Kneeling During National Anthem Is Unpatriotic

i did. that was my response. that isn't really a response to anything i said. -_-

ughhh. who cares. i don't care what people are 'acting like.' people 'acting like' this is happening in an exaggerated form should not be the most important point. the most important point should be that these cops who are fkn unchecked murderers are still out there, totally within their rights to keep spreading hate and terror. you want people to shut up about it? then we need to do something about them, first and foremost. but no. all we get in response is "but not all cops!!!!!211@!3one!"

that's waaaay more effed up than some people 'playing a race card' on social media

anyhoo i'm done now lol, i need to stop chatting anyway. bye for now, y'all.

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letterboxd

The percentage of bad cops unfairly harassing black suspects is minuscule. And if it wasn't for the media hyping these incidents we wouldn't have this problem.

According to this Wiki article
Law enforcement in the United StatesNOW of the nearly 1 million cops, how many of them shot and killed black suspects just for the heck of it?...The fact is the rare incidents that do happen are given SO much intense media attention, that it makes it seem like a rampant problem, it's not.

In a nation with a HUGE population of 325 MILLION people, of course there's going to be bad racist in every walk of life.

The problem is, the average human can't visualize those numbers in their heads in a meaningful way, so we react to the personal tragedies we hear on the news. The so called cop shootings are taken way, way, way out of context. I'm telling you the majority of white cops (black cops too) and the majority of black men and the majority of ALL Americans are good people and do not kill each other. It's the media that feeds our fears of each other by telling half truths and outright lies in their 15 second sound bites.

I never understood why we said the Nation Anthem before sporting events in the first place, or say the pledge of allegiance at school every morning. How many times must I pledge allegiance to this insecure state? I shouldn't have to constantly reassure my country of my allegiance. If the national anthem is of such importance, why don't we do it before everything? As something that started as a show of patriotism during World War I at a baseball game has been inserted into every facet of professional sports. But I don't feel bad for the NFL (I really don't care about football in the first place). I love that this hyper military/patriotic demographic that the NFL has banked on for decades is now turning on it.

I do believe in respecting the flag, but I also believe in allowing the freedom for other people to protest in a (non violent) way they see fit. If they want to kneel, lay down, pick their nose, burn the flag during the national anthem, they shouldn't be stopped (well, maybe for the fire permit for burning the flag), but they also have to face the consequences of their actions.

I have no beef with you because I believe your heart is in the right place. We're just on different planets regarding this issue.

In Cricket’s defense it is very easy to hold that opinion when you see it every night.

Holding the opinion that it's a greater problem isn't the issue. Thinking it means we shouldn't be talking about something else is.

True. But if we actually want to solve this race issue to focus solely on bad cops while ignoring black on black homicide or other issues ain’t the route either.

Also on a completely unrelated note that I think I should have brought up earlier. Do the kneeling protests annoy me? Sure they do. But the NFL and Roger Goddell pissed me of ten times more last year.

I work for the Dallas Police Department. I also worked on July 7th 2016. I listened over my squad car radio as “Officer Down” was called out. And yeah I still get plenty emotional about the subject. And what did Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys want to do? They wanted to wear a sticker to show solidarity for my fallen brothers. The NFL said no. They cited uniform regulations. A BS move in my opinion especially since just this past season they allowed helmet stickers to be worn for victims of the Florida hurricanes. Which is great, by all means. Show support for victims of Harvey. Get involved in charity work too! The NFL is actually pretty good at that and gets lost in between bad players doing bad things. But let’s not say the NFL is about protecting the free speech of kneeling protesters when being choosy about helmet stickers, fining players for wearing purple to raise awareness for domestic violence, and God forbid they use a prop for a touchdown celebration or dance.

That position is somewhat racist, as it follows the line of thinking that protesting police violence is protesting white police violence as opposed to all police violence.

lol @ knitting malaria nets

I do critique the system, because it's not capitalism in terms of values received, or exchange, but cronyism, corruption, etc... I think it needs reforming when there are problems, to save the system. Even Adam Smith said the system wouldn't work properly with high income inequality.

It might appear that I sound Marxist at times because I believe everyone in the richest country in the history of man should have housing, health care, education, food.. I figure we pay enough in taxes, so why not go to the essentials - priorities... But if we could get rid of homelessness with a Republican plan, say loosening housing construction regulations.. It reminds me of the guy in Seattle (who was once homeless).. He finally got on his feet, and started building small homes for $1,000, but a couple people complained, "eye sore" was the term I remembered them using, and a member of the City Council said how it wasn't a great place to stay...... but it's better than the street!

No one should ignore either, because murder is evil. Kendrick Lamar actually talks about that (among other things) in his song "Blacker the Berry". I'll quote the last line just to show what I mean, but the whole song provides some deep insight into current race relations.

(Side-note, I think it's one of the greatest tunes of the modern era.)

"So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street
when gang banging make me kill a ***** blacker than me?
Hypocrite!"

From my understanding (which is WHAT DO I KNOW?), no one is ignoring this stuff, least of all the African American community, least of all those that want some sort of change.

PS this was mostly just a way to bring Kendrick up.

Yeah, everybody is wrapped up in their own agenda and ignore other problems but, worst of all, fail to see the big picture.
I know exactly where you are coming from, brother.

Well played Kendrick Lamar work in.

The Black community in my personal and professional experience does not ignore it. I get way too many call concerning this sort of behavior. But it is frustrating when the powers that be (the national media and Congress) give it a pass over or at most a fleeting glance. Which makes me think of my own quote,

They either don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what goes on in the hood.

And yes that is my own way to force in a quote from a John Singleton movie.

LMAO @ "insecure state" --- very good focused humor

Russia - white on white crime...... People kill those they know, those they live around.

Here is my take on these kinds of issues and problems: Outrage culture and outrage advertising is a big thing. You can blame one thing or another, yet the fact remains. Those that play into it are feeding it whether they want or not, and I am contributing as well in some form, yet I try as much as possible to do the most good and as much as I personally can.

The term "if it bleeds it leads" applies to the Internet, and the Internet is following a progression toward being wielded wholly as a tool for power. Censorship is a big part of that, and controlling the narrative.

Personally, I love people that hate me and I care about the concerns of those that wish to do me ill. I want nothing but the best for everyone, yet it pains me greatly when bad people come unto the seat of power and go unchecked. I am not referring to Trump here, but I get that people would make that connection. If you are one of those people, simply remove Trump from anything I just said, and you have my thoughts on nearly every topic under the umbrella of outrage culture.

Word fascist lost its meaning in today's world, it is used for everything, most of the time wrongly.

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“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”

I don't think it's used wrongly when it means exactly what I imply here, nationalistic totalitarianism.

Bringing people in front of a judge for this kneeling situation (as it was suggested) might be too much, but many democracies would do it, there is nothing fascist in defending your constitution, that is again different in USA and Europe because in USA people can say whatever they want, I just want to point out holding people responsible dose not equal fascism. If they were brought in front of a political judge, imprisoned for some insane amount of time, beaten up etc. Those would be signs of fascism.

Precisely I am talking about those who want to bring people in front of a judge for this situation, or make them face administrative or legal consequences for not "respecting" national symbols, forcing not only patriotic views but a very specific way to express them. I don't know where did "defending the constitution" factor in here but these people who try to force others to conform to their own standard of nationalism are not defending any constitutional text. So let me call them fascists as much as I want if that's your matter (not that defending legality makes you inherently less of a fascist, by the way).

Also I don't know what the hell are you talking about when you mention Europe here. USA is not the only country in the world that recognizes freedom of expression and where coercive measures of the sort shouldn't be tolerated.