It’s been a while since I did one of my crack squirrel-fueled rants, where I just start typing without knowing what the squirrels will make me say. It has also been a while since I risked angering a large segment of the population of this planet. I have been remiss…
So, a football player is protesting the treatment of his people in this country by not standing up when they play the National Anthem at the beginning of football games … just in case this isn’t actually news where you live… or, like me, you don’t give a crap about organized sporting events… (Also, ‘football’ is ‘American soccer’, just so you know)…
And many people are very upset about this. They say he is disrespecting the flag and the nation.
I don’t even know where to start with this one.
I am so sick of these petty outrages that people throw themselves into. Americans walk around like Southern belles in Gone With The Wind, getting the ‘vapors’ and threatening to swoon every time someone doesn’t behave exactly as they expect them to. Oh my! Oh goodness me! Goodness gracious! Pull on your big person petticoats and suck it up!
In the first place, admit that the man has a point. He is African American, and his people have been poorly treated. Next, admit that he has every right to protest peacefully. And, as long as you are now in an admitting mood, admit that the real shame here is that we are paying grown men millions of dollars to play a freekin’ game while we barely pay teachers and cops enough to live by…
That being said, I would like to say to the San Diego policemen who threatened to go on strike and not provide security at football games where the man in question is doing his protests unless he is punished; ‘SCREW YOU!!!’ You took an oath to protect and serve… you don’t get to decide which people you protect and serve. You are there to protect the lives and property of all those people, not that one guy… and the rest of them stood up during the song.
Also, this guy is hardly the first person to make this type of protest. Other sports figures did it way before he did. And why the hell do we even play the National Anthem at sporting events anyway? (I actually know the answer… it started at a Cubs baseball game way back in the early 1900’s, and the band just played it because the crowd was bored. They were just trying to get the fans interested in the game. It worked, and it became a thing. It is marketing, people). We don’t play the song at every event where people gather. We don’t all stop and make a big show of our patriotism every time we see a play or a movie or a concert.
Also, there is a subtle irony here. By wrapping yourselves in the flag he is protesting against and getting all bent out of shape, you are actually acknowledging his protest. Because the whole idea of protest is to get people talking and thinking about a subject that the protester wants you to think about.
Now, a few words to the protester in question: You have every right to do what you are doing… but you are making the same mistake that terrorists are making. Getting attention focused on your goal is not the same thing as getting ‘good’ attention. I keep telling terrorists that suicide bombings is not good public relations. Yes, it gets people talking about you and your agenda… but not in a good way. What I am saying is that making white people mad at you isn’t going to do anything positive in the way of race relations in this country. Win a Superbowl ring as the starting quarterback, and then give a speech about how you feel about the way your people have been treated. Just something to think about.
Be that as it may, and for whatever it is worth, you can consider the picture I added to this post to be a display of my solidarity with your right to peacefully protest. Yes, I am standing for the flag… but I am standing on only one foot… and I am not dressed for the occasion!
Pouring My Art Out 