As 3.5 million Americans languished without power in Puerto Rico this weekend, President Donald Trump turned his attention instead to NFL players who had decided to take a knee during the national anthem to protest injustice, bigotry, and police brutality in the U.S.
“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!’” the president bellowed at a rally for a special election in Alabama. The owners who fired players, Trump said, would quickly be among the most popular men in America.
Trump directed some of the harshest words of his presidency not at ascendant neo-Nazis or even opposition politicians, but peaceful NFL stars, many of them black, taking a knee to bring attention to a cause they care about deeply. What makes this so unique is that it wasn’t a Joe Biden hot mic moment: It was an intentional attack on free speech.
The outrage was instantaneous. Athletes and entertainers expressed their disgust. Soon, the remarks became a national, and even international, discussion.
Then came Sunday. It was the largest single day of protest in NFL history. Instead of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, 19 teams had about 200 players who participated in protests of some kind; many took a knee or had a seat during the national anthem. Three teams opted not to come out for the anthem at all.
And they weren’t alone: The protesting players were joined by owners, some of whom even decided to go down to the field to lock arms with their players as a form of solidarity. Front offices from team after team blasted Trump’s words at the Alabama rally in official press statements and tweeted infographics — all saying some version of how much they disagreed with Trump’s divisive tone or rhetoric.
And that’s where we have to pause.
The popular demands on NFL executives and owners to speak out against Trump seem strange. Most NFL owners and general managers are unknown to your average American. But here’s the thing: What Trump said about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem was hardly different from what NFL owners have not only said, but actually done to Kaepernick.
And the team executives have been public about their feelings, though only while hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. Mike Freeman, of the sports site Bleacher Report, has been reporting on the intense hatred among NFL team front office employees.
One general manager told Freeman, of Kaepernick, that he estimated a clear majority of NFL front offices “genuinely hate him and can’t stand what he did” — kneeling for the national anthem. “They want nothing to do with him. They won’t move on.” The same general manager went on to say that many of the other teams’ executives were afraid to put Kaepernick on their roster because “Trump will tweet about the team.”
And that general manager was not alone. Another front office executive called Kaepernick “a traitor.” Yet another said, “He has no respect for our country. Fuck that guy.” Another executive said he would think about resigning his position if a team owner asked him to sign Kaepernick. One general manager summed up the feeling among NFL team executives: “In my career, I have never seen a guy so hated by front office guys as Kaepernick.”
All seven team executives interviewed by Freeman for one piece said they believed 90 to 95 percent of NFL front offices agreed with their harsh takes on Kaepernick. One even said Kaepernick was the most hated player since Rae Carruth, who is still in prison for plotting to murder his pregnant girlfriend.
Most of the comments came a year ago (and some this spring). What those team executives predicted has come true: Not a single team has signed Kaepernick, not even for the league minimum, not for a backup or third-string position. Kaepernick didn’t even get the chance to audition his skills in a workout. Even those teams who desperately needed a starter or an experienced backup, in the words of Minneapolis sportswriter Jim Souhan, “decided that they prefer comfortable losses to uneasy victories.”
Kaepernick has been effectively banned from the NFL by owners and management who hate his guts like they do traitors and murderers.
That’s why what happened yesterday was perplexing. Some of the team owners showing solidarity with their players had made million-dollar donations to Trump’s inaugural committee, knowing full well where he was coming from. And many of the same team executives who were releasing statements and locking arms in support of players have shown their own disdain for Kaepernick — some, presumably, were the same ones who trashed him to Bleacher Report, others simply failed to show Kaepernick solidarity by refusing to give him a shot at playing again.
Trump learned his disdain for protesting players from them. Way before he called protesting players sons of bitches, the team executives were saying, fuck Colin Kaepernick.
Never mind that Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, the two best quarterbacks in the game, say Kaepernick should be in the league. Never mind the fact that some teams are still winless with quarterbacks who are struggling through every single quarter. Before Trump said a single word in Alabama, those teams had already shut Kaepernick out.
What the NFL players did yesterday was genuine — real solidarity with one of their own. But what most of those team owners and general managers did was marketing. It was, in the words of ESPN’s Howard Bryant, “performance art.” It looked and felt real, but was as counterfeit as a $3 bill. These owners and general managers put on a beautiful show yesterday, but as long as Kaepernick, in the prime of his physical career, is unemployed, they clearly lack the courage of their convictions. Kaepernick should’ve been on the field yesterday.
In March, one general manager told Bleacher Report’s Freeman, “I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did.” Despite the owners and managers, they failed. This much is clear: Colin Kaepernick’s quiet bravery has sparked a movement that refuses to die.
Top photo: Daniel Snyder, the owner of Washington’s NFL team, stands with cornerbacks Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland during the national anthem before the game against the Oakland Raiders on Sept. 24, 2017, in Landover, Md.
