October 2018 – What Common Sense?

Take a Knee – final words, maybe..

I could go on and on about this topic, but I’ll finish my blog on this for now. I’ll leave you with just one more thought about it. I get a lot of feedback from folks who claim that they have a right to protest. As Americans, we do have that right, however that right does come with some rules. The when, and where, and if permits are required are all part of that process. Let’s say for fun, you decide that you don’t like the way people are being treated in Africa, and one day you call 20 friends, and have them meet you in the lobby of your workplace. You quietly raise signs and march around inside for a while.

Your cause may be noble, but unless you work for the peace corp., your work will not like that you are protesting on their property and I promise they will either ask you to stop or fire you. Flip that to the NFL. The NFL is an entertainment enterprise, the players suit up, and fans show up to watch a football game. In most stadiums the players are on private property, in their work uniforms. They are hired to play football, and protesting isn’t part of that equation. In neither case is your protest about your work conditions, the place you work, not something that has happened to you as a result of that work. That doesn’t give you any right to interject your private protest into your work. Owners have the right to ask you to stop since it’s outside your work expectations and you are in their place of business. Honestly there is some controversy about whether the inside of the stadium is public or private domain, but in most cases I do believe it’s private. All should realize we do have rights here in America, but we also have rules and laws where protesting is concerned. The point is that we can’t always legally choose to protest whatever we want, whenever we want or wherever we want.

Take a knee part three

Since the last post which I drafted a while ago, a lot has happened. Kaepernick has since filed a lawsuit against the NFL for collusion in keeping him out of professional football. I don’t think he fully realizes that the fact that nobody wants the controversy he brings and if owners individually don’t want to hire him, it’s not collusion. It will be interesting to see if he can produce evidence that this coach called that coach and said, let’s teach a lesson here and not hire Kaepernick. Good luck
But he did find some lucrative work, Nike centered an ad around “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.”

Of course this just stirred the pot all over again. This is working great for Nike, because it targets their primary shoe buying demographic, which is good for them. However, it sort of bypasses the issues surrounding him and all the hoopla over the last year. It certainly appeals to the younger more rebellious crowd, and I’m pretty sure the target market for Nike isn’t the same as for NFL Football, which will just further complicate what we think is right or wrong with it. Nike will make money, the problem will still remain.
I don’t think that his protest is having the effect that he was really shooting for. It’s already brought attention to the problem, but the continued use of it just makes people upset on both sides of issue. I view the anthem as the one time that regardless of your nationality, we can all stand together as Americans and show a little pride in our country. To create continued controversy in the middle of that doesn’t bring us together, but rather further divides us, making the very situation that he is trying to call attention to worse. Take a minute and think about the end result of all this and I think you’ll see what I mean.

If there is one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that people are very divided on this topic, and there is little middle ground to stand on. I like what some colleges are doing. At their events they clearly state to join them in honoring our military during the playing of the National Anthem. They often have veterans there and a national guard contingency. To protest there would really be a dishonor, and I don’t see people sitting or kneeling during it. It’s as it should be.

Take a knee Part deux

In part one I discussed the issue of taking a knee during the national anthem. It’s still an issue, but getting less attention. As of this writing, Colin Kapernick is still unemployed. His views that he chooses to advertise and the possibility that he would continue to take a knee or put himself in the spotlight like that again is keeping owners from hiring him. He’s had a shot at an opening at Miami, but he decided it was a good idea to wear a shirt with Fidel Castro to a media interview. Miami has a large Latino population most of whom are strongly anti-Castro so that pretty much eliminated him from consideration. He’s done some other politically charged things as well. Other owners are looking at him as a person that will not contribute positively to their bottom line. Even with his talent, you have to get people in the door, but the taking a knee isn’t something that will help that draw.

What he and some others fail to realize is that football is a business and is considered entertainment. Owners want to put butts in the seats and attract sponsors and TV deals. With the majority of sports watchers not liking the act of kneeling, or others sitting during the anthem, it starts affecting viewership and attendance. You can see evidence of this with many TV stations now omitting the anthem from the coverage so not to affect viewership. Owners however are afraid to clamp down on players because of that tie to possible racism. They actually succeeded in tying the Anthem to racism, and that’s where this whole thing took a turn. Players claim it’s not about the National Anthem, but I disagree. How about doing it right before or right after the anthem. You still get a national audience seeing what you’re doing, but it’s not controversial. You could still show your support, but not offend people in the process. Colin won’t say it, but he actually is protesting against a country that would condone discrimination against blacks. In this case, the shooting of unarmed black’s by white officers. It’s a laudable cause, but it’s also the country that pays his salary, and provides a lot of other freedoms that he enjoys daily. So the protest should just be about that and leave the Anthem out of it, however the Anthem represents America in this scenario, and is necessary part of the equation. See part three for more.