Only if you confuse people who oppose this protest as disrespectful to our honored dead with supporters of Trump. Trump is an unwelcome Johnny-come-lately to this disagreement.
And I knew Captain Khan reasonably well, which is why I picked his grave. The officer ranks, even in the Army, are not that large.
I could care less what people care or say about Trump. I care about our military and their families that are getting spit on (metaphorically and, with certain NFL players, in actuality) because people don’t like Trump.
You stand to honor our dead and in respect to their families, regardless of who is president or whatever issues you may have with our nation.
A couple people have made comments along these lines. To imply Trump’s remarks aren’t what has brought this into recent prominence is ignorant or intentionally misleading. The fact that this thread was started today, instead of on any day before his “sons of bitches” comment proves this out.
If you’re expending any energy in response to Trumps tweets or comments he makes at rallies, you really need to pause and consider the bigger picture. Why is he trying to focus attention on hot-button social issues? My guess is he’s trying to distract from his floundering presidency. If you’re a Trump supporter you should be outrage… marching in the streets. He didn’t kill DACA (despite the confusing language that might suggest otherwise). Congress, which is lead by his party, has opted not to fund his flagship campaign ambition multiple times. The Iran deal is still going strong. North Korea has achieved their nuclear ambitions under his presidency. He’s the figurehead of a party that controls every conceivable lever of power, and yet he’s not been able to put a dent in Obamacare. None of the “bad deal” trade agreements he rallied against have been revisited. Hell, this was supposed to be tax reform week, and we’re all talking about football.
If you’re on either side of this, clutching your pearls in horror, you’ve been had. What do you think is more likely? Do you think a guy who dodged the draft really cares whether athletes kneel during the anthem? Or do you think he’s stoking the flames to distract from the things that matter? Seems obvious to me.
Sure, but you can’t argue Trump’s comments haven’t blown this issue to massive proportions. I don’t recall entire teams skipping the national anthem a year ago.
Based on a person’s upbringing and experiences, I can absolutely understand this perspective. But I can also see where EyeDentist is coming from. We can all shout about how wrong the other side is, but that’s not going to change minds. Everyone is just going to dig in more and more to defend their perspective. Ultimately it’s a red herring. What about the policies we can actually affect?
This whole kneeling on TV during the anthem thing seems like a better way to draw attention to yourself than to any particular issue, let alone any solutions to the perceived issue.
Fair enough, I should have said “decent people who are compassionate enough to respect the sacrifice of our military and their families stand to honor the dead.”
I suppose you can take a piss on their graves, too, if that makes you feel more “American.”
You might as well. It’s the same thing. Freedom of expression and all that.
Again, no one here cares what Trump said or did. He’s not relevant to the discussion, except to the extent he inserted himself into the discussion and to the extent people knee jerk into doing the opposite of what he says, because they don’t like him.
Again, I care about the military and their families.
And I am asking you to be a decent person and not to piss on them.
In that case you should be more concerned about disparaging statements about fallen and captured US servicemen from, you know, the President of the United States that from professional athletes.
POTUS shits on a gold star family and a former POW
Well, Trump’s gonna Trump, I don’t care what he says.
A bunch of athletes who don’t hold elected office and smash into each other for a living kneel to the national anthem
Maybe you should go read my rather angry posts about Trump’s comments before proving yourself a bigger ass than you already have. I’ll give you a hint: I’m not a Trump fan.
Trump is pretty awful. I think we’re well past the point of being able to elect a President that isn’t. Watching the Left(from both parties) react to him is hilarious, though.
I don’t want to insert my own opinions on this matter here. Please don’t make assumptions based on the question I’m asking here. I don’t post in this section often enough for you to actually have a good feel for where I stand on this.
Just based on what I have read, it seems like the whole point was to maintain a level of respect for our servicemen, while still trying to stage a peaceful protest. Do you think Boyer’s influence is problematic?
Basically, I’m trying to understand from someone who served why the act of kneeling is so disrespectful when, as far as I can tell, 95%+ of the NFL players who are doing it are not INTENTIONALLY disrespecting our military. It seems they have something else in mind.
Which is the exact same thing. YOU are determining the universal definition of our flag and anthem ON BEHALF of 300 million people that may or may not see things differently. Guess what? Tough shit. Things don’t stand for extreme specific examples you determine for EVERYONE just because you say it does.
Except that’s not how it works. If someone simply doesn’t share your view of the flag, they’re not pissing on anything. The level of ego on someone to assume they know the ONLY way to define something as complex as America is mind blowing.
Whether Kaepernick was trying to be respectful or not aside (I think that’s laughable, frankly), optics matter. We drap the flag over our fallen. We fold the flag and present it to their families as a small token of thank you for their sacrifice. We stand at attention and salute the flag every.single.day during colors. Some even have it on the uniform they wear into battle. It is symbolic of American honor and valor particularly in the line of duty.
Then some fucking twat waffle that gets paid 10s of millions of dollars to play a child’s game uses our flag and our anthem for some misguided protest. You’ll have to forgive us for getting so pissed off about it.
I’m not a veteran, but I still find this whole trend to be disrespectful and not particularly productive. I’d like to explain why.
Let’s start with the notion that we’re all free to do whatever the fuck you want while the national anthem is playing. This is America, after all. I don’t see a particular need for anthem conduct laws.
Now we get to the choice of what you’re going to do while the national anthem is playing, and the reasons you make that choice. I use it as a moment of reflection to ponder my good fortune in silence, and give thanks to those who’ve faced horrors I’ve never known. Not because they voted for this person or that, but because they believed in what we are doing here together. That’s how I choose to conduct myself while the anthem is playing.
If someone wants to use that moment to silently reflect on recent police shootings in America, that’s their business. It doesn’t affect me at all. Nobody will care if you stew about Ferguson while the Star Spangled Banner is playing.
For all I care, you could drift off and ponder the composition of your morning shit, provided you do so in silence.
The moment you decide that you deserve everyone’s attention more than whatever it was they were contemplating in silence, and then you act out to draw that attention to yourself in a moment where everyone else is being silent and respectful, well, you become a pretty big cunt.