Another great column, Mr. King. I agree the owners are opportunistic and gutless, but I think a hearty slap in the puss is owed the players too. They all lock arms in “unity” but what is it that they are unified about? If they were supporting Kaep, shouldn’t they be taking a knee in solidarity? If it is about Kaep, why have only a handful of players been slightly vocal about their feelings? Their intent is vague, as is the owners’ role in this act of solidarity. Kaepernick was anything but vague about his protest and unity in his name should reflect the same attitude. Instead, their response has left the door open for the ever-expedient narcissist Trumpf to step into the limelight and claim the solidarity is for him. Take a damn knee and demand the league stop blackballing him. Probably a quarter of the league’s starting QBs are of lesser caliber – as a Bears fan I know Glennon does not deserve to be a starting QB, but Chicago opted for him at probably 3X what Colin K. would have played for – and they’re getting about half the production that Kaep would have given them. The NFL is only distracting Kaep’s message and playing into Trumpf’s wishes to sweep this whole issue under the rug. Because, as the repubs like to say, “we’re in a post-racial USA, where racism barely exists.”
My comments on facebook, Huffingtonpost, Shaun: Maybe Colin will get a contract now…maybe the super-elite of all colors standing shoulder-to-shoulder will start to do more than “give back” to their communities for a few weeks during the off-season and use their clout, their wealth, to reshape policies and really do something about racism and inequality…
huffingtonpost.com
Or maybe, just maybe, that wasn’t the reason Kaep doesn’t have a job? Maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to take a back roll, or better yet, he doesn’t want to take back up money. That could have something to do with it. That and, despite everyone that will try to defend his slightly above average production the last 3 years, he just isn’t that good. He was okay running a spread out, run heavy, run-option based offense for Harbaugh, but when all is said and done, he isn’t very good.
They love it when we keep talking about taking the knee and the NFL so we do not focus on things like how the banksters set up the Federal Reserve in 1913, and have been ripping off the citizenry every day since, placing us in a state of indentured servitude not seen since before the American Revolution.
Our modern-day sports stadiums are just modern day Gladiator venues used to distract the masses from considering their state of oppression.
I disagree. Just because there was taking the knee and interlocking of arms didn’t mean there was agreement with Kaepernick. These were gestures of support and solidarity with the players. The standing for the anthem but still interlocking of arms as the Cowboys did allowed the Cowboys to honor the flag and anthem while still sending a message to Trump that his words of hate and bigotry were not going to divide them . One can hope that some good comes of this regarding race relations in America. But FLASH… there are many sides and views to this issue and I for one appreciate any gesture that unites people if even for one football game.
Wow, I hadn’t seen the Bleacher Report stuff until now. I’ve been complaining for months that Kaepernick was blackballed by the NFL for his protest in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement, here’s the proof. Kaepernick is way better than the starting quarterback on my team, for example. He could start on at least 10 teams and would probably be the best backup on every other team.
I was surprised to see the owners locking arms with the players. As Shaun said in this story, I don’t believe any of it. The owners are billionaires who support the worst of the worst of right wing bullshit, and I have no doubt that they not only hate Kaepernick, they also hate the BLM movement and love cops, even when they’re killing unarmed Black people. So kudos to the players who joined the protest, but fuck the owners, they’re the problem.
Hi Jeff, … a browser crash restart brought back a page from a week or so ago in which I’d missed a reply you made in a dialogue we were having. You cited The USDA as saying that agriculture accounts for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, the USDA is not an organization with any expertise in any form of client science, but even if we accept that premise, there’s a huge flaw in the argument which is extremely simple:
Carbon cycles into and out of the atmosphere; our problem is not how much is cycling on the short cycle, it’s that we’re adding carbon that was previously sequestered.
It’s absolutely true that a lot of carbon is released to the atmosphere to raise the grains that are fed to livestock, to transport them to market and so forth. But it’s equally true of plain ole agriculture that skips the animals and goes directly from atmosphere to plants to human consumption – wherein it cycles again as microbes in our guts break it down again and it rejoins the atmosphere. And, a lot of carbon goes directly from sequestration to the atmosphere via the terrible “fertilizers” and other chemical mixtures modern agriculture uses.
If it were possible that we could shift to non-sequestered carbon sources for all the needs that cumulatively satisfy our palate, that would be great and whether or not there were animals on the menu wouldn’t matter one whit. On the other hand, taking animals off the menu without fixing the problem for basic agriculture does nothing to address the global warming problem.
It’s the conflation of the issues – including a fight against animal “agriculture” with the fight against global warming – which is the problem I am pointing out. And anyone who disagrees simply isn’t considering all the facts or misunderstands the issues.
Fuck the nfl.
