Garrett Powell: From Bachelorette Contestant to Target of the Woke Mob | Stories of Us

it's a silent epidemic going on right now with young people there were some days where social media meant more than my actual wife I was that deep into it my name is Garrett Powell and this is my story growing up in Birmingham Alabama it's obviously uh you know deep south my parents are very strong conservatives and they definitely pushed us to believe in conservatism at an early age and did a pretty good job explaining basically the outline what a conservative is the the common phrase being from Alabama that I joke around with people is that were dirt road banjo and we wear overalls every day but we have paid roads and I think it's one of the more welcoming places I've ever lived but I love hog hunting deer hunting turkey hunting you know I believe owning a weapon and uh practicing safety and learning how to use it it's one of the most important things you can do I did grow up religious so my mom is Episcopalian my dad's a Methodist and so we actually went to Methodist church every Sunday and we would walk to church and walk to brunch afterwards we also had a very traditional church and so I was a frequent Napper sometimes but thankfully we outgrew that and see the significance today I didn't grow up the most financially wealthy family but every three or four months my dad would take us out to this Ricky Dean Golf Course called Oak Mountain State Park and we get the earliest tea time on Saturday and he did it because he always said the thing about golf is that it's the only thing where you have time to hear God's voice and so that kind of stuck with me over time my profession by trade is a golf pro so I teach people how to not stink at golf for a living and also play professionally on the side so I got on The Bachelorette because I got dumped by a girlfriend and uh two days later my sister-in-law jessalyn um text me and she said hey just want to let you know I filled out a profile for you on ABC's website for The Bachelorette and she was like well you just prom well you promised me one thing like if they call you we at least try I'm like yeah sure cool get an email saying hey thank you might be a good fit for this show give me a call back and so I was very calm during all the interview process because I just thought I understand chance in my mind I just didn't think they picked me because you know I'm just this dude from Alabama I'm not really I'm a golf pro that's really it you know I'm not some jacked rip dude like I just didn't think reality TV was my thing and we traveled to Rhode Island Scotland Latvia and she gave me the boot in the Netherlands but experience on the show was actually great it's one of those things that one percent of one percent of people ever get to experience that's essentially why I decided to do it so this production company they posted an article about me being problematic you know this was as the show was airing and based off of my likes I had on Twitter and Instagram and it was stuff that was just like common sense to me about like hey there are only two genders Jesus Christ was actually a cool dude hey talk means nothing hard work means everything and I was so shocked and it was the one of the first times I questioned myself saying like am I a bad person for liking that because so many people were coming down on me for it so that post hit hard I didn't really know how to respond to it be honest with you after the bachelorette I just went back home I just wanted to be a golf pro again just want to be a regular guy I found out really quickly that wasn't going to happen I like to say there's two Avenues you after the show you can continue being yourself or you can constantly seek Fame and Chase Fame and fame is like a drug once you experience it there's always a part of you that wants to continue experience it and so it's a constant battle between someone that you are and someone that you're not and I I didn't really care at all about likes on social media or anything beforehand I was definitely being on that show and it kind of lied to it of the importance of what social media is and what other people think and so that is in my opinion a destructive mentality to have and then you know the following year came June of 2020 is when it really all started there was a blackout Tuesday you were supposed to post a black Square to uh represent black Americans and their voice and my whole issue with that was a I'm not supportive of BLM the organization I'm very supportive of the movement I believe if someone feels like they're being mistreated we should hear them but shouldn't be One race versus everybody else it should be everybody together trying to help everybody and so there was this um Green Beret that I follow on Instagram who posted an American flag and I dm'd him and were talking about it and he said that his reason for posting it was that the flag that we have today is not the flag that's always been the United States of America's flag our flag has evolved over time just like our nation has evolved over time so our flag is a symbol that we will evolve no matter whatever wrong is going on we have a track record of showing that we right that wrong you know Alabama is a place where we have a history of you know segregation but again we have evolved because we we realize that we mistreated people but now it's the most welcoming places to be and so I was like that's a great message I'm going to do that and I posted the American flag with this Emoji of every skin color below it and hashtag that something like you know Justice for George Floyd and boy the comments were pretty insane that was the moment where I was like am I a bad person for posting the American flag when it comes down to it is there was a part of me that believed I was a bad guy for being a conservative because other people said that I was and I gave so much weight to their beliefs and so then I started questioning okay like Garrett why are you a conservative it was a lot of digging I stumbled upon multiple conservative organizations and found Prager used page haven't seen a social media account that was so devoted to not trying to prove people wrong but just explain you know if you look at conservatism in general it's essentially self-reliance and that's what I believe in the most is that especially in a nation like the United States you have every excuse to thrive it was okay like you had one or two choices you can kind of bow down to the crowd or you can still kind of be who you are and represent what you believe and so I kept posting conservative based posts because that's what I believe in and there was just so much hate and so it was a constant Battle of hey I want to be who I am and I want to speak out for what I think is right but I also want other people to like me and it took a while but I'm very confident what I believe in now and you know it's silent epidemic going on right now with young people there were some days where social media meant more than my actual life I was that deep into it but I think a lot of people have fallen into that trap they are forming opinions based off of headlines instead of research and it's really scary to think about where our youth today is going to be down the line if something doesn't change I recommend people take breaks from social media because the more time you spend on social media hey the more Angry you're going to be but B it's important not to lose sight of the relationships that actually matter yeah you might be following this influencer forever but what about your mom and dad what about your sisters and brothers what about your nieces and nephews it's definitely important to have a community of like-minded people because at some point your Viewpoint is always going to get challenged and I think it will help grow your confidence and what you believe in and it'll also challenge you to learn more especially with the media that we have nowadays a left wants to make you feel like you're alone on an island you know it's flat out it's just not true you gotta understand that you're not alone there's plenty of us out there and reach out join pragerforce you know there's plenty of people here that love to help you it's important to get the message across that it is A-Okay to have a different belief in somebody else and we need to get comfortable with understanding America is The Melting Pot not everyone's going to believe the same thing but that's okay that's the way it should be thank you for watching this video to continue making prayer review videos free please consider making a tax deductible donation thank you [Music]