In our email today was an invitation to sign a petition to compel players and fans at football games to stand for the National Anthem. I will always stand for the National Anthem; but, believe it or not, I really don’t like the idea of forcing any other adult to do it.
The jerks in football kneel instead of stand because they want to “protest” what a no-good lousy country America is. They want to show contempt for my country–and, I suppose, theirs, too–fine. I can then show my contempt for their idiotic protest by not watching their idiotic game. Who wants to be nagged for three hours by a bunch of Far Left fat-heads in the ESPN broadcast booth, anyway?
Freedom of speech really must include the freedom not to speak. We have the Pentagon forcing military officers, under threat of the destruction of their careers, to “affirm” unholy same-sex parodies of marriage. Forcing people to say things that are repugnant to their consciences. This is not free speech. There’s something kind of Red China about it.
Maybe forcing these dolts to stand for the anthem might make them think, “Hey, this is what Christians feel like when they’re forced to say they approve of gay marriage!” But I think the chances of that happening approach zero, statistically.
Turning off the games sends a much clearer message that even a millionaire moron in shoulder pads ought to be able to understand.
It suddenly occurs to me that it would be fun to start playing a hymn just as the players start kneeling, so they find themselves kneeling to the Lord. Maybe start with a trumpet intro so it just sounds as though the National Anthem is about to begin — and then swing into something like “Holy, Holy, We Adore Thee” or “Let All Moral Flesh Keep Silence.”
I can dream, can’t I?
That’d get ’em hoppin’!
I agree with you completely, Lee. I don’t think anyone should be compelled to stand for the Anthem, that, in my opinion, is a fundamental right. If we can compel someone to stand for the anthem, we in turn, may end up compelled to support something which violates our conscience.
As I understand it, attendance at football games has declined noticeably and TV viewers have declined as well, since this new protest has started. These directly affect the pocketbooks of the team owners and those inflated paychecks for players will undoubtedly be affected a well.
Not sure viewership or attendance is down. I love the game, and will continue to watch and attend, because it’s a game I love! If you noticed, the large-scale protests were only after trump opened his mouth, then the following week it’s back to normal, with maybe 3-5 players on a team or three taking a knee.
It’s the inane nature of the “protest” that frosts me.
NFL brats taking a knee doesn’t have much affect on me because I don’t watch pro football. But since they are employees of their employers, the team owners (except the Green Bay Packers who are owned by stock holders) have the right to make them stand for the anthem if they so choose, just like any other workplace where the boss can say no handing out of Antifa pamphlets on company time.
The petition I mentioned didn’t seem to be aimed at the owners, who have joined the players in this ridiculous display.
We seem to have grown into a nation afraid to commit some imagined politically incorrect act. What a bunch of lily-livered potted plants!