Via Instapundit: Healthy democracies have ample room for politics but leave a larger space for civil society and culture that unites more than divides. With the politicization of the National Football League and the national anthem, the Divided States of America are exhibiting a very unhealthy level of polarization and mistrust.
The progressive forces of identity politics started this poisoning of America’s favorite spectator sport last year by making a hero of Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games. They raised the stakes this year by turning him into a progressive martyr because no team had picked him up to play quarterback after he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
The NFL is a meritocracy, and maybe coaches and general managers thought he wasn’t good enough for the divisions he might cause in a locker room or among fans. But the left said it was all about race and class.
All of this is cultural catnip for Donald Trump, who pounced on Friday night at a rally and on the weekend on Twitter with his familiar combination of gut political instinct, rhetorical excess, and ignorance. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired,’” Mr. Trump said Friday.
No doubt most Americans agree with Mr. Trump that they don’t want their flag disrespected, especially by millionaire athletes. But Mr. Trump never stops at reasonable, and so he called for kneeling players to be fired or suspended, and if the league didn’t comply for fans to “boycott” the NFL.
The progressive forces of identity politics started this poisoning of America’s favorite spectator sport last year by making a hero of Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games. They raised the stakes this year by turning him into a progressive martyr because no team had picked him up to play quarterback after he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
The NFL is a meritocracy, and maybe coaches and general managers thought he wasn’t good enough for the divisions he might cause in a locker room or among fans. But the left said it was all about race and class.
All of this is cultural catnip for Donald Trump, who pounced on Friday night at a rally and on the weekend on Twitter with his familiar combination of gut political instinct, rhetorical excess, and ignorance. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired,’” Mr. Trump said Friday.
No doubt most Americans agree with Mr. Trump that they don’t want their flag disrespected, especially by millionaire athletes. But Mr. Trump never stops at reasonable, and so he called for kneeling players to be fired or suspended, and if the league didn’t comply for fans to “boycott” the NFL.
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18 comments:
Never a dull moment with Trump around.
Don't blame The Donald.
This is the doing of the Lefties and the Last Nazi.
What, you think most of those guys on athletic scholarships know anything about politics, economics, history, sociology, or geography? All they know is gettin' high and gettin' down.
"Mr. Trump never stops at reasonable"
Reasonable is what the Whigs like McConnell always were. You know how far that goes.
I have not criticized Trump for his tweets or rhetorical excess yet, but even though I agree with him, he should have stayed out of this one. Let the fans decide. They know what to do, and the market will pay or punish whoever needs it. The kneelers would have had less support.
Trump getting involved just added a bunch of haters to the retard army, many of whom probably didn't care much before he got into it. Suddenly they know what side they are on.
A knee to the groin from Trump and now there are Kaepernickers everywhere. In a weird sort of way I think Trump is helping Blacks and Whites blow off a little steam over something that means nothing. We get tired of worrying about things like the next hurricane or when Rocket Man will light a match to his next missile.
bagoh20 said...
Trump getting involved just added a bunch of haters to the retard army, many of whom probably didn't care much before he got into it. Suddenly they know what side they are on.
On behalf of all us retards, thanks a quart.
And, if you think the haters, at least on the Right, need Donald Trump to tell them what side they're on, you really have no clue.
The Lefties can't breathe without hate, but they do seem to be told which way to point.
McCain, self-styled maverick, voted against Obamacare repeal sealing his reputation as uniparty principal.
His reach across the aisle for circle jerk concretized.
Trump distracted America with change of subject by dramatically escalating a conflict that was developing on slow boil. He cranked the knob to high heat and boom America is now talking about sports in various aspects re-raking the coals on previous grievances, and not talking about healthcare repeal failing. Classically Trumpian distraction that he does with such ease it's impressive that is not the subject of discussion.
A subject that I don't give a shit about. Professional sports could drop itself into a blackhole for all I care and the only way I'm affected personally is traffic is cleared on at certain times on certain dates. And I don't even drive that much. It would mean I can pull out of Bean Soopers on @14th onto Speer unimpeded by traffic out of the stadium at weirdly unexpected times.
Like that happened more than just twice.
Sports disappearing wouldn't affect me personally. Strife within the Sports world, Superbowl productons, sportscast generally do not affect me at all. They all occur on a different dimension than mine. On a different world. It's not a language I've studied. It's not an interest of mine.
Except for being unable to host brunches centered around games, but I don't do that anymore either.
Since this is a bluff move by a president and taken up by media and by the left and by all the political blogs I allow then I can easily override it with contrary personal input, material that overrides the mental emotional bombardment. To think about. I can abide in a different mental space. One that I create by myself for myself, with my own material, involving more pleasant people. Here goes.
Last night I took out the trash again. The light is still out in the bin chute room. And I told management about that. It's difficult to toss trash down the chute when the door closes automatically and it's dark as night inside the room.
