(October 20, 2017 at 8:21 am)Brian37 Wrote:(October 19, 2017 at 4:14 pm)FFaith Wrote: I'm not blaming Kaepernick. I agree with his main message that blacks need a better shot in life and need to be treated better, and I appreciate that he has sacrificed his own money and possibly career to get his point across. I respect him for that. I'm just saying that I don't think the Jewish commissioner of the NBA is a Nazi. I don't think the former (Jewish) NBA commissioner is a Nazi for implementing the rule that players must stand. Trump didn't demand anything of the NFL. He gave his opinion, but I agree that saying he thinks owners should fire players was an inappropriate thing for a President to say, but I don't think requiring employees to actually act professional on the job like the NBA commissioner does is quite enough to call someone a Nazi. I'd be far more worried about Trump talking about "closing up" parts of the Internet, or the establishment talking about needing to do something about fake news (which is code for "we need to silence anything that contradicts the official bullshit establishment narrative and make sure old media wins the information war"). Employees acting professional at work is not the end of the world.
This isn't about the NBA, this is about the GOP.
Sports figures have historically used their positions of fame to bring focus to social issues. This was going on during the age the Civil Rights movement. I simply find it sad 50 years later that CK and minorities in general are now having to deal with a rise in political scapegoating.
If you agree like I do with CK, then don't get lost in these distractions. It does not matter if you the NBA leader is not a Nazi.
This is where the GOP long term ends up controlling the narrative. I can only speak for myself in saying if I were an NBA player, I would remain seated, even at the risk of a fine, even at the risk of being benched. WHY? For the same reason CK did what he did. Some things are far more important than a paycheck.
The west became more open and more pluralistic because of countless individuals in the past REFUSING to stay silent. And for the past 5 years ONE MAN has sought to destroy that progress and that man is using our highest office to pander to the worst in America.
I am glad you agree with me that CK is doing the right thing, and the right thing is for all those whom value equality to stand with any player, in any pro sports, including the NBA despite their current policy or the intent of that policy. They are ultimately labor just like any truck driver, Walmart worker, they simply make more. I stand up for all minorities, but I stand up for labor too and it still means for all that the better minorities do, the better all of us do, no matter what our paycheck looks like.
I cannot overstate this enough. 45 is toxic, we have seen this script in politics before in past history, and it never ends well when ignored or placated.
Um players protesting using their fame to bring focus to social issues is NOT unprofessional.
"Unprofessional" would be......
1. Perpetuating the secret black Muslim President.
2. They're rapists.
3. McCain is no hero.
4. 17 agencies don't know what they're talking about.
5. Ban an entire religion.
6. 2nd Amendment solution to a political rival
7. Bigots carrying assault riffles are the same as those protesting the bigots.
8. Vilifying the free press which keeps government power in check.
9. Demands of forced ritual.
10. "Sons of bitches" referring to CK and other players.
The sports stars are NOT being unprofessional and you cant have it both ways. You cant agree with CK which is the right thing to do, and say it is wrong for players of another pro sports league, to not do the same thing. They are protesting because they WANT our nation to do better. They are protesting for the same reason Ali, and Olympic athletes did in the 60s and 70s.
The RIGHT thing to do is support the protesters, not the politician using scapegoating and vilification to pander to bigots.
Well, I don't think Trump ever cared about the anthem (his wife needs to nudge him during it just to remind him that he's supposed to be pretending that he cares), so my reaction is kind of just, meh. Trump only spoke up about the anthem protests because he thought it would be a political win for him, what with most of the country and flyover country being against the protests, but he went overboard like he always does and said that the owners should fire them. If he had just called them unpatriotic and left it at that, that probably would have been the smart move, but at least he went back on his statement and said they should not be fired.
It's a meh story to me because it's not about something the government actually cares about. When Trump talks about being ok with protesters being assaulted, that's something that I worry about, because protesters are actually being assaulted in the US (pipeline protest, etc). When Trump or Hillary say close up parts of the internet, I worry about that because they actually want to get that done. When they talk about "doing something" about media that contradicts the establishment narrative, I worry very much so. The rich and powerful don't want a society with free and open discussion. They want to be the ones that get to manufacture the "truth" and they want to be the only ones that get to tell it. The ministry of truth. These are extremely real threats. The idea of football players being made to stand by the government is not a real threat. This whole thing is something Trump is using to distract from bigger things.
I don't care whether the NFL players protest one way or the other. I don't watch so it doesn't bother me either way. The NBA is the only league I've ever spent my time watching, and I admit that it probably is selfish of me, but I don't want teammates on my team having personal issues with eachother because of some protest when that has happened in the NFL. Some players on a team stand. Others don't. Some of them then get pissy about it and chemistry suffers. I don't want that.
Are the protests unprofessional? Well, the protest was designed to get a reaction, was it not? It wasn't designed to just make everyone smile and hold hands. Protesting during the anthem is super controversial and these players knew that. That's all I'm saying. Can something extremely controversial also be called professional at the same time? I don't know about that.
