Quote:He said he was hoping they would act like respectful adults because politics doesn't belong in football. He didn't say the government should force them not to protest. If he wanted though, Shad COULD choose to cut the contract of a player who does protest, being a private organization and all.
The players have a right to freedom of speech, just like their sponsors have a right to pull their sponsorship over said speech, the fans to criticize them for being complete embarrassments over said speech, and the owner to fire player over said speech. The only one who DOESN'T have a right to act on said speech is the government.
Well, yes, the risk of utilizing free speech is that there are consequences to that speech. At no point have I argued against that. If I choose to go into work on Monday and espouse the family values of Henry VIII, I'd be well within my rights to do so, and my boss would be well within their rights to fire me for endorsing murder as a viable alternative to divorce.
Let me rephrase that: a person is well within their rights to hope that others act a certain way. That does not obligate others to act as that person chooses. Freedom of speech applies to all, as do its consequences.
The "politics does not belong in football" discussion is an interesting one: athletes are entitled to opinions, correct? And they're entitled to voice those opinions? If I had millions of fans and a cause I cared deeply enough, I'd use my grandest stage to draw attention to it. Not in the way that Kap, Marshall, Lane and others have done so, but you bet I'd be leveraging that stage. If a team were to cut a player for the manner in which they do so, hey, NFL teams are private business ventures. The details of that release would be for the NFLPA to sue someone over, but that's a bit deeper than I care to go.
If a player takes a knee during the national anthem to bring awareness to a cause, I recognize their right to do so and thank them for exercising that right, even if I don't particularly agree with how they're doing so. After all, rights we don't exercise are rights we lose. If a team chooses to cut a player for kneeling during the anthem, I recognize the right of private businesses to exercise discretion in who they want working for them. If a sponsor drops that player, I recognize the sponsor's right to choose who represents them.
Basically, the only sort of conduct I don't respect is people crowing to the media, in comments sections, office break rooms or web forums about how someone should not be allowed to exercise their freedom of speech in a certain way because it's "offensive," "an insult," whatever. It's intensely hypocritical for the same person that's enraged about free speech zones, safe spaces and that nonsense to then claim that the exercise of free speech offends them and shouldn't be allowed.
