Country music star Jason Aldean’s new hit song and video Try That in a Small Town assaults his audience with violent images of riots, crime and the burning of an American flag as if urban America is a cauldron of corruption and broken values. As an answer to the chaos, he threatens, “Well, try that in a small town, See how far ya make it down the road.”
Now, Mr. Aldean, we know you’re not really from a small town. You’re from Macon, Georgia, population 153,095. And I’ve got news for you, Slick. That’s not the way it works in a small town.
In a small town, the answer to conflict is not to go beat somebody up. Small towns are not, as you sing, “Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right, If you’re looking for a fight, Try that in a small town.” If you have a problem with someone, you don’t just get the good old boys together and beat the daylights out of them. You can’t do that in a small town. In a small town, everybody knows everybody else. Even if you are absolutely in the right, that person you disagree with is somebody’s son, somebody’s brother. Their neighbor runs the local hardware store. Their best friend plays golf with your boss. If you beat up that guy, his grandmother, who makes the best rhubarb-strawberry pie on the planet is never going to send some home with you again. You’re cut off, dude. Think about it.
Far from being a free-for-all for vigilantes, living in a small town is an exercise in self-control. Just ask anyone from Mount Vernon—when’s the last time you heard somebody lay on the horn at an intersection? Sure, in New York City and Los Angeles and Chicago (and probably Macon) people honk all the time. Road rage is a common occurrence. But if you try that in a small town, the word gets around fast. “Did you hear that Bob honked at me this morning?” “No, what do you think he was so mad about?” “You don’t suppose he and Sharon are getting a divorce.” “Well, I’m calling Sharon right now and find out.” If you get angry in a small town, you ought to go home and scream into a pillow until you calm down.
Mr. Aldean, you seem like an okay guy. But what were you thinking filming your video against the backdrop of Maury County courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. where a Black man, Henry Choate was lynched in 1927? And what’s with all the footage of Black Lives Matter protests and Molotov cocktails and fires and looting? And what are we supposed to think when you show silhouettes of two guys with guns walking menacingly toward the camera as you sing, “You cross that line, it won’t take long, For you to find out, I recommend you don’t.”
As a small town person, I’ve got a recommendation for you. You’ve got a concert coming up in Hartford, CT. You should make it a point to stop by the Xfinity Theatre for the Small Towns Against Hate protest. Maybe you’ll learn something.
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