Episode 21 - Woke Video Games & More BLM Violence

In this week's episode of Fate of the Union, Franklin covers the latest in the "get woke, go broke" business model, as EA Sports introduced SJW deity Colin Kaepernick into Madden 21 as the game's ratings continue to plummet.  Franklin then discusses Joe Biden's declining mental state and the media's cover up of this issue.  Finally, we go over the latest in Black Lives Matter-inspired violence in Los Angeles.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating/review. You can also find out more about the show and its host on Twitter and Medium by searching fate of the union, and at franklinfotu@gmail.com. 

Transcript

At the conclusion of the last episode, we ventured into the world of sports for a change.  We talked about how Minnesota Vikings quarterback kirk cousins was getting himself into hot water with the woke sports media for the grave sin of voicing a lack of concern for the virus’ threat to him personally, but nevertheless adhering to wearing a mask out of concern for others.  The media of course left off the latter half of that statement, and instead played it off as Cousins being some kook who didnt understand the true threat of the virus.  Luckily, Cousins still had some defenders online who were fond of someone taking a truly even keeled approach to the virus.

Now, we have another story out of the virtual sports world to be exact. EA Sports recently released their annual version of the madden football franchise with madden 21. however, the game was met with instant backlash, and that negative reception has only gotten worse. At one point in its opening week, madden 21 was garnering user ratings in the neighborhood of 0.4/10. This was mainly based on the developers refusal to address longstanding issues with game play, graphics, and continuity errors while playing the game. After years of going unaddressed, players simply had enough of these issues.

Not to be outdone, EA decided to throw some fire on the flames already engulfing the madden franchise.  This is from Bobby Burack over at Outkick the Coverage website, Clay Travis’ outlet.

“Tuesday, Madden ignored the numbers and opted to turn off its audience by adding Colin Kaepernick to its 2021 video game. The decision to add a non-football player to a football game is absurd and laughable. Furthermore, EA’s approach to going as woke as live sports included rating the former backup QB ahead of half the starting QBs.”  The player is even met with a prompt suggesting Kaepernick be added to a roster at the game’s title screen.

EA was absolutely eviscerated online, partially because other documented errors in the franchise were left uncorrected but primarily for the transparent hail mary for woke points in the wake of the abysmal ratings. For a bit of context, Kaepernick is rated an 81 on Madden 21. Twitter users were quick to note that in his last season on a roster, in 2016, he was only rated a 76.  so after being rated a 76 and throwing 4 interceptions in his last start four years ago and not playing since then, Madden developers thought Kaepernick had nevertheless improved over time. What’s more, Kaepernick’s rating puts him higher than half of the starting quarterbacks in the game. Former MVP Cam Newton and a popular pick for emerging star this season Kyler Murray are both rated lower than Kaepernick.  Josh Allen led the Bills to a surprisingly strong season and a playoff berth last year, yet he too finds his rating lower than an 81.

I think this is an especially good example of the backlash that is unleashed upon a business for engaging in pandering woke gestures from the actual consumers of the product. EA made this alteration to the game as an olive branch to a segment of people, namely blue check mark types on twitter, who were never going to buy their product to begin with. Meanwhile, their actual customers were left unattended. Similar to the massive layoffs ESPN faced the years after going full SJW leading into the 2016 presidential election and losing cable subscribers as a result, EA is now feeling the brunt of their empty gestures from customers who have voiced their concerns for years now. Hopefully, this lesson in “get woke, go broke” will finally convince EA to address the issues with its product. 

In other news, the Biden campaign continues to rely on the message of orange man bad, but not much more. During the opening NFL game this year between the chiefs and texans viewers were met with another biden 2020 ad. But the ad is yet another example of the biden campaign repeating unsubstantiated claims about how president trump has made the country worse through the lens of the virus or race relations, or what have you. But of course there is no suggestion as to what Joe Biden would have done differently to make the country better, nor any plan on making it better in 2021 if he pulls out a win in november. This trend continued when Biden’s national security advisor went on with Brett Baier on fox news and would not even give a straight answer as to whether or not biden must rely on a teleprompter in order to make any semblance of coherence. 

To make matters worse, Biden appeared to lose his train of thought during an interview that aired Thursday on CNN while trying to deny that he was “Slow Joe.”

“Who’s, I mean, this idea of, you know, ‘Slow Joe,'” Biden said as he started to laugh before losing his train of thought. “I, anyway, I, I shouldn’t laugh about it because, uh, anyway, Donald Trump, uh, just look at us both, watch us, and determine whether or not you think, uh, um, I’m misleading anyone, not you personally, but the public, you know, look at me, judge me based on—”

Biden has a history of gaffe’s in his numerous decades in office. But the recent fumbles more closely resemble a man in his twilight years seemingly over matched by the stress and inherent energy needed to run a presidential campaign, let along actually being president. In August 2019, Biden spoke about two recent shootings at the time but mentioned they occurred in Houston and Michigan, when they actually occurred in el Paso TX and Dayton OH. 

During that same month, Biden was speaking in New Hampshire and was aksed about his impression of Keene, the town he was going to spend most of that weekend engaged with potential voters. He responded, ‘What’s not to like about Vermont in terms of the beauty of it?’ Biden responded, appearing to mix up the two New England states.  The man literally did not know where he was. 

According to the Washington Examiner, at a campaign fundraiser in Delaware while referencing a speech he gave on Aug. 7 in Burlington, Iowa, Biden referred to the town as Burlington, VT, but quickly corrected himself.” 

So, we are facing the very real scenario of electing a president who has routinely fumbled in such a way that should give a voter pause about his ability to handle the stress of leading the free world while in this stage of his life. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the corporate press and hollywood elites will do their best to elide the fact that the democratic presidential nominee looks to be mentally depleted still two months out of election day and four months from when his term would actually begin.