The last few weeks have seen a huge kerfuffle over singer Jason Aldean’s music video “Try That in a Small Town.” Thanks to their attempts at censorship, leftists have managed to rocket the song to No. 1 on endless music charts, and in the process have made the song far more widely listened to than if they’d just shut up and left it alone.

In case you’ve been living under a rock (one of my favorite dwelling places), the lyrics of Aldean’s song include the following:

[Chorus]

Honestly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. What part of the lyrics is not true? Oh wait – THAT’S what the fuss is about. Heaven forbid the truth should be spoken. Apparently, objecting to violence and promoting self-defense is now wrong.

Cries of “racism!” have dominated the criticism, but in looking through the lyrics I see absolutely nothing whatever referring to anyone’s skin color, and everything referring to behavior. In fact, the left has had to twist themselves into pretzels to find evidence of their favorite accusation. But again, what part of the lyrics is not true?

What I’m getting from this is people CAN “sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk, carjack an old lady at a red light, pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store, cuss out a cop, spit in his face, stomp on the flag and light it up” – .

I’m not a country music fan (my taste in music is fossilized in classical Baroque), but I watched Aldean’s video and concluded that apparently what the leftists found so objectionable was the news footage accompanying the song. Who wants to be reminded of the 2020 summer of violence when cities all over America burned? Why is it racist to show clips of those “fiery but most peaceful” protests, all of which are genuine news coverage?

I’ve lived near small towns – we’re talking under 3,000 people – for the last 30 years. Trust me, the lyrics are true. What Aldean tried to convey in this piece is how the violence that characterized the summer of 2020 didn’t occur in small towns The locals wouldn’t have put up with it. And by “locals,” I mean the local politicians and law enforcement officers as well as armed civilians.

Trust me, the lyrics are true, and not one ounce of it is based on racism. It’s based on expected standards of behavior. If you try to torch someone’s business, why is it racist to put a stop to that activity?

“There is a skein of denigration that runs through recent American history where small towns, rural America, and the values that live in the people who inhabit them are sneered at by the left, and the negatives are grossly exaggerated,” notes Rick Moran in PJ Media. “Small towns aren’t perfect, and people who live there know it. But there is a sense of neighborliness and a feeling of patriotic devotion that you do not find in much of urban America.”

In the small towns I’ve lived near, no one cares about the melanin content of anyone’s skin; but everyone cares about public displays of behavior. If anyone tried to “cross that line,” as Aldean sang, they would be stopped within minutes (or seconds). That’s what makes small towns such a pleasure to live in.

Meanwhile, while the left is ginning up fake racist outrage, many black Americans are agreeing with the lyrics (see this and this and this). But hey, why take their word for it?

(As a side note, Matt Walsh tweeted, “Hilarious to hear the media accuse Jason Aldean of writing a song that ‘promotes violence’ when nearly every rap song for the past 30 years has directly and enthusiastically glorified murder, drug dealing, robbery and every other violent crime, and these people say nothing.”)

The last time I addressed the likelihood of leftist violence in small-town America, readers found the concept hilarious. Some comments:

And possibly my favorite comment: “Now you know why the leftist scum wants middle America disarmed.”

So yes, the lyrics are true. Around here, we take care of our own. Don’t try this in a small town. Trust me, you’ll regret it.

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

This post originally appeared on WND News Center.