The NFL allowed Michael Vick the guy who abused dogs in a dog fighting ring to play football after released from prison. That and the idea that some of the guys are rapists, murders and domestic abusers is reason to agree with you. The Gladiators of the modern era.
Dog torture and women beating weren’t enough?
These NFL Executives, Owners and upper management are giant hypocrites, trying to use Kaepernicks protest for their own personal gain. What do I mean by that? Acting if they are patriotic and badass protesting against the clown POTUS. Some of them voted and supported, the clown POTUS. Shady intolerant corporatists.
In recognition of the owners banning Kaepernick while out posturing with the players as if they gave a crap, until Kaepernick plays (UKP) I will boycott all NFL games. Until Kaepernick Plays UKP.
I can’t believe that other countries actually think the US is a reflection of a true and exemplary democracy. Come to South Africa, you’ll learn a hell of a lot about freedom of speech and how it is exercised.
It’s appalling that a country perceived to be ultimately democratic is banning a player from exercising his right. I thought we had it rough in Africa, but clearly, all these”dictators” such as Putin, Kim Jong Un, Mugabe etc are not very different from “the leader of the free world” US President, Donald Trump. Thanks but no thanks, I’ll stick to the South African version of Democracy. Clearly, there is a large number of indoctrinated, misinformed people in American. Shame, such a pity.
I don’t know anything about South African laws but here, the president has no say over who plays on a football team. Bad as they are, our presidents aren’t responsible for that, the team owners are.
Yes. If any of these owners who “support” protesting players are serious, they should hire Colin Kaepernick – that is if he still wants the job. This is the only action – for owners – that will speak.
Speaking of “cherry picked ADL vetted commentators”- those guys over there can’t stand to see actual black men in positions of power that challenges their version of racism.
Anyways- when I picture Peurto Rico, I see an island paradise, under attack by the DEA, FBI, and the desert slavers who use it as a pit-stop for drug drops in black cash operations.
Oh- and their shared love of young hookers:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/us/michele-leonhart-top-dea-official-is-expected-to-resign.html?mcubz=0
“Don’t hate the slave master! Become the slave master!”
Professional Football players are paid pitchmen, pure and simple. Their value to any particular football franchise relies upon their perceived ability to draw an audience who, in turn, will be receptive to paid advertiser’s products. Much has been written about the negative affect that Kaepernick’s actions have had on television viewer rating’s:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/10/05/confirmed-nfl-losing-millions-of-tv-viewers-because-of-national-anthem-protests/#438739b7226c
Many of these articles reflected the results of an 0ct 2016 Rasmussen poll that revealed “nearly one-third (32%) of American Adults say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the growing number of Black Lives Matter protests by players on the field.” And again, A Sept. 2017 Rasmussen poll revealed “that 34 percent are less likely to watch the NFL because of the protests.” The predictable effect of a 34 percent drop in viewer ratings has resulted in a “Janedis’ projection of a $200 million cut in earnings across the four NFL broadcasters.” Advance TV commercial sales for the 2017 season may be the worst they’ve been since 2008.
Although the NFL is responsible for selling multi-year broadcast rights to media outlets, each franchise owner derives a percentage of the revenue collected. The capacity of the NFL to optimize profits from its licensing fees is linked directly to the collective capacity of its franchise owners to generate viewer interest. The alienation of a reported third of their intended cable audience, has already led to an exodus of major advertisers. As the exodus of advertisers lowers demand for advertising time, the revenues derived per/minute predictably goes down. Thus the projected earnings of media corporations who signed multi-year broadcast rights goes down which is realized in a devaluation of their stock. It has been recently reported that the NFL has been forced to partially compensate its media partners for their loss in advertising revenue.
Lastly, the NFL has a contractual arrangement with United States Department of Defense to honor U.S. soldiers and veterans at games. An NPR expose reported that “The United States Department of Defense paid the National Football League more than $5 million in taxpayer money between 2011 to 2014 to honor U.S. soldiers and veterans at games” where even “halftime segments were reportedly part of paid promotions under federal advertising contracts for the military.” Thus it can be said that the NFL, and the franchises that comprise it, have a shared contractual obligation to provide the military with positive advertising outcomes in its effort to “increase the propensity for [military] service.”
It is only in regard to the foregoing, that one can begin to understand why BLM induced actions taken by Kaepernick are overwhelmingly perceived as toxic. Kaepernick is being paid for his capacity to draw an audience on behalf of the franchise, NFL, multi-media corporations and their paid advertisers. Even licensed product manufactures are being hard hit by a marked decline in cable viewership. As the NFL’s media broadcast licensees are not due to expire until 2022, the overall toxic effect of Kaepernick’s actions have yet to be fully realized.
