The Trouble with Political "Oppositism"

I suppose I first noticed it several years ago. Now I’m not one who regularly follows sports. I did, however, remember when the NFL “forgave” Michael Vick for brutally torturing those dogs in his fighting ring and brought him back. It was entirely for profit purposes, nothing else, and we were all expected to just go along with it.

Rifle Bullets

This would not be the first time the NFL did this. There are a lot of criminals on their payroll, people who have done even worse things that Michael Vick. And there were more horrible things that the NFL was doing, which I won’t list here. People began boycotting them and refusing to buy their products, or support companies who funded the NFL.

Then one day, some young man kneeled during the National Anthem to protest police violence. Prominent members of conservative movements and the Republican Party began objecting to this protest, calling for boycotts of the NFL and the whole nine yards. Suddenly those same people who had been boycotting the NFL for their horrible track record started buying up NFL tickets and products like they were suddenly made of gold.

None of these people remembered the real reasons they were boycotting the NFL in the first place. They just knew that the Republicans were doing it now, so they wanted to do the opposite thing. They sacrificed their own morals just to be contrary.

The same thing happened with Nike. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, people were horrified to see pictures of foreign children in sweat shops making Nike running shoes. Suddenly, the Nike company found itself being boycotted by conscientious left-wing people. The company swore that they had changed their practices, but more recent investigations have turned up evidence of other terrible crimes committed by Nike, and the boycotts continued.

Until the right-wing began boycotting them for other reasons. Suddenly, all those left-wing people went running down to Nike stores to buy as many products as they could get. Not only were they buying these products, they were making sure that everyone on social media knew that they were doing so. Nike got a bunch of free advertising over it.

I remember asking a few of them if they remembered why they were boycotting Nike before. Most of them did the unthinkable- they denied ever boycotting Nike in the first place! That’s right, these people were so caught up in political fervor that they didn’t even remember what they’d been fighting against.

The most recent observation I have made with political oppositism has to do with a disgusting substance that is put into our food. This product, known as high fructose corn syrup, is actually processed with mercury, and it is a pollution hazard. I could go on forever about how bad HFCS is for you and the environment, but that is not the point of this discussion.

My point is that for decades now, people of the left-leaning nature have been avoiding the substance for environmental and health reasons. (Also, when you think about it, HFCS doesn’t taste very good. It leaves a sweet aftertaste that is kind of… well, disgusting.) I even heard of people who had someone come into their house and rudely judge them for having a product containing HFCS.

It got to be such a problem that the industry got worried and started releasing propaganda ads trying to discourage the boycott. It didn’t work, as more and more companies removed the chemical from their products. Eventually the corporate shills gave up, knowing they were losing the battle.

Fast forward to 2025, when Donald Trump makes some statement about wishing that Coca Cola used sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Suddenly the left-leaners were up in arms and protesting on social media. They began posting memes about how HFCS was supporting corn farmers and that boycotting it meant you were against farmers.

Um, seriously, people? You are now putting politics before the environment you swear that you want to save. Not only the environment, but your own health! And the reason for this? There is only one. Because you are trying to do the exact opposite of a political figure that you don’t like.

Now, I am not a fan of Donald Trump. I could discuss what I think should be done with the man and his cronies, but it would probably put me on a watch list somewhere. However, he has a point about the Coca Cola, and I’m willing to give him that. (Even if I suspect he is using it as a distraction from other problems that the people demand answers for.)

Even RFK, Junior, who has done and said some dangerous things toward the nation’s health, has some good points about eating healthier food and removing chemistry from our cooking. Some of the chemicals used in food processing in the United States are linked to cancer, heart disease, and other deadly conditions. Not only this, they are terrible for the environment, leading to pollution and the endangerment of wildlife.

My friend, Violet Kendrick, often talks about the dangers of viewing politics as a team sport. As a YouTube personality said just today, we live in an era where politics has become someone’s identity, and they hold it over anything else in their lives. This is the philosophy that leads to oppositism in the first place.

Dear readers, please stop and think about what you are doing before you do it. Are you really willing to give up your long-held beliefs and morals just to do the opposite of your political enemies? Are you going to let them manipulate you into being a worse person? Because that is what’s happening to people when this occurs. You become a worse person just to prove you are not like the other political party. And somewhere, as my friends Nikita Engelmann and Olivia Hatcher would say, some corporate shill is laughing all the way to the bank.

We live in a world of extreme political polarization. It has been this way ever since George W. Bush stood up on that podium and declared, “You’re either for or against us!” That was over twenty years ago, and I suspect even he had no idea what that attitude would breed in the rest of the country.

Now people are beginning to die over it. Yes, there are now fatalities in this opposite war. Just two months ago, Minnesota politician Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog were shot dead in their home by a political extremist, who, later that day, tried to kill another politician and his wife before being arrested by the authorities.

Just a few days ago, a radicalized teen opened fire on students in a school in Evergreen, Colorado, wounding and traumatizing several other teens. Though police have not gone into details yet, it appears he was another political extremist.

So was the young man who shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the neck, killing him. Preliminary interviews say that the shooter felt that Kirk was “not conservative enough.” Whatever that means in his twisted mind. I guess Mr. Kirk wasn’t good enough for his team… Or something.

There have been several incidents of political violence around the country, most committed by radicalized young men, and this entire country has taken part in the cause. That’s right, every last one of us who participate in this opposite game, this politics is a team sport mentality. These young men were raised in this environment, and they are responding in the only way they know how.

Did you buy NFL and Nike products when you were told? Did you start consuming HFCS when you were manipulated into doing so? What other lifelong morals have you thrown in the garbage just to prove you’re not like “the enemy?” Think about your answers to these questions closely. Think about who you really are.

How many times have you now pulled the trigger without ever touching the gun?