Upon the United States women’s basketball team striking gold at the Tokyo Olympics, Nike released a video calling for dismantling the patriarchy and falsifying history in favor of identity politics worship. One can only expect such ridiculous propaganda from a corporation that has “#BlackLivesMatter” in its Twitter bio.
The women’s team took down Japan 90 to 75 Sunday, marking seven years of gold medals. It is the fifth straight medal for stars Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi—an impressive feat. Still, Nike went far overboard in its acknowledgment of this success, moving to trivialize our shared understanding of the past in order to reinforce its politically correct social justice initiative.
Nike’s video depicts a black lesbian high schooler complaining about studying history. In her view, it promotes “the patriarchy.” Instead of learning about actual dynasties of the past, she wishes to discuss the athletic “dynasty” of the women’s basketball team.
“Today I have a presentation on dynasties,” the girl says. “But I refuse to talk about the ancient history and drama. That’s just the patriarchy. Instead, I’m going to talk about a dynasty that I actually look up to. An all-women dynasty. Women of color. Gay women. Women who fight for social justice. Women with a jump shot. A dynasty that makes your favorite men’s basketball, football, and baseball teams look like amateurs.”
The characterization is an on-point illustration of what the left has sought for years. In schools across the country, history and other disciplines have been overhauled by ahistorical, identity-focused curricula intended to push action civics. Look no further than the 1619 Project.
Forget the great men who have shaped modern culture, Nike offers, since the past is to them solely a reflection of unjust male dominance. The left operates under the notion that it can fundamentally alter human nature to craft a politically correct utopia. They view the past through the lens of the endlessly woke present, and along the way distort basic truths.
The new strategy purposefully disdains wisdom from the past. Not only does the girl in the ad obsess about the sex of her heroes, but also about their sexual preferences and commitment to “social justice.”
The girl puts forth that the women’s basketball dynasty makes male sports teams “look like amateurs.” Whereas U.S. women’s soccer team player Megan Rapinoe lamented not being paid the same as the male players who attract far more viewers, Nike seeks to communicate to viewers that women are in fact athletically superior to men.
Of course, reality tells a different story. Despite the denial of the politically correct, anti-science left, men are provably and significantly physiologically stronger than women, as studies time and time again support. It’s an inconvenient fact that helps explain the differences between men’s and women’s teams. While it is no doubt impressive and an accomplishment for the women’s team to succeed on the global stage, let’s not pretend what is an achievement for a woman is an equal achievement for a man, or their respective teams.
“A dynasty with fire braids,” the girl continues. “A dynasty with sick style. A dynasty with crazy dimes. A dynasty that makes Alexander the Great look like Alexander the Okay. The dynasty that’s been reigning for the past 25 years.”
“Undefeated since ’96. The USA basketball women’s national team. Seven-time consecutive gold medalists. And most importantly. Women that made it possible for girls like me to feel like they can be a part of whatever dynasty they want. The greatest dynasty ever,” she says.
https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1424218343175688192
Yes, after centralizing identity and not merit, the ad moves to (no joke) juxtapose a women’s basketball team with Alexander the Great. A Macedonian king whose battle skills made his empire stretch from Greece to northwest India before he reached age 30—a man widely regarded as one of the greatest military strategists and leaders of all time—is just a perished patriarch not worth studying.
One wonders what would happen if the actual Alexander the Great was put in an arena against the entire women’s basketball team.
According to Nike, however, there is apparently nothing worthwhile to learn from great men of past and present. It is no wonder statues of American heroes across the country are being toppled and vandalized. Nike declares its desire to join in.