The NFL has no power to change the wording of the national anthem – it would require an act of Congress to change the national anthem. President Herbert Hoover signed a bill into law making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official anthem of the U.S. in 1931, giving the country a national anthem for the first time. With patriotism at an all time high in the wake of a 1945 allied victory in the Pacific, NFL Commissioner Elmer Layden called for all of the league’s teams to play “The Star-Spangled Banner” at their games. Thus, it has been an American tradition for 77 years that the national anthem be played at all NFL games. As only the wording of the third stanza of the national anthem is the reason cited by Kaepernick for his dissenting actions, then it only stands to reason that that stanza’s total absence from NFL ceremonies calls into question Kaepernick’s alleged objections. In fact, the vast majority of Americans would be unable to recite even the first stanza of the national anthem upon request – let alone being aware of a third stanza that purportedly speaks disparaging of former slaves who fought for the British against America in the war of 1812. This being said, I propose two possible solutions:
1. Have congress pass an act that officially alters the wording of the fifth line of the third stanza of the Stars Spangled Banner to read, “No refuge could save the hireling and KNAVE.” The etymological root of the word “knave” reveals that it originally meant “boy” or “servant.”
2. More preferable still: Have congress replace the “Stars Spangled Banner” with “America the Beautiful” – the sole proviso being that Rosanne Barr be not allowed to ever sing it at any professional sports event.
I have a question for all the people who support Kaepernick. How do you feel about Nessa Diab’s racist twitter post from last month? You know, the one where she posted a picture from Django Unchained next to a picture of Ray Lewis and Steve Bisciotti.
Do you think this helped Kaepernick’s cause or hurt it? At the time the post was made, the Ravens were contemplating sigining him, and Ray Lewis had come out and made some comments suggesting that CK tone down the rhetoric, appear more humble, clarify that he will no longer sit through the anthem, etc.
In response to those comments, Nessa Diab made her ridiculous tweet and basically compared Bisciotti a plantation owner, and Lewis to an Uncle Tom. Obviously, the Ravens dropped their interest immediately. Do you CK supporters think this was helpful to his cause?
To me, that situation pretty much sums up the entire problem with CK. The potential for distractions and similar nonsense. No owner or GM wants to deal with those kind of distractions and the potential sidewhow that comes with his presence on a roster.
And god forbid CK gets a shot at playing again and fails. What will Shaun King, Nessa Diab and co. do if he gets benched? Call the owner a racist if CK gets benched in favor of a white QB? The bellyaching and rhetoric will NEVER end… And for a marginal player, it’s simply not worth the potential distractions, attention, and negative PR…
Agree or disagree, to call it bravery is a bit much.
They are taking a Knee for ALL OF US! If BLACK LIVES don’t matter, then no lives matter!!!
It’s a reasonable observation that to the police in the USA, with extremely few exceptions, only blue lives matter.
There are three teams without a win: Browns, Chargers, Bengals. Browns are playing a rookie QB, Chargers have a pro-bowl caliber QB, and the Bengals already have a solid backup in AJ McCarron.
Not true. The Denver Broncos considering signing him on a couple occasions but Kap would not agree to take a pay cut as part of a deal. I fully support Kap’s kneeling, but let’s not pretend that he is blackballed from the NFL. There are several other players who are extremely vocal, like Richard Sherman in Seattle and Brandon Marshall in Denver, who have the support of their organization despite taking controversial stances.
But really, what would you expect these two professionals to say: “Nah, he sucks, hit the unemployment line!” C’mon Shaun.
In a way, this whole article is misguided. It’s focus on hypocrisy and Kap being banished are myopic pieces of the larger overarching story, which is how Donald Trump has once again recklessly sewn more division in the U.S., this time by randomly using the NFL (and NBA) to create a full-blown controversy. He lights a giant fire and then sits back and admires the blaze.
To me, simply put, if entire teams and owners are NOW willing to take a knee, regardless of their reason/cause/meaing/etc., will some NFL team be willing to hire Colin Kaepernick now? It would be an insane form of hypocrisy if some team doesn’t sign him after the events of this weekend. Hell, hire him to spite the Commander and Cheeto in charge.
THE ONLY REASON the owners did their yo, we stand with the players moment? Spin control. First, everybody blacklists Kaepernick. Why? he’s telling the truth. They did it because to the owners, he’s a uppity ass n****r. All of the owners are billionaire white Republicans who think racist Trump is great. This means that they too are racist.
Can you name one person of color who hates Kaepernick? No you can’t. if the racist trolls really hate Kaepernick, why do they keep watching games? Because the owners know that they love to bitch. But they’ll come back every single time.
Why do these trolls hate Kaepernick? Because they really like their power over people of color.
