If you weren’t paying attention you may not have felt it, as some of our nation’s freedoms were peeled away to appease the fragile egos of our nation’s conservative population. I recall going to Mets games, Devil games, Giant games and Jet games as a child and hearing the announcer speak out, “Please rise and remove your caps, for the playing (singing) of our National Anthem.” A request made to those in attendance to salute the nation’s flag before the game began.
The announcer did not say, “Rise and remove your caps, as is mandatorily dictated by your contracts…” It was a request.
Regardless on your opinion regarding Football, respecting our nation’s armed forces, police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement and Colin Kaepernick, understand that the NFL’s new policy is a bad thing for its players, peaceful protests and our nation’s freedoms.
Let us remember:
● Kneeling during the anthem was a protest statement crafted with the support and cooperation of a Green Beret veteran
● Kneeling during the anthem was never a protest against the nation’s military
● Police brutality against minorities is still a marked problem in this nation
● White privilege is a very real thing
● Players standing on the sidelines for the National Anthem is a relatively new phenomenon (since 2009)
● The action of kneeling does not hurt anyone or put anyone’s life in danger
● The protest doesn’t condemn a way of life, cultural group or system of belief
I support the player’s right to kneel during the National Anthem. I suggest for the NFL Players’ Association to push back against the league and kneel as a group. Because now, the protest has become about more than any one thing. Now, we as a nation, need to protest for the very right to protest. We, as a nation, need to protest because corporations and political parties have stepped into our workplace and demanded that we as people comply with their political gesture.
Your employer should not have the right to dictate your religious, cultural or political identity. Your employer should not be able to make you act in contrast to your beliefs. Your employer should not be legally allowed to fine, fire or reprimand you for these actions.
I urge all athletes in all sports to kneel during the anthem (or for entire teams to forgo the National Anthem in the locker rooms) until the owners of these teams and the elected president of the United States realize that it is not acceptable to impinge upon our rights and freedoms.
I apologize for the digression from Mets baseball but I felt strongly that something needed to be said.
scotus is going to rule on this
Unfortunately SCOTUS remains with a conservative bias.
Thank God!
+1
Forcing someone to do something under the threat of punishment makes it illegitimate.
It’s called Stalinism 101.
Being flexible and open minded leads to discussions and problem solving.
What would we be thinking if this was a baseball problem compounded the international composition of the players?
I am in disagreement with You here, even as I recognize that The Ogre in Chief has entirely distorted this issue.
Scenarios:
1. You run a Jewish Deli in a Jewish Neighborhood and you employ A Palestinian Sympathizer. That employee regularly wears a variety of “Anti Israel” clothing and Hats and Shirt Pins.
2. You Run a Cuban Restaurant in Miami…your employee wears Fidel and Chez Shirts
Imagine what you will. Does Your Employee have Freedom of Speech Rights???—of Course!!!! Does your employee have those rights as he is performing his customer facing tasks in your business?
I do not agree with the method of protest…but that is far away from the point of this.
Does your employee have Free Range Speech Rights at Work????? I don;t believe they do.
These Rights protect our ability to say things that are entirely disagreeable—This isn’t about being Popular or being in the Majority—but when you assume you have all of the same rights as you are doing the Customer Facing Part of any Job, those rights can be abridged, with good reason.
A company should not be allowed to strip your rights on Non-company Time….. The NFL is not doing That.
These are not equivalent actions.
1) This example is a direct attack on a nation and is not entitled to the same 1st amendment right.
http://skepchick.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HcuZIT5w8xJLMXoISDexG1GNz5Dj7xHO_QGeueMtdPU.jpg
2) This example is better but falls into a question of professional work attire. If your restaurant allows employees to wear graphic tees, the shirt does constitute an action of free speech. You’ve also hired this employee to a role wear the dress code is made clear within their employment contract. Where this gets tricky is where the image of someone who has committed atrocity becomes an attack on others. I’m not close enough to the issue in Cuba to comment.
The NFL is skirting this issue with the line that allows players to stay in the locker room. I believe that the kneeling protest happens to be respectful to the flag and a poignant reminder of a longstanding and continuing problem with the way law enforcement treats minorities.
The point is that the First Ammendment protects unpopular speech
My example is exactly analogous to political speech that may be seen as disagreeable
You cannot personalize these issues to those you agree with or not—- this is a first amendment issue.
Speech is protected …. it is also abridged correctly as we perform tasks as an employee—- especially a customer facing employee
And so the demise of our national culture continues. I’m glad I won’t be around in 25 years. This country will be run by the likes of someone like Bernie or more than likely someone from Beijing…and these clowns from US academia will be happy.
By the way this is supposed to be a site for baseball not your left wing idiocy.
Sad.
Editor’s Note – Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that is a violation of our Comment Policy.
I am sad you feel that way and hopeful you survive to see a stronger nation.
Stronger? Not at this rate..
I guess you’d love to go back to the “red line” presidency .. I feel sorry for you..thankfully the masses realized the negative trend in Nov 2016 and fixed it
Editor’s Note – I’ve allowed three posts of yours to remain despite you ignoring our rules. I will not allow a fourth.
Clarification: 3 Million more people (representing the larger mass of people) voted for the losing candidate in 2016.
Agreed, our nation is under attack by corporate interests and foreign parties. Conflict of interests have manifest themselves in the Executive branch of government and our government is at odds with its own intelligence and law enforcement communities. Hopefully the next couple of elections will clear out the roots of the problem and allow our country to grow and change for the better.
I remain hopeful and wish you a pleasant weekend.
Editor’s Note – This post removed for violating our Comment Policy. All future posts by Pal88 will go to moderation until he adheres to our policy.
