The current state of affairs of the world, at least according to those who dictate such things, require that we opine on the behaviours of ultra-rich
NFL players and President Trump’s tweets. Here is my opinion.
It is a weird issue, but mostly because now, oddly, we can hear the long forgotten cries of “free speech” from the very same voices that were
suspiciously silent at times when the principle might apply to their ideological inferiors. Though it is nice of you to finally show up, I must ask,
where the hell have you been?
I'm guessing you were waiting for your marching orders. It is no wonder that CNN's Don Lemon and Wolf Blister accuse Trump of racist double standards,
contrasting his comments on the protesters in the football field to those of the protesters in Charlottesville, an argument so original we've already
heard it a thousand times already. A sophisticated piece of casuistry, no doubt. But with this species of argument they can go on unjustly and
fallaciously assuming the intentions and desires of the man they hate without having to ask him or confirm what they truly are, resulting in all kinds
of accusations that the president is a racist, white supremacist, based on these fantasies. The only thing comparable between the two largely
disparate situations is that Trump criticized the behaviour of those involved in both instances, not the beliefs and ideologies and skin-colors as the
parrots might have been inclined—or taught—to presume.
Besides, this isn't about free speech. It's about civil behavior. It might be a little too
bourgeois for Kapernick's liking (he has the gall to
protest, without irony, police brutality and injustice while wearing a Castro shirt), but there is a little French word called
etiquette found
common throughout civil societies. Yes, NFL players have the right to kneel during the national anthem, just as it is your right to protest the
funeral of a soldier, or mock the disabled, or yell racial epithets at oppressed minorities. Thank god for freedom. But in so doing we should not be
afraid to criticize the lack of etiquette, and the ill-mannered contempt for one of the few social customs that bind all the citizens of the country
together—standing for a national anthem—for the sake of those who would show them utter disregard in order to advance their trite political aims.
edit on 26-9-2017 by LesMisanthrope because: (no reason given)