The word "no" is one of the most powerful words in the English dictionary. It's a word that sets boundaries for the treatment of yourself and loved ones and with a large enough resistance, this word can solidify the rejection of actions that are illogical or immoral for our society.
We're built to conform to the standards of the group because straying away from the group feels dangerous and socially vulnerable, but the brave few who stand up for their principles become the beacon for the people who were quietly fearful.
With an increasing number of NHL players from various teams who were quietly protesting against the NHL's Pride Nights and rejecting the participation of wearing the Pride themed jerseys, the NHL as a whole is beginning to re-evaluate its future participation in Pride for seasons to come.
Gary Bettman, the NHL's League Commissioner, stated in an interview with CTV News, "This is the first time we've experienced that, and I think it's something that we're going to have to evaluate in the offseason."
"This is one issue where players for a variety of reasons may not feel comfortable wearing the uniform as a form of endorsement," Bettman continued. "But I think that's become more of a distraction now, because the substance of what our teams and we have been doing and stand for is really being pushed to the side for what is a handful of players basically have made personal decisions, and you have to respect that as well."
For players such as Eric and Marc Staal, Ivan Provorov, and James Reimer, their reasons for refusing to wear the Pride sweaters stemmed from their Christian beliefs. Many players in the NHL who come from all over the world share these beliefs, and one could surmise that these feelings are felt by many Christians within their global fanbase as well.
Sports like hockey were supposed to be our modern-day Roman Colosseum distraction as we consume a bit of organized brutality and athleticism, allowing us to take our minds off our personal and societal troubles for a brief period to keep our sanity intact.
The slow destruction of enjoyment for sports in America has been largely due to the introduction of social and political virtue signaling which was never supposed to be included in the sporting experience.
Leagues like the NHL have copied the strategy of more public-facing corporations who believe they have a societal duty to display a position on politically divisive topics, using their players as billboards to display progressive dogmatic slogans.
Sport leagues have convinced athletes to adhere to symbolic gestures as they're simple, require minimal effort, and theoretically hurt no one, but slowly the goal post has moved in not only how you must show your support for a cause but the number of causes you must support.
Hockey, amongst other sports, is supposed to help bring people together for a non-important common cause in an environment that's fun, boisterous, and energetic. You're not supposed to care about what the person sitting next to you believes in, votes for, or who they have sex with: all that matters is your passion to see your team win.
The demand for performative progressivism in all aspects of public life has made people in influential positions believe that taking a stance of political neutrality is the same as advocating for malevolence, and our sport leagues have adopted this mentality to conform with this spreading mindset amongst organizations throughout America.
The NHL's choice to discard neutrality and refuse to stay within their lane as a league has imposed a divisive nuisance onto their fans' experience, and it has introduced the possibility of their fan's tuning out of the NHL, not for lacking in quality of play for their audience, but for lacking in quality of care for their audience's enjoyment.
Despite the NHL's motivations to keep up with progressive trends, it took only a handful of players to brave being publicly and momentarily ridiculed by the elitists in sports media and choose their beliefs over their natural instinct to conform.
It took men such as Ivan Provorov to stand resilient in front of indignant journalists and calmly (and unapologetically), say "no" to behaving in a way that would go against what he believes.
Our desire to be good people and not be the nail that sticks out in fear of being hammered is exactly what progressive atheists use to manipulate people to shift their beliefs.
But that hammer rarely comes with the same frequency or velocity that we've been fearing, and we as "nails" are far sturdier than we realize.
If you want to become sober from progressivism: Just say no.
