While I understand the argument, There's always something to lose when you protest - that's what it means to protest. If you have conviction for what you're protesting for, there really isn't a choice. Work, my cause, work, the cause should win if it's that meaningful. But to answer the question, it would be considered my break time, and it harms no one. I hate that people are drawing lines. There should be some middle ground working towards a solution, and that's what I eventually see happening.
While I appreciate that viewpoint the issue is "what" the NFL is. It's essentially a privately owned business that can enforce rules as a condition of employment. So although your employer might not mind you standing in front of their clients/customers at break time and protesting, most of us would get fired.
"We" are collectively the NFL's customers. And based on the TV ratings, they are alienating their customers. So they get to make the rules and the players can either follow them or find other jobs. Just like you and me.
I watched my first regular season game Sunday because everyone stood. But as soon as the nonsense starts again, I go work on my golf game.
Meh, I think the author has the ratings wrong, and therefore the magnitude of the alienation more wrong. You can't just use TV ratings anymore - there are too many other mediums to consider, and I don't think we have a clear picture of where viewership is going- it's certainly transitioning, and indicators are it's up, not down. I listened to the game while watching my child at a playground, but I'm old school like that.
The majority of fanatics don't come for the anthem anyway - they come for the game. A handful may go away, I suppose, but those people tend to confuse Colin's protest with a non-existent disrespect, including our own President, while holding onto their definition of what the flag should mean to everyone. Self righteous in my opinion. They tend to not want to understand the message, it's too confusing, whatever, so they call it "nonsense", but I've heard it called worse. It's been a year since Colin first kneeled, at the advisement of a former Green Beret mind you, yet, here we are today reading this 'fake' news.
All said, the NFL isn't going to fire anyone for protesting, whether they have the right to or not. I suppose they can, and play a bunch of scabs, but that's not the game I'll be watching. I'd rather respect the man with a worthy message before I do any of these knee-jerkers.
Throughout history, taking a knee has symbolised many different things.
You took a knee as a symbol of pledging fealty to a lord.
You took a knee in preparation for being knighted.
You took a knee to be raised in rank in some martial arts.
You took a knee to pray.
You took a knee to listen to a coach.
You took a knee to protest.
All of those are protected under the 1st Amendment. Unless you’ve signed a contract with an employer to agree to certain behaviours and that behaviour is expressly forbidden.
When you take a knee, you accept the consequences of that action.
When you become a knight or have pledged fealty to a lord. You are bound by that action to obey your lord regardless of how you feel.
When you kneel, ignore, disrespect something in line with your beliefs and your rights then you have to accept the consequences of your actions.
That means you may be in violation of something you’ve agreed not to do. If so, you can’t whine when you get punished. You can’t complain if you find it damages your reputation, right or wrong. You can’t call “unfair” if people find they don’t want to be around you anymore because they find your behaviour displeasing.
If you have a grievance with your country regarding some wrong, perceived or not, then you have the constitutional right to protest. You do not have the right to be protected from the fallout from your actions. If you violate your agreement in your protest, you are protected by the First Amendment to do so. You are not protected from the consequences of your actions.
Nor should others try to force someone to employ, like, respect or otherwise support someone who violates their contract, disrespects the symbol of their country or the occupant of the highest office in the land regardless of whether you voted for him or like him or not.
In other words, go ahead and kneel but accept the fact that that doesn’t guarantee you a job or accolades from the masses.
I would hazard to guess that if we walked into our place of business and held a visible protest about a social or political issue that polarized either our co-workers or customers, we'd be asked to at best to stop or at worst get fired. In other words, NFL players can protest 24/7 on their own time, but when they get into the "office" leave the protests at the door. Just like the rest of us have to. Unless they think that being a professional athlete getting paid high sums of cash entitles them to rights the rest of us don't enjoy.
The NFL has just become a vector for pushing this stupidity into the mainstream news. I bet the players can't really articulate what they're protesting beyond 'race'. When the owners see how much money this is costing, I expect the protests to be outlawed. Much like the NFL has already blocked a number of innocuous protests and statements in the past.
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05tacoma 6 years, 6 months ago
So ask yourself this: What would happen if you came to work and performed some form of political/social protest each week?
