Look, let’s not blow smoke. (We have enough of that here in the PNW right now.) I am a cynical old fuck. I remember when Colin Kaepernick was run out of the NFL for quietly taking a knee during the pre-game national anthem.
Why did he do that? He thought enough of his fellow USians to believe that we could enforce the law without the same levels of violence and racism we currently see from US policing agencies. We were told that this was disrespectful to the flag and that while Kaepernick’s message wasn’t bad, during the national anthem at a football game was the wrong time & place.
Of course, when buildings burned in Minneapolis, we were told by those who argued that the US should do nothing to reduce violence and racism that any peaceful protest was fine, but arson isn’t peaceful. Therefore, the unstated – or sometimes stated – conclusion followed, we should not work to reduce racism & violence because if we do the arsonists will win.This message, that any peaceful protest is fine, clashed hard with the treatment of Kaepernick, whose symbolic acts were nothing if not peaceful.
So it’s not like this cynical old woman had been fooled into thinking that we were having an honest national dialog.
Even so, I am depressed and heartbroken in a way that shouldn’t be possible for such a relentless cynic because last night in Missouri, a place where my sister and her veteran husband have quite a nice little home, the NFL opened its season with both the national anthem and a separate moment of silence for racial unity, peace, and cooperation.
The fans – I’m surprised they allowed any in the stadium, but they did – the fans booed throughout the moment of silence
That’s all. I have no commentary. No wisdom to impart.
The football fans booed racial unity. The end.
the fans booed throughout the moment of silence
More contemptible than British soccer hooligans. My fellow (spits) americans.
The NFL spent 20 years courting a white, pro-military, pro-cop audience. The result was predictable. Cripes, baseball’s average fan is older and whiter then the NFL’s, and they’re not as bad.
Intransitive @2
I’m pretty old, and pretty damn white; and I’m a baseball fan. I hope I’m not as bad.
One of the St. Louis Cardinals’ stars is Adam Wainwright, openly Evangelical (he draws a cross on the back of the mound when he pitches). He took a knee during the national anthem one day because, in his mind, his faith demanded love, not hate; and he wanted to stand with his teammates who said it was important to them.
I’m not religious myself, as you might have guessed from my posting on FtB, but I note that metaphysics is not part of an athlete’s job description. 😎 I’m a Wainright fan.
Not all Missourians are McCloskeys.
Oops…hit Post instead of Preview and so didn’t get to correct one mispelling of Wainwright. Sorry, Adam (who’s probably not reading this, but just in case…). 😎
“Please respect my right to ignore you and the injustices you receive by protesting in a way that allow me to continue to ignore you.”
@Intransitive:
20? More like 50. My understanding was that the whole ‘players stand at attention during the national anthem’ started during the Vietnam War because there was some competition amongst sports team owners to be the most blatantly ‘patriotic’ during the time when protests against the war were going on.
And our tax dollars paid for it: A 2015 Senate report released to little fanfare detailed U.S. military contracts worth millions of taxpayer dollars with pro sports teams for “paid-for patriotism,” from solemn “salutes to service” to flag-waving pageantry to ceremonies honoring hometown war heroes on the field.