That’s how NBC News characterized it this weekend, and how NBC News continued to promote it on social media this morning. It seems rather odd to shriek over this while promoting drag shows for children and a demand to discuss gender theory with elementary-school kids, but #YOLO or something.

That’s not to say that this advice didn’t seem a bit odd for the occasion:

A high school graduation speech telling students to “choose a spouse” based on “biblical principles” is sparking outrage online.

“Choose a spouse, I suggest,” alumnus Jim McGuire said in a commencement address at River Valley High School in Caledonia, Ohio. “I also strongly suggest to make sure to choose biblical principles, you know a male with a female and female with a male.”

I’d find that a bit of a non-sequitur at a high school graduation, to be honest, even if I’d tend to endorse the advice. Spouse selection should hardly be at the top of the priority list for 18-year-olds entering either the education and/or jobs markets. Don’t take out student loans for unrealistic salary expectations might have been my first bullet point, had I ever been invited to deliver such an address, followed by Don’t expect to find complete fulfillment in your work, but instead in your relationships and community. Maybe I’d add Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can rent some peace of mind, if I was feeling a bit cynical and snarky.

Perhaps that’s why no one invites me to deliver commencement speeches. (I’m available, though!)

Still, it goes without saying that McGuire’s view on marriage matches that of a large swath of Americans. The legality of and access to same-sex marriage has been broadly accepted even by those who would not themselves practice or endorse it, but that doesn’t mean that many people still value heterosexual marriage. In fact, one might go so far as to call that “their truth.”

Instead of supporting that expression of “their truth,” NBC News brands it as “hateful” expression. However, a peek under the hood makes it look more like a tempest in a social-media teapot:

Since the speech last week, McGuire’s remarks have been called “hateful” and “inappropriate.” …

One user on Facebook shared a post with a clip of McGuire’s speech and a caption asking the administration to address the “hateful speech.” The user also extended sympathy to LGBTQ graduates, writing, “I am sorry this hateful speech overshadowed your amazing achievements and this incredibly special milestone in your lives.

Interestingly, there doesn’t appear to be a single LGBTQ organization on record attacking McGuire’s comment. There’s only three complaints noted in the story — one from a local paper, one on Twitter, and one on Facebook, the latter two from randos on those platforms. NBC News doesn’t note a single substantive objection from a legit org in their report, not even in an update since its first publication on June 4th. This looks more like NBC’s attempt to scare up a controversy based on some limited social-media criticisms. It’s one step up from trawling through the comboxes to gin up a movement.

To the extent that LGBTQ orgs declined to take the bait … kudos to them.

So why is NBC News trying to generate trolling on this story by reporting on “outrage online” while citing a grand total of three minor examples? I’d guess it’s for the same reason that other media outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times allow their staffs to dictate editorial and personnel policies. They aren’t in business to report on activists — they’re in business to breed them and join their ranks. NBC wants to create their own narratives and then report on them as though they generated organically for the purposes of targeting dissenters from the progressive orthodoxy. And they’re hardly alone in that corrupt practice, either. Next up, surely, will be the inevitable doxxing of McGuire by the WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz, followed by claims of victimhood for getting criticism for her tactics and dishonesty.

It’s sad, it’s pathetic, and it’s emblematic of our modern media. And I’d be happy to say more at a J-school commencement ceremony. Feel free to contact me directly to negotiate my terms.