Pearl clutching and other fainting couch scenarios. Here is a thread I got involved in this morning. Greater minds are circling in on solutions that I would never have dreamed of. Problem is that the solutions are not for the problem at hand. These solutions are only good for impressing each other with bullshit. There. I said it.
The thread starts now:
Original Post mentions Colin Kaepernick and the NFL.
Him: The NFL needs him to go away. His protest has turned into a lose-lose for the league, who has no first amendment obligation to put up with him. Everything the league does in response to him has cost them fans and ratings, and I’m not sure that the league could have avoided these losses by acting differently.
Good for him drawing attention to this issue (as I posted previously I’d have done it differently, but I support the cause), but protest has a price, and ending his career is the price of a protest that has melted millions in value from his employer.
I think had they handled it differently, they’d have just lost other fans. This protest has really brought out ire from everywhere. But whether I blame him is irrelevant. The NFL can blame him, and from the fact he hasn’t been picked up, it looks like it does.
That said, his personal sacrifice adds something to the power of his message, don’t you think? Something he’d lose if his grievance gets him onto a team. Ok. So now what should they do? I don’t see a fix for the NFL. Do you?
I post this picture.
Me: This.
Him: If the NFL was part of the government, he’d have the right to protest. He is at work. As I said above, I SUPPORT HIS CAUSE, but my support does not legally bind the NFL. If I had any sway there, I’d use it to get the skins on top of the NFC.
Me: “If, if, if…” rationalizing why you’re right.
Him: George Goodwin, what should the NFL do?
Me: Pay the consequences. This is a revolution. Things need to change.
Him: They are paying the consequences. That is my point. What should they do from here?
Me: wipe their white boy tears and take a seat. Watch it all play out.
Him: you can just say “I don’t know,” when you don’t know.
Me: fuck you.
Other guy: What NFL rule did Kaep break?I think you’ll see that they made a rule and are retroactively applying it to Kaep. What should the NFL do? They should say “we were wrong. Kaep was protesting police brutality. WE amped this up into a libel of dispatriotism, and for that we are deeply sorry. We should in penance use our enormous platform as a beacon to educate our fans on the horrific trends of inequitable policing instead of kowtowing to the reactionary. Mr. Trump is wrong.”
Him: I like that idea. You and I would be happy to see it, and so would half the fans. But the other half would hate that response.
My point is that the NFL has to pick who to alienate. When the protest got attention, it divided the fans. That is the rule Kaep broke.
It’s not an official rule, so he gets no official discipline. He loses his job, like everyone else who costs their employer millions of dollars.
Other White Guy: why would the other half hate that response? And who is the leader and who is being led here?
The NFL’s current solution is on the backs of black players and fans exclusively. It is a big Fuck You from the league to us. But I’ll tell you something: neither kneeling nor banning kneeling will move viewership much. Blacks said we’d boycott, but it’s still insanely popular amongst blacks. It will remain insanely popular amongst trump voters too. People will kvetch and get pissy about the NFL playing to “the other side,” and they’ll threaten to boycott, but they won’t. So, might as well do the right thing.
Me: The NFL and the USA are the same animal. White privilege disguising fascism and racism with pseudo patriotism. This issue is older than anyone on this thread. It is centuries old. The solution is RESPECT! Respect is at the root of all social issues. How did it feel John, when I said, “fuck you” eh? That is how the oppressed populations of this country of ours feels every damn minute. Intellectualizing and rationalizing go nowhere. If you want to know what to do, ask an oppressed person for the answer. Don’t ask another white person or our politicians or the NFL. We all are clueless. What you are seeing is a revolution. Pay attention and become an ally of the oppressed.
Another Other Guy: A few thoughts. The NFL has been losing revenue for a few reasons before Kap began his protest.
He doesn’t necessarily have 1st Amendment (schools can’t force children to salute the flag or say the pledge) protest rights but he does have a contract. It’s the NFL that started making the game a staged political event. Until recently, players stayed in the locker room during the anthem. The military started paying millions of (taxpayer) dollars to stage these pseudo-patriotic performances. I can’t take all the faux outrage about Kap’s kneeling seriously. The NFL brings out a giant flag and displays it horizontally which is against the flag code. People wear flag clothing all the time; another violation of the flag code. It’s most certainly not patriotic to have the flag stuck between your ass cheeks. Are people standing for the anthem at home or are they taking a piss so they don’t miss the kickoff?
2nd Another Other Guy: This would be great.
Me: *to myself…”is my mouth moving?”
G. M. Goodwin
30 May 2018
Playing Fair and Being Kind 
What’s it gonna take? Man, I was hoping we’d all be more evolved by now.
There have always been oppressed groups of people. I don’t think I’ll ever see the day when this is not so. These guys on this thread were thinking with the top eighth inch of their skull. Not much emotion, just intellectual comments. I was waiting for someone to match my level. No way. The guy I said “fuck you” to only hit the like button and carried on. Yeesh!