Seriously, why is this guy on here? Glenn Greenwald, you need to be sure that your writers and journalists are not compromised like this guy. Why do you have a FAKE BLACK PERSON writing about race? I’ll wait for an answer.
What’s with all this fake black person, Talcum X BS? The guy’s calling out billionaire football owners for glaring hypocrisy, not trying to be black! Jeez
It’s the typical “can’t rebut the argument based on the merits” (if they even understand the merits) so I’ll childishly try to kill the messenger.
With these idiots, writing credibly about the human condition relies on what group you’re in, not what issues you raise.
I understand your point. However, mine had nothing to do with the article, it has to do with the website. I have always admired Glenn Greenwald for his writing and the stances he puts out there. I am disappointed that Sean is a writer because his integrity is beyond compromised, in fact, it’s completely shredded. I believe that someone who is putting up an article about integrity and the such, should either a. have some themselves or b. come out and own their lack thereof. When you claim to be black and you are not in fact black, you have some serious mental issues that you need to sort out. Therefore, you don’t have any standing to discuss, well, nearly anything as an authority, especially one on race.
He is black?
He’s not black. He’s white. He lies about being black. It’s crazy. He’s made a living claiming that he’s black and therefore should be taken seriously as a journalist reporting on race issues. However, he’s very white. The sad part is, there’s nothing wrong with him being white and reporting on race relations!
Ok, sorry, just seen the vid further down. I see what you’re saying. Maybe just a phase he’s gotten past now. Still a good article,
Not going to say anything about the contents of the actual article?
You don’t deserve an answer.
Wasn’t talking to you so I wasn’t waiting for your answer.
$$$$$ if the owners don’t show (even hypocritical) respect to players, a general strike would be another answer. Then all the threats of boycotts from any fans would be the least of their worries. 45 had a show where he could shout: “You’re fired!” , with no consequence to himself. If that were repeated in real life for pro football, what a disaster.
Unfortunately, the author is dismissive of the fact that many of the players are hypocritical too.
“What the NFL players did yesterday was genuine — real solidarity with one of their own. But what most of those team owners and general managers did was marketing.”
Where were all these players before Trump’s statement? They were standing during the anthem, saluting the flag and dissing Kaepernick just like thw owners and management. They only do something when it’s popular. Cowards.
Villanueva demonstrated (w/ his ‘true patriotism’) what some saw a year ago in Kap’s sitting/kneeling: a coach who does not have control of his team.
How does a LT Villaneuva not recognize that? Wonder who had to bust the LT’s chops for that? Jesus fucking christ!
Tomlin is a genius. Really. Lotsa respect for him; and, he has the right idea. Pull the political platform from underneath them all. Do away w/ anthems and military recruiting at ball games. Wtf does it have to do w/ the country’s readiness to go to war anyway?
And for Kap’s sake: it ain’t workin… people are obsfucating his protest in racist smoke. Find a different platform to launch from for this. If it’s important enough it’ll continue to grow.
Let’s put Trump—along with Flynn and Manafort—on the next “red eye” to Moscow. I’d assume any civil disobedience occurring over there would be snuffed out quite quickly.
I am an American. I believe in inalienable rights, the rule-of-law and that all people are equal before the law, and that no one is above. I also believe that all sovereign nations, large and small, are peers with a responsibility to their own people and culture, and to the world, and should be bound of their own volition by the rule of international law. This is the US Constitution that I respect and support.
I most certainly do not need to stand, nor dance nor anything else for an anthem or flag or any other symbol that flag-pin wearing American hypocrites wave in my face.
If Americans in general actually stood up based on principle rather than personal self-interest for the things that did, or could, make America truly great, these teapot tempests, like little flag pins, would not exist.
Better that everyone should kneel in protest against America’s ruling class that is trying to hijack what should be a natural love of country for their own sordid use while destroying the very meaning of patriotism in the process.
Yeah. For the most part, it seems only high-level politicians wear the flag pins. In the often turbulent and confusing world of American poli-ticks it serves as a reminder, I suppose, of the body politic blood-flow on which they feed. *I believe Putin is safe-keeping Trumps gold flag pin until this Mueller business blows over . ..
p.s. In the mean time, the Bengals (0-3) sure could use a good quarterback, big time (Ky’s only ‘professional’ sports team is the UK/SEC Wildcats basketball program. .. so I have to go across the river to Cincinnati Oh. to enjoy football.).
I’m confident Kap would do well here. I will personally wear three flag pins, drape a big Old Glory around my neck and kneel with Kap if that’s what it takes and there will be the peace . .. and maybe a shot at a playoff spot.
I think I am done with the NFL, they are taking all the fun out of it. I am not interested in their agendas, I wait all week long to watch a football game on Sunday-not see players kneel or not be present during the National Anthem. I did not spend over 23 years in the Army to watch that. Have a nice life.
