Left-Wing Media Predictably Bastardized Harrison Butker Speech About Women, Homemakers | Dan Zaksheske
Over the weekend, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker – a devout Catholic – delivered the commencement address to the graduating class at Benedictine College. Benedictine College is a Catholic college in Kansas.
Butker gave his speech on May 11, the day before Mother's Day. He took time during his speech to give credit to those women who choose to be wives and mothers and forgo a career. Predictably, the left-wing media usuals rang out with cries of "Harrison Butker thinks women belong in the kitchen!"
"I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you," Butker said to the gathered students, faculty and parents. "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.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech at a Catholic college, and the left-wing media lost its mind.
(Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and a mother," Butker continued. "I’m on this stage, and able to be the man I am, because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.
"I’m beyond blessed with the many talents god has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker."
Let's address what's going on here. Firstly, Butker doesn't say that women shouldn't have jobs or careers. He says, to the Catholic audience, that he believes the majority of women in the crowd are MOST excited about starting a family. He didn't say ONLY excited about starting a family.
Unless I'm missing something, most American women have both a family and a job. He then goes on to talk about his own, personal, experience and his wife. That is what worked for HER. In his experience, a woman dedicating her life to motherhood was the right choice for HER.
Harrison Butker's commencement address triggered the left-wing media.
This is where I want to bring an OutKick favorite, USA Today's Mike Freeman. Freeman epitomizes the radical-left-wing sports writer, so his take on Butker's speech should be pretty obvious. However, his commentary was much like everyone else's in the left-wing media, so I'll use his words to summarize the talking points.
Freeman criticized Butker's use of the word "vocation" to describe being a homemaker.
Her vocation? Really? Did I slip and fall into a time machine and travel back to the 1950s?
USA Today writer Mike Freeman was offended "on behalf of women" by Harrison Butker's commencement address.
(Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Here is a definition of the word vocation: "a person's employment or main occupation, especially regarded as particularly worthy and requiring great dedication."
OK, so which part of that doesn't describe being a mother, Mr. Freeman? That's not allowed to be a woman's main occupation? Being a mother isn't a worthy occupation? It doesn't require great dedication? Please be specific, I'm sure the mothers out there would like to know which part you disagree with.
See, Freeman – and the rest of the left-wing media – wants to criticize Butker for calling being a wife and mother a vocation. But, perhaps unknowingly, they're putting down the women who choose that path.
Freeman is telling women if they are JUST mothers and wives, they haven’t done enough with their lives. That's exactly what Butker is trying to fight against. He wants women to know that if they make that choice, it's more than OK to do so.
That's the irony here. Freeman thinks he's fighting on behalf of women against Butker, who he views as fighting against women. In reality, Freeman is telling women what to do (or what not to do), just as he believes that's what Butker is doing. Funny, isn't it?
Freeman then calls Butker an "idiot" for his comments. It's important to note that Butker has an industrial engineering degree from Georgia Tech. Freeman has a Master's degree from Goucher College in "Fine/Studio Arts, General." You can decide which sounds more impressive.
Harrison Butker predictably gets compared to LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick.
Then, the "USA Today Sports race and inequality editor" (his words) brings out a very common trope seen by the left-wingers on social media. He chides "right-wing and white nationalist platforms" for telling black athletes, specifically LeBron James, to "shut up and dribble."
Many others invoked Colin Kaepernick, because of course. See, the difference here is pretty obvious, but I'll spell it out. Kaepernick, LeBron and other athletes – who have been criticized for talking politics – did so in their capacity as a professional athlete.
Kaepernick literally protested on an NFL field while wearing an NFL uniform. James frequently speaks during NBA press conferences and other appearances as an NBA player about his political beliefs.
Butker did not. He delivered a college commencement speech that had nothing to do with the Kansas City Chiefs or the NFL. He did this on his own time. That's the difference, and it's an important one.
Butker also spoke to the men in the audience and encouraged them to be masculine.
"To the gentlemen here today, part of what plagues society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities,' Butker said. "As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.
"Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy."
A very strong and solid message. See, many people criticized Butker for saying women should focus on being mothers. Read that last quote. He also tells men to take pride in being fathers. He talks about the plague of "absence of men in the home."
Is that not him telling men to raise their children? Where is the outcry from the media saying, "Harrison Butker thinks men should just raise kids!?"
That doesn't exist, of course. In fact, Mike Freeman took issue with the idea that society wants to emasculate men.
There is no emasculation of men. It's not happening. It has never happened. It's a totally fabricated thing.
This is where an Adam Carolla-ism of "Stupid or Liar" comes into play. Is Mike Freeman stupid, or is he lying? It has to be one or the other. This is an absurd take.
The left-wingers invented the term "toxic masculinity." And, really, they mean that all masculinity is toxic. Society currently celebrates men who paint their nails, men who pretend to be women, and men who weep openly in their mother's arms.
But, what is "toxic femininity"? You might be surprised to know it has nothing to do with women. No, that's the fault of men, too.
According to a medically-reviewed article, "Toxic femininity posits that women are without agency and exist to be defined and judged of their value by a male in their life, such as a father or a husband."
Toxic masculinity = men are the problem.
Toxic femininity = men are the problem.
But, sure, there's no emasculating of men going on in American society. Just don't look behind the curtain.
Women are free to make their own choices in life, and we should support the decision to have kids and stay-at-home, have a career, or do both.
Mike Freeman wraps up his piece with peak irony.
Women don't need to stay in the kitchen. Unless they want to.
Ah, OK, so Freeman now says women are free to choose what they want to do in life. Unless, of course, they choose to be wives and mothers, in which case they are exhibiting "toxic femininity" and want America to go back to the 1950s.
I understand the people who took offense to Butker's comments. One of OutKick's terrific writers, Amber Harding, is very open about the fact she isn't interested in having children.
When asked about Butker's comments, Harding told me, "Butker says that he was able to do all these great things in life, like play in the NFL and start a business — but he couldn't have done it without his wife staying home. Essentially, he's saying ‘Forget everything you just worked for, girls. Give up your hopes, dreams and goals to support your husband.’
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker celebrates on the field with his family.
(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
"Women should be able to do whatever they want with their lives (just as men should). If a woman wants to be a stay-at-home-mom with 6 kids, that's amazing. If she wants to never get married, never have kids, travel the world and start her own company, that's also amazing. Or any combination of the above.
"But standing up at a college graduation — where these women just spent a ton of money and worked their butts off to accomplish the same thing as their male counterparts — and say they should focus on being wives and mothers is egregious. That's not why any of them went to college."
I don't disagree with Harding, and her weekly column, "Womansplaining," is a must-read for men and women.
That being said, I'm not sure if that's what Butker was actually trying to say. To me, Butker was countering people in the left-wing media who denigrate those women who choose to be wives and mothers. Those people, like Mike Freeman, who don't see being a homemaker as a "vocation."
I understand there is a segment of right-wing commentators who attempt to shame women for having careers instead of having children. I don't agree with them, either. Women should be free to choose their own paths in life.
However, I personally see many more people in today's society constantly telling women that they can do anything that men can do, and they should reach for the skies – which is certainly true.
But there is one thing women can do that men cannot: have children. And that's a wonderful thing, as well. If women want to choose to make that their goal in life – to be incredible mothers and wives – we should commend them for it.
It's an incredible vocation and one that is most definitely worthy of praise and requires hard work and dedication. No matter what Mike Freeman and the other left-wing media try to say.