Resist virtue signaling

Advocacy is fine. Compelled advocacy is not. And compelled virtue signaling is vacuous. 

Five players on the Tampa Bay Rays roster opted not to wear a patch the team added to its uniforms intended to celebrate Pride month in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. During the team's 16th annual Pride Night celebration Rays caps and uniforms had logos colored in the style of the modern LGBTQ+ pride flag, but not everyone in the clubhouse chose to participate.

Pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson were among the players who did not wear the patch on their uniforms and chose to wear the team's standard caps for the June 4 home game.

Adam was selected by the organization to speak on behalf of the players who opted out, and called it a "faith-based decision" and that the decision wasn't "judgmental," per the Times.

"So it's a hard decision. Because ultimately we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here. But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it's just a lifestyle that maybe — not that they look down on anybody or think differently — it's just that maybe we don't want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who's encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like [Jesus] encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It's no different."

I applaud Adam for taking this stance, but his rationale is likely to fall on deaf ears. In today's "WOKE!" culture, your fealty is to be to the church of progressivism or you're a hateful bigot. There's no in-between. 

While I obviously don't know the five individuals who declined to wear the "pride" symbol, I would venture a guess that their respective worldviews would compel them to love others as God has loved us, especially since we all fall short of His glory. Wearing a vapid symbol is irrelevant in comparison to one's actual works. 

The woke mob's reaction to these Rays players is an embodiment of an episode of the TV show Seinfeld where Cosmo Kramer was an avowed supporter of ending AIDS despite not wanting to don a ribbon showing said support. 

While I disagreed with the rationale for NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem, I stopped well short of my desire that they be required to stand. And those players were making an effort to be noticed whereas the "Rays Five" weren't interested in bringing attention unto themselves. 

Like I essentially said earlier, there are no compromises with the "WOKE!" mob. 

---------------------------------------------------