Kaepernick

[Elle]

Okay, I avoided asking about this but can no longer resist because everyone around me is discussing. My take on this is that he can do what he wants as a peaceful protest, but it's nonsense to suggest that his protest shouldn't offend people. It offends even me, sorry. I sympathize with his concerns but to me the flag doesn't just represent some abstract notion of "America" that we can be more or less enthused about at a given moment. When I sing the song and pay respect to the flag, that's about people I know who died or suffered to defend this nation. It's about our unity in the face of problems and dangers, even when we disagree with things happening in our country, or laws passed, or actions taken, or whatever. He's welcome to do his thing without being fired or jailed, but why is there some moral imperative on my part to respect what he's doing?

[Tahlvin]

I feel pretty similar. I have relatives and close friends who served in the military and sacrificed, and was fully prepared to do so myself before late-onset asthma excluded me from military service. So I will always show respect to the flag and the ideals I feel it exemplifies. While the form of protest he has chosen angers me in that regard, I do feel he has the right to protest in that manner, and I can understand the feelings that motivate that protest in many of the protestors.

However, there's just something that seems... off... about Kaepernick starting the protest. I cannot see into his mind or soul and understand the true motivation. I hope he is genuinely concerned about the issue of police violence and justice reform for minorities. But it feels like it could be a cry for attention from a mediocre player (at least at that level) who was afraid he was about to lose his time in the spotlight. Will his other actions back up his words?

I hope something good comes of it. I hope it does start a discussion on the important issue. If so, then it will have been worthwhile. But if he ends up just using it to draw attention to himself, then shame on him. Only time will tell which way this ends up going, so I'll sit back and wait.

[Mike]

I completely agree with most of this. This is his free speech. He sees an issue that is important to him. As a national figure, he has found a way (for good or ill) to draw attention to the issue. Awesome.

Demands that people must respect him are stupid. When the government steps in to silence him, THEN I'll be upset, but outside of that, people are free to express their disagreement/displeasure with him all they want.

I agree that neo-Nazi hate groups should be allowed to speak their mind. Doesn't mean I have to agree with them. Doesn't mean I have to respect them. But I do have to defend their right to express themselves.

[NOTE... not equating Kaepernick with neo-Nazis... I used neo-Nazis as the most extreme, most reviled example I could think of... illustration by exageration.]

[Elle]

I agree with you. But... Let's suppose my daughter adopted this ideology. I don't think her teachers have to let her defend it in class discussion, at this age. But what if she goes to college and defends the ideology of white supremacy in class? Commitment to free speech may mean that the issue is permitted to be talked out. Except this is a world where people freak out if you merely argue against having speech codes, much less test them intensely!

[Zombie]

It seems to have grown bigger than just Kaepernick. What are your feelings about doing the same thing, and the US Soccer federation ?

[Elle]

Eh, do whatever you feel the need to do, but it seems even more like grandstanding in her case because relatively few people even attend their games or would have noticed her, had she not made headlines in this fashion. Again, she should be able to make her peaceful statement if that's what she wants to do, but I am not impressed. I thought the national group was clear that neither she nor her team owner or whoever would be penalized for their respective actions related to the protest. I'm not really up to speed on all the details.

It does seem to be spreading as a form of protest. When I see a high school team of kids all showing their mutual concern by doing this, I don't have the same problem with it, because I figure they're trying to stand up for what they see as right in the best way they know how. They don't really understand why that might bother people for whom the flag/anthem has a very different significance, or they just don't care if it bothers people. Perhaps they think anyone opposed to their protest is simply opposed to BLM or police violence, and obviously that's not true. I guess I expect adults to know that their action reads more like, "I am upset that some people died unjustly, so I am going to protest with this gesture of disrespect to other people who died." Makes no sense. But if kids are imitating Kaepernick in order to show that they care about one another and about justice, I can't really find fault with them for it. I do wish they were that organized in protest of other forms of unjust killing that occur with even greater frequency, but it's not like I expected it.