(09-25-2017, 09:07 PM)Bullseye Wrote:

(09-23-2017, 08:52 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: He's also looking at it from a business perspective. The NFL has an image crisis right now. Millionaire players taking a knee and crying about injustice while Joe Everybody has just shelled out a few days wages to take himself and his family to watch said player perform is not the ideal business model. Is anyone else on this board allowed to take a knee in the middle of their workplace and decry American injustice while cashing a check at the end of the day which has 5 or 6 digits on the left side of the decimal point?

I'm all for protest, but like most things, there are times and places for it. I would even support occasional on-field protests, but every game and the subsequent media storm is tiring and distracting.

Regarding your first paragraph...tough.

The whole principle behind the free market is developing a set of skills that provide the most demand in the marketplace for the most benefit, monetarily, tangibly and intangibly.

There are a scant few people on the planet who have the skills to play NFL football.  The players now involved in the protest are among those who have sufficiently developed their skills to be so employed and obtain those benefits.

You and I are not. 

That is the result, in part, of our choices.

Nobody forces us to shell out a few days wages to watch them perform.   Again, our choice, not their's.  

No...none of us are likely allowed to take a knee during our jobs to protest some issue. 

But there are differences.

1.  As I referenced above, these players have developed their skills to give them that platform.  You and I have not, nor do we likely have to stand for the national anthem at our jobs or at home.  I know I have personally seen several people over the years at the games of many races who do not stand or remove their hats while the national anthem plays.  Where is the outrage against them?

2.  Is standing during the national anthem "at work" for these players?  There are plenty of instances where players are at football stadiums but not "working."  Players have been known to kneel on the sidelines or even sit on their helmets during games.  Is that the equivalent of a "break?"  The NFL did not officially incorporate  the players standing for the national anthem into the regular season pre game routine until 2009.  Were the players that weren't out there during the national anthem in pregame prior to the 2009 season at work or not?  Were they disrespecting the flag and the National Anthem then?

3.  Would their kneeling during the National Anthem somehow be less disrespectful of the flag and country if they weren't earning so much money?  Do people who earn less money have more of a right to protest what they see as injustice?

As to your second paragraph, what is the proper setting for speaking out against injustice?  I've seen minorities protest various things in various settings.  Each and every time, there are people who castigate them for the time, place and method of protest, no matter if legally organized and permitted, spontaneous and not permitted, non violent and violent.  What is an acceptable setting for persons of color to voice dissent, which, according to Jefferson, is among the most patriotic acts a person can do?

But just so I can confirm the mindset here...please clarify for me.

People who, long ago, were citizens of this country who willfully renounced their citizenship and took up arms against American soldiers, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, in furtherance of aims they openly declared to be the opposite of American ideals, are worthy of honor, reverence, and memoriam in the form of statues erected, and schools named in their honor, and honoring these individuals are fully consistent with traditional notions of patriotism and love of country?

But people now, who take nothing more than a knee in silent protest before a game to what they perceive to be injustice, who do not renounce their American citizenship, do not take up arms against the armed forces of this country, including the rogue murderous officers that triggered the protests in the first place are deemed disloyal, unpatriotic, and disrespectful of the flag, the American military, and the country?