This is for you Colin Kaepernick, for bringing attention to the flaws of a person long dead because you have none to speak of. Quite a plan there, demanding respect by disrespecting the nation. Some might say it was courageous, taking a stand for something you believe in, risking your career. Some might say it was dumb, too many concussions for his own good. Perhaps it is both, or maybe he doesn’t really like football and wants another career in politics or the other form of professional kneeling. Who knows? But, IMHO…
Kaepernick takes both knees in general. He sucks, in other words.
Who made this guy a moral authority, anyway? You don’t see the Pope going around disrespecting flags and national anthems on state visits though they be godless nations under the rule of war criminals, patting himself on the back for his comparative righteousness.
The insidious aspect to this virtue-signalling nonsense is best illustrated in how children that are constantly being told they are bad, defective, inadequate, or unlovable tend to take that with them for the rest of their lives. Now this narrative, taken on a national scale, teaches children we should be ashamed of the anthem that they likely participated in proudly before, though it is something that brings this nation together in song. Why the shaming? because the author was a flawed man. Apologists later added it was to take a stand for Black Lives Matter. The latter excuse is even worse, because people don’t attend sports game to hear about politics, they go to think about something else.
Francis Scott Key was not a mass murderer, he was not a tyrant, he was politically incorrect for believing what everyone believed in the 19th century: the white man is superior to all. One hundred years from now, if we’re still around, we will look at a lot of our “acceptable” conduct as heinous but hopefully, that future generation will be psychologically healthy enough to avoid comparing themselves to us. They will have learned from our mistakes, instead.
Kaepernick’s subtle guilt by association translates to children being ashamed of their own people and therefore themselves, and in America that is children of all colors. How is that a good thing, given children have a hard enough time with bad parenting or an abusive environment at school? Same thing with the flag. Symbols are powerful. Burning the flag of a nation means those who respect that flag as a symbol of their identity are inferior and not to be respected. It is like burning the clothes of someone you don’t like.
Civilized people don’t do this to others with opposing political ideologies. Intelligent people don’t do this. Simple and hateful people do. Moreover, expressing hate to condemn hate in others is like beating a child to condemn beating a child.
This isn’t to say Colin expressed himself in a hateful manner, on the contrary. He should have thought this through, though, and it is likely he’ll soon realize the forces tacitly supporting the fracture and division of Americans are state actors with larger agendas that depend on divide and conquer. Could be any nation that we are unfriendly with. This sport commands the attention of tens of millions of Americans with an influence that extends to elementary school sports, where you are seeing little kids take a knee during the anthem now. Disrespecting the anthem is a big deal.
If you think this is hyperbole, check out what China does to its citizens if they disrespect their national anthem. They’re not being sensitive about it, they simply know the psychological repercussions of fracturing the national identity of a country through powerful state symbols. So in China, if you disrespect the national anthem, that gets you fifteen days in jail and you will be criminally liable. According to The Tribune, India, in a September 1, 2017 article:
It will be illegal to use the national anthem during funerals, “inappropriate” private occasions, commercials or as background music in public places, according to the report.The law, to be implemented from October 1, says violators, including those who maliciously modify the lyrics or distort and disrespect the national anthem can be detained for up to 15 days or held criminally liable.The anthem must be included in textbooks for students at primary and secondary schools, and people are encouraged to sing it on appropriate occasions to express patriotism.
They already had laws on the books against such conduct, but apparently, might have noticed the effect this Kaepernick hissy fit has had on Americans. Taking a knee is an attack on unity. That’s what anthems are supposed to do, bring unity, and the Chinese know that. It’s all about national morale, and that is also a big deal. The economy itself is controlled by psychology, and markets rise and fall on optimism or fear, e.g.
It’s hard to look at it as anything but a clear effort to make Americans ashamed of a past they couldn’t control, never had a part in, and to infer guilt by association. Where we as Americans choose to focus our attention is important. We can look back and hate ourselves, living in the past, or we can focus on the here and now and how we can make this a better world to live in; in whatever way we can.
There’s an old saying that says to the base, all things are base. To the pure, all things are pure.
Those who perceive the world through a dark filter where they assume they’re always being judged because of their race or sex always creates a defensive reaction in others because they sense what they’re already doing: judging them without understanding the particular nuances of circumstance and environment in their lives.
Listen closely to people who can’t stop talking about racism or sexism and who see it everywhere they go. Why is that first and foremost in their minds, somehow assuming an impossible moral superiority because other people have bad thoughts but presumably, not them? People who are not racist know better than to generalize any group of people and save such a grim condemnation for people who have actually wronged them on those grounds. Everything else is punishing someone with prejudice and bias before even knowing their background and hearts.
You can look into any world figure, any hero, and find something evil or dark about them. They’re human. So what Kaepernick is doing is not heroic, it’s simply an attempt to make people ashamed of being American, and by extension, ashamed of ourselves for something we are not responsible, for the racist beliefs of a man who died in the 19th century. Pointing out his flaws doesn’t make yours truly a better person, either, but that really isn’t the point. It’s the idea that unity and civility in public events regarding something as sensitive as national identity can be disregarded that needs to be taken to task, because it has already proven destructive.
Maybe he’d have a point if the national anthem was about how great slavery was, or how superior white people are, or something that really made sense. Even then, it should be a side note, not the basis of some social revolution where taking a knee somehow magically solves all the racism and problems in the world. Notice how it did the opposite?
After all is said and done, you need to have virtue to signal virtue, and even then it is immodest and pretentious so virtuous people don’t bother. They want to see the good in you. That makes them happy.
Speaking of happy, maybe Kaepernick can bend the knee at a Supercuts, get a dye job, something to cheer up the little sourpuss. This look is for more appropriate for his antics, no?
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