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cyclepunk 6 years, 6 months ago
While I understand the argument, There's always something to lose when you protest - that's what it means to protest. If you have conviction for what you're protesting for, there really isn't a choice. Work, my cause, work, the cause should win if it's that meaningful. But to answer the question, it would be considered my break time, and it harms no one. I hate that people are drawing lines. There should be some middle ground working towards a solution, and that's what I eventually see happening.
Reply
05tacoma 6 years, 6 months ago
While I appreciate that viewpoint the issue is "what" the NFL is. It's essentially a privately owned business that can enforce rules as a condition of employment. So although your employer might not mind you standing in front of their clients/customers at break time and protesting, most of us would get fired.
"We" are collectively the NFL's customers. And based on the TV ratings, they are alienating their customers. So they get to make the rules and the players can either follow them or find other jobs. Just like you and me.
I watched my first regular season game Sunday because everyone stood. But as soon as the nonsense starts again, I go work on my golf game.
Reply
cyclepunk 6 years, 6 months ago
Meh, I think the author has the ratings wrong, and therefore the magnitude of the alienation more wrong. You can't just use TV ratings anymore - there are too many other mediums to consider, and I don't think we have a clear picture of where viewership is going- it's certainly transitioning, and indicators are it's up, not down. I listened to the game while watching my child at a playground, but I'm old school like that.
The majority of fanatics don't come for the anthem anyway - they come for the game. A handful may go away, I suppose, but those people tend to confuse Colin's protest with a non-existent disrespect, including our own President, while holding onto their definition of what the flag should mean to everyone. Self righteous in my opinion. They tend to not want to understand the message, it's too confusing, whatever, so they call it "nonsense", but I've heard it called worse. It's been a year since Colin first kneeled, at the advisement of a former Green Beret mind you, yet, here we are today reading this 'fake' news.
All said, the NFL isn't going to fire anyone for protesting, whether they have the right to or not. I suppose they can, and play a bunch of scabs, but that's not the game I'll be watching. I'd rather respect the man with a worthy message before I do any of these knee-jerkers.
Reply
elancaster65 6 years, 6 months ago
Throughout history, taking a knee has symbolised many different things.
You took a knee as a symbol of pledging fealty to a lord.
You took a knee in preparation for being knighted.
You took a knee to be raised in rank in some martial arts.
You took a knee to pray.
You took a knee to listen to a coach.
You took a knee to protest.
All of those are protected under the 1st Amendment. Unless you’ve signed a contract with an employer to agree to certain behaviours and that behaviour is expressly forbidden.
When you take a knee, you accept the consequences of that action.
When you become a knight or have pledged fealty to a lord. You are bound by that action to obey your lord regardless of how you feel.
When you kneel, ignore, disrespect something in line with your beliefs and your rights then you have to accept the consequences of your actions.
That means you may be in violation of something you’ve agreed not to do. If so, you can’t whine when you get punished. You can’t complain if you find it damages your reputation, right or wrong. You can’t call “unfair” if people find they don’t want to be around you anymore because they find your behaviour displeasing.
If you have a grievance with your country regarding some wrong, perceived or not, then you have the constitutional right to protest. You do not have the right to be protected from the fallout from your actions. If you violate your agreement in your protest, you are protected by the First Amendment to do so. You are not protected from the consequences of your actions.
Nor should others try to force someone to employ, like, respect or otherwise support someone who violates their contract, disrespects the symbol of their country or the occupant of the highest office in the land regardless of whether you voted for him or like him or not.
In other words, go ahead and kneel but accept the fact that that doesn’t guarantee you a job or accolades from the masses.
Reply
05tacoma 6 years, 6 months ago
I would hazard to guess that if we walked into our place of business and held a visible protest about a social or political issue that polarized either our co-workers or customers, we'd be asked to at best to stop or at worst get fired. In other words, NFL players can protest 24/7 on their own time, but when they get into the "office" leave the protests at the door. Just like the rest of us have to. Unless they think that being a professional athlete getting paid high sums of cash entitles them to rights the rest of us don't enjoy.
Reply
sam_acw 6 years, 6 months ago
The NFL has just become a vector for pushing this stupidity into the mainstream news. I bet the players can't really articulate what they're protesting beyond 'race'.
When the owners see how much money this is costing, I expect the protests to be outlawed. Much like the NFL has already blocked a number of innocuous protests and statements in the past.
Reply