Anthem Protests

FredJacket

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Since I don't think anyone attempted to answer your question I'll take a swing at it. I'm going to try and keep as much of my opinion out of is as possible

Sometime before the 2016 NFL season Colin Kaepernick decided that he was no longer going to stand for the national anthem at the beginning of games. For the first two games of the preseason he sat on the bench while it was played. No one noticed and he did not call attention to what he was doing. Before the third game of the preseason a member of the sports media (I think Sports Illustrated?) saw him doing it and tweeted a picture about it. When asked after the game why he did not stand Kaepernick said:



So, agree with him or not, that's why he said he was doing it. He put out a much more expanded statement a couple days later. During all this, all hell broke loose.

Kaepernick went from sitting to kneeling after discussing the issue with Nate Boyer, a former Green Beret and NFL player, who had written an open letter to Kaepernick about what he was doing. They settled, for lack of a better word, on kneeling as it is usually a sign of respect citing what soldiers do in front of a fallen brother's grave. There were a couple of other examples I heard but I honestly can't remember if it was Boyer himself who mentioned them or someone else so I'm not gonna mention them here.

A few players joined him but it really wasn't a huge amount of them. Kaepernick said after the season he would stand for the anthem henceforth.

As for this past weekend, it's related but different. Last Friday our President held a rally in Alabama to support Luther Strange in the Republican primary for Jeff Sessions' vacated Senate seat. During that rally The President referred to anyone that "disrespects the flag" as "a son of a *****" and he would fire them immediately if he were an NFL owner. He then proceeded to take shots at the NFL for other stuff (ratings, game is soft, etc). The protests had died down for the most part but as a result of this outburst you get what happened this past weekend as a show of solidarity. So like I said it's related to what Kaepernick did but I would say the motivation is less oriented on social justice this time than civil disobedience. Unsurprisingly, this part of the issue has gotten little to no discussion in this thread.
Thank you. Great summary. I agree...for some reason... the rationale for this past weekend's "reaction" by the NFL players/owners to Trump's rant(s) seem to be lost somewhat. It seemed obvious to me... the NFL players did what they did to demonstrate solidarity to a president who called them out.
 

Whiskey_Clear

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@Squints

No the protest had not died down prior to Trump opening his pie hole on the issue. It had spread. Quite a bit. Which is what prompted Trump to open his pie hole. And your last paragraph is riddled with your personal opinions. Which you are free to express, however you stated you were not so I'm just pointing out that you did in fact.
 

Peacone36

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Trump is a fool but he is playing chess here. Making the Democrats come out and support the protest of, the flag, the anthem, the cops whatever it is, just rallies Trumps base to hate the Dems even more. 70+% of football viewers are white. He’s using this as a rally cry and the Democrats are falling for it.
 

Whiskey_Clear

Banned
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Trump is a fool but he is playing chess here. Making the Democrats come out and support the protest of, the flag, the anthem, the cops whatever it is, just rallies Trumps base to hate the Dems even more. 70+% of football viewers are white. He’s using this as a rally cry and the Democrats are falling for it.

If he truly respected his office he would have stopped at "NFL, players, and all citizens should show respect to the symbols of our nation."

But he thinks he's "bigger" than his office and apparently just can't help himself. It is winning him political points imo even while creating greater divisiveness. This would have eventually come to a head regardless. Trump just hastened things along.
 

Peacone36

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If he truly respected his office he would have stopped at "NFL, players, and all citizens should show respect to the symbols of our nation."

But he thinks he's "bigger" than his office and apparently just can't help himself. It is winning him political points imo even while creating greater divisiveness. This would have eventually come to a head regardless. Trump just hastened things along.

Agreed
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
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Atlanta
If he truly respected his office he would have stopped at "NFL, players, and all citizens should show respect to the symbols of our nation."

But he thinks he's "bigger" than his office and apparently just can't help himself. It is winning him political points imo even while creating greater divisiveness. This would have eventually come to a head regardless. Trump just hastened things along.

Great point(s).
 

GT_05

Helluva Engineer
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So Trump ordered high schools to kick off players who don't stand respectfully for the National Anthem? I haven't seen this order. Can you please cite with a credible news source? Video would even be better.


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GT_05

Helluva Engineer
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Is this a private school? I’m not quite sure how a public school could get away with that.

It's an extracurricular activity so I'm sure they could require many things that they couldn't require in the classroom.


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AE 87

Helluva Engineer
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I never once said that. I said I hate the phrase “(insert liberals or conservatives here) are afraid/incapable of having a rational discussion”. You asked me why and I responded with why I hate that phrase.

Okay, so, I don't know if you are dishonest or not bright. Let me clarify my last post when I claimed that you suggested that I was closed minded.

You said I used a phrase [sic] that signifies being "afraid/incapable of having a rational discussion." Do you see the connection? If you say that I said something which signifies being afraid or incapable of a rational discussion, then you are suggesting that I am afraid or incapable of a rational discussion.

Now, for that to make sense, you have to ignore my previous post, which means you have to take my use that expression out of context.
 

jeffgt14

We don't quite suck as much anymore.
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Mt Juliet, TN
Okay, so, I don't know if you are dishonest or not bright. Let me clarify my last post when I claimed that you suggested that I was closed minded.

You said I used a phrase [sic] that signifies being "afraid/incapable of having a rational discussion." Do you see the connection? If you say that I said something which signifies being afraid or incapable of a rational discussion, then you are suggesting that I am afraid or incapable of a rational discussion.

Now, for that to make sense, you have to ignore my previous post, which means you have to take my use that expression out of context.
All I said was I hated the phrase. Relax.
 
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