A rich entitled athlete, who sounds like he got a “C” in his one semester of poli-sci, takes a knee to “raise awareness” (hilarious) and you equate it to the work of activists on the 1960s. You are literally an idiot.
Your rhetoric-filled comment just makes you look like the fool. For example, the fact that Kaep is rich is irrelevant to his message, nor does it make him entitled. And while he may be no MLK, his actions have definitely “raised awareness” and provoked discussion (as evidenced by your very own comment). You may want to try a more rational and intelligent approach before you go criticizing the intelligence of others.
Your idiotic fawning over Kaepernick is literally hilarious. A rich entitled athlete who sounds like he took one semester of poli-sci from a washed up radical kneels during a football game to “raise awareness” ( hilarious)
Shaun King – thank you.
Glad you showed Danny Snyder, owner of the Redskins, because he is the absolute worst owner in the NFL. He has a knack of outbidding for MVP players and turning them into bench warmers. He actually had seats installed in his new stadium where it was impossible to see the entire football field. He made his money by ripping people off in the advertising business. When the curse of the Bambino was lifted in Boston, it went to the Redskins.
That Danni person comes across like a real sadist. Perhaps he and/or his parents also murder Palestinians to steal their land then laff and celebrate and pass this sort of sadistic fashion onto their children. I understand it is very profitable to murder people and steal their land. Greedy selfish sorts like that live in the backfire environment of inheriting relatives who despise their greed and selfishness and who seek to advance the clock.
Oh man, idiots rule voted in by other idiots. Oh yeah, the intercept is relevant idiot. Check out them three articles on the opiate hedge fund connection, idiot. Too much CTE for you huh: caint think anymore-too much work and thats why you are an idiot, hahahaha haha hahahahaha.
I don’t get this ‘protest’–what exactly is the message? The players don’t like America? Don’t like cops? Don’t like white people? Don’t like anything at all about America? Or–what do they want? America becomes exactly what to make them happy?? Colin K. to have great job in football? Trump to be impeached? More $$?? The whole thing is very shambolic.
He is protesting police brutality and the American government’s backing of such behavior. The reason why he’s kneeling during the anthem is because the lyrics to the song promote the mentality that encourages police brutality and racism toward black people in America. It’s not about veterans as some say – it’s about America’s historical and current mistreatment of black citizens.
Willful ignorance is no excuse for your thinking to be shambolic.
There must be a lot of things you don’t get. Let’s see if i can help you. Let’s start from the beginning, the very beginning so we can determine your level of education.
1. What comes after A?
2. What is 2 + 2?
3. What is 2 x 3?
4. What does KKK stand for?
5. Who killed JFK?
6. Who is the most likely suspect for the murder of Seth Rich?
You’re dismissing the protest as “shambolic” but by your own admission have no idea why their protesting. I hope the silliness of your argument doesn’t escape you but I’m sure it probably does.
Uh, Trump sent tweets calling for every protesting player to lose their job. And called them sons of bitches.
The message here seems to just maybe be “fuck you Trump”. People don’t like being called sons of bitches, nor unpatriotic.
What Kaep initially wanted was an understanding that racism isn’t over, and also that the Star Spangled Banner is a terrible anthem. If you’d followed this in the past you might understand today. This protest wasn’t about that–it was about Trump’s moronic tweets, insulting any athletes who might want to protest.
This isn’t actually that difficult to understand, despite 10 out of your 11 sentences ending in a question mark.
Just one: “More $$??” What in the fuck are you talking about?
I’m not trying to be argumentative, HippoDave, but want to ensure you have it clear.
Trump’s recent entry into this debate came following a speaking event in Alabama. There, not twitter, is where he called protesters sons of bitches and called for them to be fired.
Colin Kaepernick was protesting a very clear imbalance of equity and a tolerance for police brutality against minorities. In other words, Colin Kaepernick was using his platform to shine a light on something many people think is widely ignored or condoned. He didn’t do it because the song is bad.
Shaun King: the whitest so-called black man in America. (NOT black)
How did he survive Milo’s expose’ of his background?
And now this bum is writing for The Intercept?!
And using the term ‘hypocrisy’ ? Seriously?!
Intercept, you shame yourself by your association with this hack.
I think you shame yourself for ranting without saying anything relevant.
Calling Shaun a hack is absolutely relevant. Elevating CKs adolescent confusion to any level of relevancy on the topic of race in America is literally idiotic
Milo has never exposed anything but his own dishonesty and lack of decency.
Shaun King: The Truth About Talcum X
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XwryYj98LY
I’m an Eagles fan. Malcolm Jenkins has been protesting the anthem almost as long as Kap. He’s still gainfully employed because he’s an All-pro safety. Kap’s career went into the crapper. There’s no way he’s a starter in the league, and he’s probably not good enough to be a primary backup. That said, he’s definitely average enough to be a solid third-stringer, but why would an owner bring in a guy that would likely cause a huge distraction and would probably cost the team significant financial losses at the gate and elsewhere?
