his job because the team is upset that he is a supporter of President Donald Trump.  In our “all-inclusive” society we only are inclusive if you choose to be included in the cause.

Moreno told the Charlotte Observer that he began openly supporting Trump on his personal Twitter account this Spring.  Shortly thereafter he was contacted about his tweets by Eric Fiddleman, the Panthers’ radio and television affiliate manager.  Fiddleman asked Moreno to delete any affiliation with the team from his personal Twitter account.

Fair enough.  The Panthers clearly feel the need to be on the right side of BLM and the NFL office nowadays.  It’s their brand and they should choose their messaging.

But, Fiddleman continued to fiddle.  He reportedly contacted Moreno (who actually is an independent contractor for them, hence even further removed) again in the summer, but this time to tell him to stop his political tweets. “If what they want me to do is stop supporting the president, I’m not gonna do that,” Moreno told Fiddleman.

Moreno further charged that Steven Drummond, the Panthers vice president of communications and external affairs, refused to speak with him about the “issue” of his social media posts and support for Trump.  Ten years of loyalty won’t help you cross the intersection these days when the ole’ Cancel Culture Express is blowing its horn.

“I’m hurt,” Moreno told the paper. “Because this has nothing to do with my performance on-air.  I’m one of the best, and I’ll put myself against anybody in the country when it comes to what I do in Spanish. None of my support for the president was done on any of their social media pages, it was never done on any of the airtime. This was solely on my personal time on my personal accounts.”

Moreno added that he won’t return to work unless the team says he is free to advocate for whomever he supports politically. “I am not OK with them censoring my freedom of speech in support of the president,” he added.

And with that, he put his hand up and stopped the Cancel Culture Express before it ran over him.

“Silly him,” you say.  “He’s the one out of a job,” you say.

It’s rare these days, but refreshing when it happens.  Someone spoke up for common sense, dignity, and most of all freedom of speech.

Moreno was a member of the “silent majority.”

He’s not anymore.  He spoke up.