Question: Since when does “patriotism” mean covering your eyes with the flag and using the national anthem to drown out dissent?
I want ice water.
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I Want Ice Water! 
I wish those who are against the protest would try to understand the reasoning for it (well, at least Kapernick’s reasoning; not sure what the current reasoning). Too many people are mad at the protest but not the original reason behind it.
I wish they were this upset about the events in Charlottesville.
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My sentiments exactly Vera. I can’t understand how people can ignore constitutional abuses and still call themselves patriots…
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Well, a lot of racism is disguised as patriotism. One can love the US and still think there’s a lot of work to do.
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A racist is someone who thinks the constitution, the bill of rights in particular, is wrong. To me, that person is not a patriot, and can’t truthfully claim to love America.
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I understand why the athletes are taking a knee and I agree with why they’re doing it. I just think they’ve chosen the wrong venue. They aren’t gaining support or understanding when their actions are angering most of their audience.
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I’m sorry PT, but to me that simply means that venue is a place where “patriotism” does mean covering your eyes with the flag and using the national anthem to drown out dissent. And apparently it’s just one venue out of many. Of course, I don’t think anyone of color is surprised by that, since people of color have always been considered good enough to entertain but not good enough to use their prominence to show the people where they came from that they haven’t forgotten them.
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“… considered good enough to entertain but not good enough … ” I’d not thought of it that way, and for that I apologize. I now have yet another point of view to contemplate. But right now I’m wondering if using dissent to drown out (or distract from) the national anthem is any better than using the anthem to drown out dissent?
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Thanks PT, and I apologize to you for the harshness of my response. Frankly, this whole issue bugs me more than would have expected. I believe that’s partly because I’ve lived my entire life on the razor’s edge of the Black/White divide (Tolerance… Not! Race), and also because I too am disturbed by the way the protests distract from the anthem as well. But I’m at a loss to find a better way for the message to be delivered. It just seems that everything else has been tried and all that’s left is to present big, uncomfortable reminders everywhere we can.
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No, you made a good point and you have a perspective I value. I honestly don’t know what the answer is. Gen. Silveria urged civil discourse — a sensible, logical approach — but it seems to me the divides in our society are becoming deeper and sharper than before; nobody wants to be civil anymore. Nobody want to listen to the other guy. And the media just exacerbate the problem.
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I simply can’t understand how some people can be so outraged, willing to come to blows even, because other people protest against basic human rights violations. I swear, some don’t even seem to consider how they’d feel if it was their own rights, or the rights of their loved ones, being trampled on.
And the media, don’t even get me started on them. Like schoolyard instigators (or that old signifying monkey), they just keep pounding the war drums as if they actually want blood in the streets. Hell, they finally even drove me away from the Las Vegas shootings coverage this morning!
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