Athletes demanding racial justice and police reform are “making an enormous mistake” when they protest by kneeling or leaving the arena during the National Anthem. To win friends to the cause, and avoid offending people who might otherwise support you, stand up for the National Anthem.
Related: Shut If Off: WNBA Star Brittney Griner Wants National Anthem Silenced at Games
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Bill Whittle Network · To Stand Up for Racial Justice and Police Reform, Stand Up for the National Anthem
31 replies on “To Stand Up for Racial Justice and Police Reform, Stand Up for the National Anthem”
The problem is that the kneelers really don’t have a real issue.
I disagree with Scott BIG time. He is lost in the Fog or Goodness which is who he is and I understand that. BUT, yes BUT the Athlete is being paid and some of that salary comes from me as a Fan. That Job is to play a sport and he/she is well paid for it, period. He/she is not paid to lecture me about his beliefs. Do that on your time, period. That is what America is all about.
I suppose there are worse places to be lost. But I’m not sure what it is that you disagree with…largely because I can’t recall anything I’ve said previously.
WHAT? makes a Sort a SPORT? An activity can be considered a sport if it involves … competition between two or more individuals or teams; rules of play that allow a winner to be determined; a primary goal of victory; victory determined by the relative physical ability of the competitors, although strategy and chance may also play a role. Sports is defined as “a game, competition, or activity needing physical skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job.
Nowhere is the definition or description of the definition does it address POLITICS, Social Justice or any cause. Professional Sports is paid by the customer to entertain.
Professional Sports and the respective Leagues have “{jumped the shark” in very murky waters of a school of Piranha. They have gone full blown “Stupid is STUPID’ and should individually be banned from polite Society.
I disagree with kneeling after the anthem. I want to watch a sport without knowing the players personal politics or agenda. They are free to promote what they wish when they are not on the job and they are known enough to get the TV exposure they desire for their cause. Finally, they are all where they are in life BECAUSE of the ideals and freedoms the flag and anthem stand for.
Hey Steve,Gary Sinese Foundation just built a home for my son, Marine SST Jesse Cottle a home on 5 acres of land. Beautiful. Gary is the BEST!. We are so thankful for him. He is great and a great actor too. Just the best. The foundation is kind and cool and wonderful. Go Gary. Wish you were a sports team. I would always watch. Love your podcast.
Bill, I think you’ve missed the mark completely! The entire issue of Black Lives Matter (supposedly) is that black people are being targeted by police and systematically executed. I assume that you have the same statistics as everyone else; the stats that show that this is a lie.
The fact that a female basketball player ‘says’ that she respects our nation and our flag but chooses to side with BLM in their false premise doesn’t make me feel any better about her. Whether it’s her ignorance of the facts or her cowardice to oppose this lie she has placed herself in opposition to truth and chosen to stand against civil society by supporting these Marxist radicals.
The death of George Floyd was tragic and the officer that was involved was immediately arrested and charged. He will stand trial for his part in this incident. That is JUSTICE! What more should any citizen of this country expect? I assure you that the jury will convict him even though the results from the medical examiner show that he was not suffocated. All because of the pressure from a bunch of terrorists and the threat of more terrorism!
The truly sad situation is that BLM has gotten worldwide media attention by creating civil unrest for supposedly standing up for the rights of blacks and instead of using it to help those they claim to defend they have used it to extort money from every pandering corporation and SJW. I am not aware that they have used any of their influence or extortion money to help the people they supposedly represent. (Sounds a lot like the Democrat Party, doesn’t it?)
Let us be HONEST if even for a few seconds. BLM has NOTHING to do with saving Black Lives or making their lives better. It is ALL about the “fundamental transformation of America.” Their Leaders are MARXIST or as Bernie likes to say Democratic Socialists (OXYMORON)
You want to strangle Seminoles? Racist Bartard!!
and a CHEESEHEAD TOO!
Hey Guys, You’ve have a lot of great shows. Your insight today was Perfect!!! Let me rephrase that. Nothing is perfect this side of Heaven. That was as close as you can get. WAY TO GO!
On behalf of my brothers, thank you.
Da Bears! (still suck, even when they’re not playing)
I remember last year, or maybe the year before, when more and more people started kneeling and some were putting out statements, others asked after the game and there was a whole litany of injustices and causes they listed. A few people were joking about needing a program to keep track of it all.
I think that idea of the ribbon would make sense. We could all have score cards at home and if someone has a red ribbon on the right arm, that’s Cause 1, a black on one the left arm is Cause 5, etc. Black Lives, Police Brutality, The Environment, the Whales (save them all, collect the whole set). They could all look like they have fringe on the ends of their sleeves or something.
Keep ‘wm guessing – wear a plaid ribbon.
I’m not a member of the Church of NFL, so I have no right to complain.
Pro athletes are irrelevant except in their sport!
Dear Bill: I have to disagree with you on players protesting AFTER the national anthem. They should NOT be protesting in uniform on game day on the field at all. If they get to do this, then professional sports teams MUST allow all protest issues to be performed on the field. No subject should be off limits. Pro-life protests MUST be allowed on the field. Pro-Islamic protests must be allowed on the field. Pro-Back the blue protests must be allowed on the field. Pro-Israel protests must be allowed on the field. ETC……. ETC…….. ETC…. And then there is the issue of all employers must allow employee protests in every workplace in the land. See where I am going with this? Political protests need to be done on personal time and not affiliated with businesses or industries. If we crack this door open, we must fling it open and demand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans to protest in the workplace.
The assumption of commonality of values is questionable. Many, not all, of these activists agree that America is fatally flawed and must be fundamentally and radically changed by government control of individual actions. They advocate for force to change anything they do not like. Political or physical. Has this young woman athlete spoken out about rioting, burning, assault of LEO? Cheap to say you love America.
