The Guardian summed up the situation thus:
“The NFL season begins in two weeks and the quarterback who took the San Francisco 49ers to within seven yards of winning the Super Bowl four years ago does not have a job. His absence isn’t difficult to explain. His refusal to stand for the national anthem last year as a way to draw attention to racial inequality in the US has apparently made him toxic to the league’s owners who fear a backlash from white fans and corporate sponsors offended by a perceived lack of patriotism.”
So, the obvious question is why is “patriotism” symbolized more by a mindless participation in a ritual than in the actual exercise of rights of citizens as defined by our constitution? In a similar vein, why do people equate support of our military as support for our country? Are we not more than a support system for a mighty fist? How was Colin Kaepernick being “unpatriotic”? How possibly could exercising one’s rights as a citizen be unpatriotic? Is the argument one of balance? Is overt and vicious racism no good reason for disrupting the jingoistic symbolism surrounding a football game?
I wonder how this would all have gone had Kaepernick been white? I am sure team and league officials would have huddled with a star white quarterback and figured out a symbolic way to “address the issue.” which typically would be a grant of some money to a symbolic organization, the quarterback would then have been hustled in front of some microphones to read an apology written by his publicist, and then everyone would be back doing what made this country great: making money, for fuck’s sake! That’s patriotism!
Uncommon Sense 
Whatever happened to the Crazy Christian one who used to kneel and pray?
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Comment by The Pink Agendist — August 24, 2017 @ 8:46 am |
He’s playing baseball! (A superior sport!) He is also making some money as a college football analyst. By all accounts he is a nice man, albeit with the one big character flaw.
On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 8:46 AM, Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — August 24, 2017 @ 8:54 am |
What I found strange is a recent picture I saw of a different team where the players refused to stand but instead took to knee. The reason I say strange is the photo got a huge play in the media because of a white player who joined them. Plus a few white players stood behind those kneeling with their hands on their teammates. THe story was not the ones kneeling, it was not the reason kneeling, it was flat out a “look a white person is doing it also”.
Second I view patriotism as not blindly asserting your country is the greatest and best despite all evidence of a problem. Patriotism is seeing the faults of your country and trying to fix them, to make your country better than it was before. To do that one has to be able to see where our country fails. I laugh when someone says “if you don’t like how it is then leave”, I say “I would rather stay and make it better for everyone”. Hugs
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Comment by Scottie — August 24, 2017 @ 8:54 am |
Scottie, you are preaching to the choir! ;o)
On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 8:54 AM, Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — August 24, 2017 @ 8:59 am |
Hey Steve. I did not get the quote you were sending. Can you write it again for me. Thanks. I am rather pleased that my thoughts line up with yours and those others who I believe have thought these things out far longer and in more depth than I feel I have. I like the company. 😉 Hugs
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Comment by Scottie — August 24, 2017 @ 9:05 am |
Hmmm, some sort of hiccup in the blog workings I suppose. I answered your comment with “Scottie, you are preaching to the choir! ;o)”
We are all somewhere upon a line of personal discovery of what the world we live in is really like. I am constantly tapping those farther along the line for their accumulated wisdom, and those not as far along the line for their enthusiasm and candor.
Cheers!
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Comment by Steve Ruis — August 24, 2017 @ 9:09 am |
Having been fool enough to enlist in the Marines in 1968, I see this kneeling during the playing of that crap song a good thing. Yes, I have an Honorable discharge hanging on the wall above my computer desk.
I never saw anything wrong with the two men raising black gloved fists during the medal presentation at the Olympics either. Good for them all.
Patriotism is NOT jumping to salute the piece of colored cloth ever time it passes by or when that nasty song gets played.
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Comment by davidambrose66 — August 24, 2017 @ 10:01 pm |
Hear, hear. I survived the Viet Nam war by “winning the Lottery.” I am sure, had I been in combat, I would have done something stupid and gotten myself killed and, worse, others, too. So, I served in other ways, by teaching for a salary about half of what I could have made in the private sector.
I find the obsessive repetition of the Pledge of Allegiance (What? It wears off, so it needs to be repeated?) and the playing of the national anthem out of context (I only hear it at sporting events, which is very odd) to be faux patriotism. We have enough faux shit around these days, we do not need more of the same.
On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 10:01 PM, Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — August 25, 2017 @ 9:48 am |
Glad you missed the Vietnam war sir. I never had any problems with draft dodgers or those like you who didn’t get picked by the lottery. Deserters are a different story. If one enlists, he had to know, as I did, that going to that damn fool war was a real possibility. Maybe if one was drafted then deserted, but then, we all make our choices and have to live with them. At least I finally got to where I have very, very few flashbacks and my PYSD is mostly under control.
I have never figured why, before every bloody damn sporting event, from kindergarten tidily winks to pro sports, every motor racing, we have to endure that silly assed national anthem. Why? If you are in the US of A, surely you do not need to hear that nasty song to remind you where you are. I used to attend as many local drag races as I could and always tried to be in the restroom when they played that song before starting the races. Some “guns ho” Marine eh? Again, in my view patriotism is caring about this country one is a citizen of, warts and all, but trying to make life better for all who live in this country. I try to treat all I come in contact with every day the way I wish to be treated.
Yes, it is all just faux crap and as you say, we have way too much of that crap these days.
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Comment by davidambrose66 — August 25, 2017 @ 2:45 pm |
So many things “just happen,” apparently. In the aftermath of the 9-11 disaster, baseball teams started playing God Bless America late in the game. Some are still doing it, why I do not know? And why is that song sung as if “god bless America” were a command, rather than a plea. I guess faux patriotism conflicts with faux humility; one wants us on our knees, the other not.
On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 2:45 PM, Class Warfare Blog wrote:
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Comment by Steve Ruis — August 26, 2017 @ 7:36 am |