Sports Stars protesting........
August 30, 2016 at 8:26 am
(This post was last modified: August 30, 2016 at 8:35 am by Brian37.)
The SF player sitting down during the National Anthem is not the first time. Ali was very vocal about politics for his time, and so have many others since, and before.
Now I really am fucking sick of this idea that if someone doesn't partake in the National Anthem or the pledge at school, that they hate the country they live in, or they are secret fascists. That is a bunch of bullshit.
Peer pressure on any issue to conform, is bad enough just in growing up as a kid and teen. But in politics, it is a horrible idea to mandate mere ceremony to the point of demonizing anyone who chooses not to partake in it. The theocracies of Iran and Saudi Arabia and the state worship of Kim Jong Un are what demands of "blind patriotism" look like.
Now, sports is completely trivial, and the National Anthem is ceremonial. I find it sad that people are ripping that player for no good reason, and over a mere game on top of it. We do need to solve our inequity. We do need to solve our pay gap. We do need to solve our gun violence problem. Anyone who thinks sitting down as a form of protest over teams we don't play for, or own ourselves, makes them anti American, needs fucking help.
Our Supreme Court time after time has upheld the idea that ceremony is not law and cannot be forced and can only be voluntary, mainly with the pledge. The First Amendment protects protest and even goes further and says if you don't like what your government is doing, you can use the court system to revue your grievance. No, that is not a given that a court will always side with you, but just that you have the right. Protest is not anti American, blind patriotism is.
The NFL is a private entity, but to it's credit, while they set their own rules, values this concept of voluntary not mandatory ceremony.
This is in line with our Constitution's First Amendment.
If non Christians who are fans can sit through a gullible player thanking a sky hero for points, while kids die from famine and unarmed blacks die from cops, certainly nobody should be as concerned with someone siting down in a non violent way.
Now I really am fucking sick of this idea that if someone doesn't partake in the National Anthem or the pledge at school, that they hate the country they live in, or they are secret fascists. That is a bunch of bullshit.
Peer pressure on any issue to conform, is bad enough just in growing up as a kid and teen. But in politics, it is a horrible idea to mandate mere ceremony to the point of demonizing anyone who chooses not to partake in it. The theocracies of Iran and Saudi Arabia and the state worship of Kim Jong Un are what demands of "blind patriotism" look like.
Now, sports is completely trivial, and the National Anthem is ceremonial. I find it sad that people are ripping that player for no good reason, and over a mere game on top of it. We do need to solve our inequity. We do need to solve our pay gap. We do need to solve our gun violence problem. Anyone who thinks sitting down as a form of protest over teams we don't play for, or own ourselves, makes them anti American, needs fucking help.
Our Supreme Court time after time has upheld the idea that ceremony is not law and cannot be forced and can only be voluntary, mainly with the pledge. The First Amendment protects protest and even goes further and says if you don't like what your government is doing, you can use the court system to revue your grievance. No, that is not a given that a court will always side with you, but just that you have the right. Protest is not anti American, blind patriotism is.
The NFL is a private entity, but to it's credit, while they set their own rules, values this concept of voluntary not mandatory ceremony.
This is in line with our Constitution's First Amendment.
Quote:Quote:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[1]
If non Christians who are fans can sit through a gullible player thanking a sky hero for points, while kids die from famine and unarmed blacks die from cops, certainly nobody should be as concerned with someone siting down in a non violent way.