The issue of racial inequality is treated as a systemic thing rather than the individual actions of a few. This plays well for those who see long standing differences in social, educational, political, economic and cultural outcomes where blacks are falling more behind other groups. Their analysis of causation is superficial and self-perpetuating of the cultural and political roots of the problems.
These “useful idiots” are being manipulated by forces that are only interested in destruction, not serious conversations and individual actions to address the root causes. Most of the protesters are of the feeling, persuasion that the system is fundamentally broken. This plays right into the hands of the revolutionaries driving the movement and violence.
There may be a few that might listen to rational discussion, but they are few. It likely must come from in the black culture for it to be received. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n78nFzjzja0
They will also have to be shown by push back that this type of activism is counter productive and that most of their halfbaked ideas are only going to make things much worse for these self-centric groups. She is part of the problem, not the solution. KingFace, Candice Ownes, Star Parker, and Bob Woodward are examples of the critical part of the awakening that is needed.
For the first time in 40 years I won’t be tuning in to the NFL. Even in my limited Facebook use these days I’ve even tuned out of the Philadelphia Eagles board that has been a great forum for me for the past decade – about half of the posts nowadays are political. The weird part is, having seen The Radical Left ruin so many things I’ve loved (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc) over the years I’m surprised at how little this actually bothers me.
The beauty of this relationship though is how superficial it is. Whenever the NFL decides to stop paying the Dane Gold and just focuses on being fun to watch I’ll happily return as if nothing happened. My guess is that their day of reckoning arrives when the inevitable labor strife comes over lost stadium revenue and falling TV ratings that go the way of ESPN. And yes, I’m old enough to remember when ESPN was actually fun to watch. I actually do miss the days of Dan & Keith and Jaws & Hodgie
So wanted to give you an upvote as I agree with much of what you said, but since you’re an Eagles fan, I just can’t. 😉
Giants fan since the Pisarcik / Csonka days. My favorite memory of Jaws is a guy wearing 56 putting his shoulder into the small of his back. Good Times! As you say, if they start to be entertaining again and not SJW all over me, I will gladly return.
Even though I grew up in Jets/Giants country, aside for the usual smack talk Giants fans were never annoying toward me. Big surprise, but of course the Cowpies fans were the worst. And sorry to burst your bubble, but here are the top 100 reasons teheEagles are the coolest team in football:
https://brother-bobs-blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/the-top-100-reasons-why-philadelphia.html
And yes, there were a few miracles that took place over Jimmy Hoffa’s body!
And for teh first time in 10 years when I started updating it every offseason, I won’t be bothering to update the Top 100 this summer
well said
Sporting events are miniature versions of the Olympics. The intent of such events is to bring together people from varied walks of life. This attempt at solidarity promotes peaceful existence for humans, who are fundamentally tribal. Any activity that undermines such efforts at promoting peace among and goodwill to men should be shunned by all.
As far as I can concerned, sports are as relevant as movies. Are all movies relevant for me or even meaningful? Very few. Less so for sports.
I don’t care about sports, I don’t track scores. I don’t even track people who excel at sports. I don’t care what they do or why they do it. Sports could go away and it wouldn’t bother me even a tiny bit. If you like sports, OK for you. There is no there there for me.
Couldn’t agree with you more!
A few years ago I came to the realization that kids in high school rambing on about wizard and dice and all sorts of stats are just an alternate version of the adults with the fantasy football and baseball leagues. At least us gamers are actually doing the things and tracking numbers that matter to us. The sports nerds are tracking numbers that only matter to other players while they are in the game, though they matter a lot more there now with salaries in the millions. My rogue’s backstab really only matters to me… and that orc.
OK, so it matters to you. It has no significance for me. Nothing new is created. Even if you win money. It is based upon transfer of wealth and not the creation of wealth. Actual living requires the creation of wealth.
The sports don’t so much, but the games do. I more went on a tangent about how some things are an approved obsession and other things are not. No one seems to be complaining about the eSports competitions being shut down.
Lionel: If you only measure weath/value in dollars, you’re correct. But value comes in more forms than that. The entertainment provided by sports is a value to many, for which they’re willing to exchange values that they possess. The same is true for games, art, music, hobbies, and many, if not most, human values. Just because one person doesn’t consider something a value doesn’t mean it’s not a value to another. Value is determined by the valuer.
To live takes the creation of material values consistent with maintaining that life. If that is not done, there will soon be no life. Keep in mind that it is the fact of life that gives value its meaning. Without life, there is no valuer or value.
I agree that “entertainment” can be a psychological value that indirectly supports the creation of material values. That is if it actually is entertaining. Even then it is an ephemeral value only. It is rather like recharging a battery so you can get some real work done. Beyond that it has no nutritive value. I see making it a central all consuming activity obliterates what little value it has.
Value is determined by the valuer? The question is for what purpose? A drug addict “values” his drug. So much so, he generally will do anything to get his fix. Often criminal activity. This is destructive of his life and thus is not a value. It is an anti-value.
We’re coming from the same place. I was inaccurate with “value is determined by the valuer.” As you clearly know, the correct formulation is “there is no value without one who does the valuing.”
Every individual has a different idea of what is entertaining. I don’t enjoy opera, many others do. I do enjoy playing electric football, few others do. There are myriad such optional values that enrich each of our lives. (I agree about the non-value of drug abuse; we both know what the proper standard for determining value is.)
The goal of existence isn’t merely existing. If it were, we could eke out our lives naked in the tropics without even shelter and that would be sufficient. No, the goal is flourishing. That means ever improving material goods and the non-material values that make life more satisfying than those necessary material goods alone.