A Happy Ending For A Chaotic Day

[Kathianne]

I don't know if you heard of that guy that held up a sign for Busch beer donations at a baseball game a week or so ago? He was inundated with donations, over $1M! He donated all but 1 case of Busch to a children's hospital. Anheuser-Busch said they would match.

An Iowan reporter went back to find some posts by this 'everyday guy' he wrote at 16 years old. Cancel culture ensued. A-B sent the money but dropped the guy, that is cancel culture.

Low and behold:

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/343257/


SEPTEMBER 25, 2019


CHUTZPAH ALERT: “Gov. Kim Reynolds signs proclamation for ‘Carson King Day’ in Iowa (https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/25/carson-king-day-college-gameday-sign-busch-light-venmo-iowa-governor-kim-reynolds-proclamation/2445154001/),” says the Des Moines Register, in a piece time-stamped “4:43 p.m. CT Sept. 25, 2019” (in other words: this afternoon), with no mention that yesterday, the Des Moines Register attempted to wreck King’s life (https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/343215/) by trolling through tweets he wrote eight years ago when he was 16.

Incidentally, good for the governor for stepping in to help un-cancel someone the paper tried to destroy. And kudos to a small brewery in Illinois using what Jessica Fletcher of the Daily Caller dubs (https://twitter.com/heckyessica/status/1176995469001666560) “a genius marketing move…after [Anheuser Busch] severed ties because they are terrible:” “Illinois Craft Brewery Steps Up, Names Pilsner After Carson King.” (https://97x.com/illinois-craft-brewery-steps-up-names-pilsner-after-carson-king/)


Well, just when we thought there wouldn’t be any new developments, the Geneseo Brewing Company in Geneseo, IL just put out a statement saying that, “We have witnessed the growth through your later social media content and accept your apology. We believe that your selfless act of raising funds for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital is truly a noble act. We as an Independent Craft Beer Company would like to continue your efforts by naming a new pilsner “Iowa Legend” and donating a dollar from every pint and 16-ounce can purchased to your cause until the batch is sold out.”

That’s pretty cool, especially coming from a company in Illinois. Here I thought it was just Iowans squabbling about Carson King, but it seems that it has grown into a story that affects more people than we could imagine.


Good to see further pushback on cancel culture.

[Kathianne]

and 5 days later:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/carson-king-has-created-a-blueprint-for-resisting-cancel-culture


OPINION
Carson King has created a blueprint for resisting cancel culture
by Tiana Lowe
| September 27, 2019 03:04 PM

Against the odds, Iowa beer fan and millionaire donor Carson King has had the last laugh. And it's because of all of us, dear reader, who fought for him.


We fought in the comment section of Twitter. We fought in retweets and ratios. We fought because we bullied the bullies and we won.


As you may recall, the Des Moines Register decided to profile King, an unknown who unexpectedly earned a million dollars from strangers for beer money but instead donated it all to a children's hospital. In their "routine background check," which surely included a Twitter keyword search to find a reason to cancel him, Register reporter Aaron Calvin went to King with two reportedly racist jokes from his sophomore year of high school with the intent to get comment and publish them.


King tried to get ahead of the story by apologizing. The Register, having already approached Anheuser-Busch and convinced the beer company to cancel its clever, newly created affiliation with King, then went ahead with the story of King's dark past — i.e., a few bad tweets from nearly a decade ago.


But although political correctness gone overboard reigns supreme in newsrooms and the very online and vocal Left, ordinary people don't want to live in a world where your life ends up being ruined because you did something amazing to help sick kids. Nobody wants some zealous but hypocritical neckbeard journalist to find the worst thing you ever said as a joke in high school, and his idiot editors to give the thumbs up to his zealotry.


In the end, normal people of all ideological persuasions bullied the bullies right back.


First, we found and amplified the racist tweets by Aaron Calvin, the reporter attempting to "cancel" King. Then we spammed the hell out of the Register's Twitter account. The original statement explaining why they published the article in the first place has under 400 retweets and over 7,000 comments — well done, angry folks.


But we didn't stop there. The fun went on as people rejected Register's attempt to go back to business as usual. Its tweet featuring an objective news piece about President Trump received one retweet and 145 replies — from us. Another, about fall dining events in Des Moines, got two retweets and 261 replies from us. A tweet about a new Wells Fargo CEO has 49 replies from us and no retweets.


We did the same to Anheuser-Busch, which chickened out and dumped King in the wake of the Register's ever-so-dogged reporting on his activities as a high school sophomore. As a result, the company deleted every single one of its tweets about King. And still, Iowa Oktoberfest pulled Busch Light from their brews as a punishment.


"We just felt it was best to support a local Iowan and his cause," said Oktoberfest's Chad Shipman to the Courier. "We want to support Carson King's cause, and that's giving money back to the hospital."


Now Geneseo Brewing Co. has named a lager after King, who's now partnering with them.


Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds created a Carson King Day, and Republican Sen. Joni Ernst tweeted in support of him. All the while, King has shown nothing but accountability and apologies for the old tweets, nothing but grace toward the haters, and tons of appreciation to his supporters.


He won because we all resisted cancel culture. The Register was wrong to place all the blame and the punishment on their own reporter (they fired him) when editors were clearly responsible as well. But that's for another day. King was vindicated not because the man who tried to ruin him was canceled, but because we rewrote the narrative online. Now, King goes down in the books not as "problematic" but as heroic.




Tired of cancel culture? We can weaken and kill it, together, as long as we're willing to fight back.

[Elessar]

My only question is the legality of an under-aged person latching on to a movement such as this,
even though apparently %100 went to the hospital. A noble act and program.

Abbey is our attorney here. Perhaps she could spread some light on the age issue.
I simply have no idea.

[Kathianne]

My only question is the legality of an under-aged person latching on to a movement such as this,
even though apparently %100 went to the hospital. A noble act and program.

@Abbey (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=11) is our attorney here. Perhaps she could spread some light on the age issue.
I simply have no idea.

What movement?

He is I think 24, at a ball game. As a goof he put up a sign saying, "Donate, my Busch Light supply is getting low." He put up the # and lo and behold, he was inundated with $$. He chose to donate to local children's hospital, bought 1 case of beer. A-H Busch said they'd match and feature the 'good guy' on a beer can. Then the Register basically doxxed him and the rest is history.

[Kathianne]

Sad for the races' beneficiaries, but good on the staff for sticking to the message:

https://ktiv.com/2019/10/15/entire-ragbrai-staff-resigns-over-registers-handling-of-carson-king-story/