Your comment will likely be removed as it is the fourth time you have failed to comply with the site’s commenting policy.
truth hurts?
No, we don’t allow capitalization in posts (internet yelling). Nothing you have said has hurt me in any way.
tooo bad….note: all lower case
lastly, i bet you never spent a day in the service…right?
Hear hear!
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5. Another part of being civil is not calling people names. Disagree with ideas, not people. The dictator may edit or delete your post if it violates any rules of common decency. Also, don’t be surprised when you come here and act like a jerk if people immediately tell you that you’re not a nice person. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with ideas. You don’t have to be disagreeable while doing so.
*****
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I see several references to the first amendment in the comments, the first amendment prohibits Congress from abridging the freedom of speech, it does not apply to entities like the NFL.
After the 9/11 terrorist atrocities, some players tried to inscribe “remember 9/11” or similar sentiments on their socks, however the league prohibited it, presumably because some Muslim somewhere might be offended. The NFL has allowed some statements on occasion on the socks, but never a 9/11 reference
Completely agree David. Erosion of freedom of expression is wholly anti constitutional as is the draconian nature of limiting a free press.
Professional sports are not branches of government and have no reason to be interfered with by the clown show of an activist, heavy handed government.
Express yourself. It’s your constitutionally protected right. Praise be the founders.
I am opposed to this thread. If I wanted incivility (which I admit to being a contributor), I’d head over to ewe-toob.
I have always found this blog to be intelligent and high-brow compared to typical internet rabble. The posters here who have often been found to be most irritating by others are regularly the most stimulating to me. Now, my view of all the sophisticated posters on this here blog have been tainted. Some of my idealism and innocence has been lost. Lamentations…
In addition the NFL players and management are guided by their collective bargaining agreement.
The new rule most likely needs to be agreed on by both parties and not by arbitrary one man rule.
If I wrote how I really felt about this topic in its entirety, no one on this board would want to talk to me ever again. But, it’s amazing how people want the money in America (especially the free money) but not the appreciation or respect that it received just recently but is given to every other country in the world by its citizens.
It’s the greatest country in the world for the opportunity to live well, but a terrible place where oppression overruns the millionaires of the NFL. Cry me a f…. river.
Why don’t they give up their contracts and find a real job, like us?
well said Gus
Gentlemen, what is happening on this post is exactly what the establishment on both sides want. They need conflict amongst the people, so that they can stay in power. They also want someone or a group to be the the bad guy, so that blame can be established. Once this happens, a hero who makes promises gains power.
Almost all people want the same thing. They want good jobs, job stability, affordable healthcare, affordable housing, affordable education for their children and safety. People from both sides want this.
There are a lot of people who are hurting in this country from both sides. People are sick and tired and feel run over, abused and taken advantage of.
So look at where the real problems lie. Why is it that you and I pay 10 to 15 percent of our income in federal taxes, while Apple pays zero. There are trillions of dollars in revenue generated by US companies that get booked through foreign locations or shell companies. If these companies paid their taxes, it could provide services for people and also reduce the federal deficit.
Employees are getting squashed. 25 years ago employees had health plans for a family and paid little or nothing for those benefits. Now, employees are paying what, $ 600 to $ 1000 a month and then they have to pay large deductibles before anything is covered. I saw a recent hospital bill for a friend. $ 56,000 for a two day stay.
A lot of companies are turning to hiring contractors for a large portion of their work force. Lenovo does this. Limited benefits, virtually no time off and no workers rights. Employee at will, sure, they can fire you for any reason.
Trade? We have the biggest trade imbalance with China. Communist capitalists. They use and abuse their work force and pay such low wages for a large portion of their work force, that it is almost slave labor. But, that is ok, right, and we buy billions more from them then they do from us. But, here are the corporations again. A lot of them purposely build factories in China with big incentives from the Chinese government so that they can be manned with Chinese labor and guess what, the end product goes where?, to us.
Everything seems to out of alignment. If you talk to enough people and yes, ones who are different than you, most people have similar values. Honesty, respect, family, hard work, etc.. and the people who are different from you want the same this that I wrote about above.
My father served in WW II in the south Pacific. My son is an army veteran. They served our country, yet their rights are the same as everyone else.
Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel. He chose to do this because he felt like millions if others, abused, run over, and ignored. Whether we agree or not, is not the question.
Many companies now have policies about social media posts and are policing it. Violate and you could be fired. Isn’t that a violation of free speech rights?
People want a forum to be heard and listened to with more than lip service. People from both sides want change.
Should players have the right to kneel during the national anthem ? It depends on who you ask. That is what makes this country great, with all of our differences, we should be able to disagree, but still come together and compromise.
The new rule by the NFL is not going to solve the problem. It is going to drive further conflict and divisiveness. There has to be a better solution.
It is for the people, by the people, not for the corporation by the corporation.
We the people from both sides need to unite and stop demonizing each other. We need to see the truths, all of the truths and hold those people accountable who are responsible for what this country has become.
This country belongs to us, all of us and it is up to us to stand up and take it back.
Left and right should stand up together and say “Don’t tred on me”.
This is probably the best article this site has ever or will ever publish. Thank you.
Your comment touched me. Thank you for your kind words.
So, if I were to insult Sinhalo27, my post would subsequently be deleted? As tempting as that is, I will show restraint by saying this person’s handful of posts have been quite unimpressive. And I’m sure that’s the biggest insult I’ve ever dropped at this here blog.
In contrast, I’m pretty horrible on ewetoob, but I lavish my attention mostly on bullies and gasbags. I’d best describe most of my posts as intellectual vulgarity