It’s also worth mentioning that back when Harbaugh and Kap were killing it in San Francisco, he wasn’t pulling any of this shit. It wasn’t until the league caught up with him and he became an underwhelming, mediocre quarterback that he started pulling his little publicity stunt. Also worth noting that he’s on record saying that if someone brings him in, he’ll stand for the anthem. Nice to see how strong and stalwart his beliefs are.
Oh, and great job bringing in Shaun King. I never believed in White privilege until I came across this sub-par white author manage to make a name for himself by pretending to be black and (poorly) writing his little polemics designed to foster racial divisiveness. He should marry Rachael Dolezal and have a whole litter of trans-black critters. If there’s a clearer case of cultural appropriation than pretending to be black for the sole purpose of race-baiting for fun and profit, I can’t imagine it.
The relevance of The Intercept seems to wane with each passing day. To trace the site’s beginning to where it is now is honestly depressing as hell. What happened?
Totally agree on Shaun King. The Intercept is on its way down the toilet with that race-baiter on this site.
Agreed: What happened, Intercept? You had my respect once, now I’m wondering why I should ever return to this site.
It will be no great loss to the comment section. Please leave ASAP.
How’s it feel to be a shill for a fraud like Shaun?
Sure, Kaepernick (last season 16 TDs and 4 Ints), career QBR of 88.9 (his last season his second best ever), who also rushed for 468 yds his last season, is “mediocre”. The 49ers sucked that year, and 90.7 rated Kaep was replaced by 68.4% Gabbert, with his 5 TDs vs. 6 INTs. He wasn’t and isn’t mediocre; despite defenses better reactions to the read-option.
Your ridiculous assertions are just one more piece of anecdotal evidence that Eagles fans are idiots. Or that you have no utter clue about quarterback skills. Maybe both. Hi Mark Sanchez. And enjoy your Nick Foles.
You confuse passer rating with the phony made-up ESPN-manufactured garbage they call qb rating. You’re on the right track – anyone who claims Kaep is undeserving on merit is a mental defective koolaid-swilling dumbass.
But when you confront said dumbasses have your ducks in a row. Kaep’s 90.7 passer rating from 2017 is better than 18 NFL shit-show dumpster fires and their 21 starting QBs. Pass on your fan of whatever team trashing as well the entire league is worthy only of disdain.
To add to HippoDave’s point about Philly fans being idiots–more like cavemen–here’s a nice breakdown of Kaepernick’s game film from last year by former NFL player Stephen White over at SBNation.com:
https://www.sbnation.com/2017/8/14/16058454/colin-kaepernick-film-breakdown-free-agency
(Sorry; don’t know how to format in this Comments Section) Even from a purely football perspective, as I support not only Kaepernick’s right to protest but the protest itself, I’d still want Kaepernick quarterbacking my team . . . until Andrew Luck comes back, that is–Colts fan here.
Alas, #NoKaepernickNoNFL
To sign the petition boycotting NFL games & the purchase, wearing, or use of NFL merchandise, click here:
https://www.change.org/p/nokaepernicknonfl-boycott-nfl-games-if-colin-kaepernick-doesn-t-play-this-season-nflcommish
And let’s not forget the 3 million American citizens in Puerto Rico. For links to donate or volunteer, click on these two links:
http://bit.ly/helppuertorico
http://bit.ly/helppuertorico2
And to sign the petition to send the Navy Hospital Ship USNS Comfort to Puerto Rico to aid in the efforts there, click here:
https://www.change.org/p/defense-secretary-james-mattis-send-navy-hospital-ship-usns-comfort-to-puerto-rico-to-aid-fellow-americans
Name the execs and owners, expose them
1. the flag and anthem should not be a participant in sports.
2. those military guys on the field, they aren’t officers… they are propaganda to encourage enlistment for the whores for wars on wallstreet and dc.
3. every person being smacked by that flag stuff, understand this.. You are not there to honor the flag, the flag is there to serve you! ‘SPRESS YERSELF….
Spoiled and ignorant post all the way down to the spelling! Sense of entitlement at it’s best. You should not even be in this country! The national anthem is about more than the people on the field and in attendance. It’s about the ones who’s fought and/or died so you have the freedom to post such idiotic remarks. The least you (and all of us can do) is STAND and honor their sacrifice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So you “honor” those people who “fought and died” for you to have a particular “freedom” to do X thing, by not doing X thing?
So really you are arguing they fought and died for their fellow citizens to be able to do X thing, so long as those fellow citizens only stand, clap or applaud those who fought and died for the right to do X thing, but only so long as those fellow citizens don’t actually exercise their freedom to do X thing.
