I really like 10,000 Maniacs music. Natalie Merchant has an amazing voice. But back when they were popular in the 1980s, she used to get up on stage and lecture the audience about whatever political causes floated her boat.

I remember reading an article, maybe RS, maybe something else, where they asked the other band members what they thought of her doing that. To a man, IIRC, they just wanted her to shut up and sing. The right course if you're selling a product IMO.

Fast forward to today. Everything, every single thing everywhere, is politicized. Don't speak out? You're [insert whatever here]. Do speak out? You're the wrong color, wrong sex, too old, too young, vote the wrong way.

Vote the wrong way? We'll ruin your life, make you unemployable, hound you out of social gatherings/clubs.

And you know what's even worse? There are a large number of people who are not only okay with this, they applaud it.

You know the only saying "Things are going to get worse before they get better"? I remain unconvinced that the second part of that statement will occur without really bad things happening first.

OTOH, watching spoiled millionaire athletes discovering the cold economic equations of their income vis a vis an enormous drop in TV revenue when it comes time to update collective bargaining agreement is going to make me laugh. A lot.

For those of you not familiar with "The Cold Equations" (book, not the movie), here you go: https://photos.state.gov/libraries/hochiminh/646441/vantt/The%20Cold%20Equations.pdf