In a season of joy, the Winner Advocate and several businesses enjoy doing a photo greeting ad in the Christmas issue.
However, one ad in this year’s Christmas issue did not bring much joy to the Winner Advocate. Instead, it brought verbal harassment and hatred to the newspaper. It must be noted that 98 percent of this harassment came from persons living in different states and who were not subscribers to this newspaper.
The picture was of the staff of Winner Welding and owner Brad Assman is holding a coded sign which is anti Joe Biden.
The Winner Advocate received 17 phone calls from California, Massachusetts, Missouri, South Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado and Washington.
These were people who were screaming at the Winner Advocate and calling us every filthy name they could think of.
The paper received 17 negative e mails.
There was one positive e mail from woman who was a Democrat. The lady from Minneapolis said: “I hope you don’t get too much flack but I really hope some of this discourse, positive or negative, brings attention to the plight of local news.”
Assman said he placed the ad to show his disdain for Biden. He voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020 and said he feels the last election was stolen.
“I am not being profane,” Assman said. “Not everyone knows what that sign means.”
Assman has a sign on his truck with the same words.
When people question Assman on the sign, he shows them a video that explains the derivation of the coded insult.
Assman says he has received both negative and positive comments. He thinks it my attract more welding business in his direction.
In addition, the lead story on a recent KSFY nightly news featured the picture and the controversy over it.
Also, a column that appeared in the Black Hills Pioneer in Spearfish said the Winner Advocate was wrong to publish the ad. “It would help if newspapers, even those so starved for a few dollars to lower all standards, would not publish such trash,” said the news column.
The following comments are from Winner Advocate publisher and owner, Charley Najacht.
“It’s amazing how three simple words,’Let’s Go Brandon’ can trigger left-leaning people and liberal news outlets in and out of our state, resulting in a liberal feeding frenzy. President Trump was called every name in the book by his opponents for four years and that was fine with these people. Actor and Trump-hater Robert DiNero concluded his anti-Trump rant at an elite Hollywood awards ceremony with ‘F— Trump!’ and received a standing ovation. Where was the outcry then?
“The negative reaction we received for publishing this ad was a gross overreaction. The business owners had every right to say what they said in their ad as long as it was not profane or libelous, and it wasn’t. It was actually two messages: one Merry Christmas to our readers and their customers and another more polite one to President Biden and his administration. Like tens of millions of other people in this country, they do not agree with its policies and are fearful of the direction our country is headed.
“What we learned from this little episode is about the nasty intolerance from the left exhibited by their inappropriate and sometimes obscene phone calls and emails and threats Laura had to field in our office. I’m sure Brad and Deb had to deal with the same. Hopefully, they heard from supporters as well.
“Our office received messages from ‘upset’ people in at least eight other states. We know they never subscribed to or heard of the Winner Advocate before this ad came out in our Christmas edition. Something like this is only possible through the dissemination of news on social media.
“We know how this works. One local person who does read the Advocate was upset at the message in the ad and spread their disdain to all their ‘friends’ on Facebook, who all did the same. These people then lash out with their verbal and printed vitriol at the business and newspaper.
“I’m surprised that media critics of these three Brandon words do not recognize the irony of the origin of this phrase which was created by one of their own. The NBC reporter who was conducting a live television interview with race driver Brandon Brown tried to deflect attention from chants by race car fans of ‘F— Joe Biden’ by telling him they were saying “Let’s Go Brandon.” The original phrase was first heard at college football stadiums around the country beginning last September, so it was no surprise that the more watered down version quickly caught on as being more acceptable in polite company. Even Biden said he agreed with it on a Christmas Eve phone call with an Oregon man.
“We do appreciate all the positive feedback we received as news spread about how our business was being attacked by outside interests who seek to squelch and attack all dissenting opinions. People are banned from social media platforms for expressing opinions other than accepted state-run propaganda. Thank you to the people who subscribed to our newspaper to show their support for the Advocate. Bless all of you!
“Laura told me the ad message was even the lead story on Channel 4 television last Monday evening. Her response was, ‘It must have been a slow news day.’ We tend to concur. It must have been a slow news day for a lot of other people, too. I was amazed at how many people were concerned with a message expressed by a small business in Winner, S.D., and how it, and we, were attacked from all sides for printing it.
“At the Winner Advocate we still believe in free speech for individuals and businesses and in the freedom of the press. People are free to disagree, but nobody should be vilified or attacked for expressing alternative opinions. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in our country.” Najacht concluded.
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