What is the controversy surrounding #takeaknee

[Rev. Rye]

You know, I understand that the term "virtue signalling" is out of favour because there's people who use it as an excuse to dismiss ANY sort of morality that doesn't involve being a racist creature from the Id, but is there really a better term for the sort of conspicuous, but empty, display of morality that does nothing but make the participants look better, like, among the many examples to list, insisting on players in a football game standing for the national anthem kneeling during the national anthem?

Works both ways.

... yeah, that was kind of my point.

Granted, the Take a Knee movement is a bit less of an example in my eyes precisely because it's done specifically to protest an empty display of patriotism, (one that only exists because people decided the players should be standing on the field before the anthem and not sitting on the sidelines like was usual before 2009).

But arguing that taking a kneel is itself a largely empty gesture because all it does is draw attention to racial issues that are currently omnipresent in the news anyway, and does bugger all to stop it (possibly because the underlying issues are so entrenched that nothing short of nuking humanity off the face of the earth will stop it), well, that also makes sense.

My point is, the term is largely monopolized by right-wingers who use it to cast aspersions on other people's motives for little displays of their ideals when THEY DO THE EXACT SAME THING THEMSELVES.