I use a cart to take out the trash. Although the trash is definitely light enough, it's still a lot easier for me using a cart. I can wedge the cart in the door for hallway light and carry things to the chute one-by one. It's not a big problem. Just an inconvenience.
Right then a young black dude strides home. His front door is right there. He stops and acknowledges the situation and offers to hold open the door.
This embarrasses me because I don't need any help. I tell him that I can wedge the cart and he can be on his way inside his home.
He goes, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'll just stand here and keep the door open."
Now, isn't that sweet?
He wants to talk to me. He want's to know me a little bit better. His patio looks onto mine. He knows my backside, as it were.
While dumping my trash I regale him with the story of last time I did this and bonked the guy on the head with two empty egg cartons and the two guys downstairs who laughed hysterically when I confessed my thickness of comprehension of hearing scratches and voices down there, and admitting that I am "Braw" to the guy's distant complaint, "Awwww, Braw!" then, "Awwww Braw!"
I don't know this fellow. I've encountered him twice before in the hall and had short exchanges. I showed a willingness to talk about immediate things in passing, and that's all. He's friendly and he uses these encounters to build on. I visually scanned him head to shoes. He's always nicely dressed. Always active with something, always going somewhere. And so far, always pleasant and civil and somewhat Christian in his interaction. I'd estimate, half my age.
This minor personal experience runs counter to all that I read online about bizarre racial confrontations and racial disruption. The outlying incidences get all the public attention. Small exchanges get none. The things that I read online simply do not match my direct personal experiences. None of them do.
I'm not saying I live in interracial nirvana. I realized people really do prefer the company of their own races for the most part. Still, the the interaction we do have, the points of contact we do share, are all quite pleasant and civil and helpful.
Speaking of Bean Soopers. Last time I was there, right off the bat a young Mexican girl was behaving in an ugly manner, crying and complaining in sobs. The girl was with her mother, I'd say half my height thereabout, and the girl much lower to the floor. Way down there she was wearing a t-shirt that read "I love Santa Clause."
I said in regular deepened voice, "I love Santa Clause too." The girl was so shocked that a white man spoke to them directly, on a subject of interest to her, but forgetting she's wearing a t-shirt about Santa Clause caused enough confusion that she shut right up, nonplussed and unable to speak and no longer interested in fussing. The short somewhat corpulent mother cracked up laughing. She thought it was hilarious that a man even talks about Santa Clause, and that it got the girl to shut up. I smiled back to the extent that I can shape my mouth. It was a pleasant interlude that started at the beginning of shopping right there where you pick out a trolly.
Ed, the TrumpCuck, has said.
How could everything not be politicized when the gubmint is spying on every last one of us?! For our protection of course.
Medusa needs to stop letting nd write her material.
I agree with Bags. I rather Trump stay out of it. The WSJ is right that the left started this, and I don't think the WSJ would have even acknowledged that point without Trump's tweet. And I understand the media manipulation here that works to Trumps advantage.
Still, the NFL was a dumpster fire that was already being noted as such. Trump running over and tossing gasoline on the fire only makes him an accomplice to something that otherwise couldn't be tied to him and his supporters. Now Trump is also apart of making everyday things a political talking point.
Thing is, overnight ratings are down significantly, so Trump's voice is being heard.
While Leland's point misses the fact that Trump may feel this thing personally, the Left has already politicized this sort of thing and has been doing so for 50 years. The irony is that, when Pissy jumped all over the Skippy Gates thing, he took the tack against the people, but the Lefties were cool with it.
Now they scream bloody murder. If you want to keep the Demos out of Congress, this is the way to do it.
Another useless post from ed telling us things we already noted on the premise we didn't know what we just wrote.
I saw over at Insty a post noting two anthem singers took a knee during their performance. I clicked the link to the original story, and among various photos saw a military honor team holding the flag. If Trump wants to make a point to the NFL, he can order troops to not provide color guards or other honors (such as flyovers) to the NFL. He can't and shouldn't attempt to force military personnel to boycott games, but he can deny the NFL the imagery that the troops support their view.
Obama did it for all sports.
I somehow missed what bag and Leland said that echoed my comment, but so did he.
This was in motion long before Trump weighed in. IMHO, Trump (or any other president) is just another fan and he can weigh in, just like any fan would. It's the media and the football players and the NFL and the SJW Tweet Choir that amplified his opinions. They didn't have to but they did because everything is grist for their mill. That's what happens when you politicize everything. Just don't be surprised when everyone else is totally sick of being ground through your mill and starts ignoring you.
I blame 100% of it on the left and leftists. Their constant whining and gnashing of teeth have manifested itself into a national societal temper tantrum that the so-called adults treated like a 3-year-old in a supermarket aisleway throwing a fit for not getting the cereal they wanted. Ths is the result now which is that everything is hyper-politicized and we are stuck with it. Something is going to give because a closed loop system like ours can't tolerate much more of it and it will get shifted somewhere else in a way we won't like.
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