Has anyone ever told you you’re an illogical moron? And I’d say that anyone who, if true, fought and died for me or my fellow citizens to have a “freedom” to do X thing but doesn’t really want you to do X thing, fought and died for nothing except the right of illogical morons to criticize those with enough courage to do X thing that others fought and died for.
I haven’t stood or taken my hat off for the national anthem in the last 30 years. I mostly just avoid being there when the national anthem is played because I find it to be empty symbolism of the worst kind.
I swore and oath as an attorney to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, which includes the First Amendment thereby giving Americans the right to peacefully protest whatever they like as they see fit, including the US military, the flag or the national anthem, or anything else they can think of or that matters to them. That’s freedom.
The oath I swore is the same basic oath someone in the military takes except members of the military also swear to follow the orders of their Commander and Chief and superior officers. Nowhere in that oath to the US Constitution, or in the US Constitution itself, does it talk about swearing fealty or respect to a flag or a song.
I honor my oath, and those who served in the military, but supporting the right of peaceful Americans to peacefully protest anything they like as they see fit, and to sit or stand in front of nationalist symbols as they see fit or not, or to be critical of the US military or not.
And I really could give a shit about whether or not you see that as sufficiently patriotic or not, because my definition of sufficient patriotism doesn’t revolve around your or any other illogical moron’s opinion of sufficient patriotism. But thanks for playing, and continue to stand or sit or bow to whatever symbols you like so long as you don’t force any of your fellow citizens to do likewise unless they are so inclined. That’s what I fight for consistent with my oath to protect and defend the US Constitution.
Good post, thanks for rebutting the fool.
And just as an aside, the day I stand and show deference for the American flag is the day that public displays of the Confederate flag and Nazi symbols are banned in America.
The Confederate flag is the flag of traitors to America, and Nazism and its fascist propaganda symbols are/were actual things “real” Americans fought and died to defeat.
I’m not sure why any American should have to tolerate public displays of the symbols of those individuals and groups that 365,000 American soldiers died to defeat in the Civil War, and about 405,000 in World War II.
Really can’t think of anything more disrespectful to US service members or their families than having to defend the right of idiots to display the propaganda symbols of the very people they fought and died to defeat.
Total bullshit if you ask me, and it should be one of the very very few carve outs in First Amendment jurisprudence for speech that should not be “protected”.
If people want to display those sorts of evil symbols in their homes, so be it. But public displays of same should not be tolerated except in museums and/or in textbooks with appropriate descriptions of what they stood for i.e. treasonous war making against one’s fellow citizens in defense of immoral human slavery, and murderous war crimes and attempted genocide in the name of fascism and ethno-supremacy.
Thank you! So well said.
LOL…Please explain why Shaun is allowed to write for you when he openly tweeted homophobic, anti-LGBT rhetoric? Hypocrite much?
I get it Mr. President: those huge football stadiums are nothing more than modern plantations, and those NFL players are the indentured servants that should be grateful for the free ride over here that their ancestors all got, back in the day.
And now, they are given the opportunity to enjoy playing in a game that damage their brains even more than the non-educationl football scholarships that gave them an opportunity for a brief career that will end in dementia and poverty, because their sport’s by-product is men that gave their all, only to end up damaged goods.
G.G. – http://www.LegalMystery.com
#NFL=PaidPatriotism
Of course the NFL has to support the players. When whole teams start joining the protest, the NFL should be afraid. In the end, the players are the ones who make the game. They can chalk some lines and put up a couple of goalposts on any field of grass in the world, and they can have an instant league tomorrow – a freer league that doesn’t have the capitalists in control, but which is run by players and/or fans. The NFL has a special exemption from anti-trust laws, but that exemption won’t help them if there is an ideological break big enough to spawn a whole new league, and that’s what this could be.
the UNION of doers vs the collaborative association of OWNERS. That is the fault line. The cowards are the free agents. The hoe in charge of the nfl is the best punked out – what was Trump’s word? – is just that, Wallstreet thieves figure they can keep robbing Americans by stealing jobs, falsifying valuations, and cutting return on productivity by continuing the entertainment charade. America, the playground for criminal thieves.
I think youre assuming Kaepernick is good enough to be an effective QB in the NFL. He MIGHT be good enough to be a back-up QB. He just isnt worth the distraction to sit on the bench.
It seems to me that Mr Kaepernick may have sacrificed his career in order to bring attention to what he thinks is an important issue.
Whatever you may think of kneeling during the anthem, you gotta admit everybody is talking about it.
I just hope the conversation becomes less about the protest and more about what the protest is about. Black folks getting shot by police and those police almost never facing consequences.
If the NFL won’t give him a shot, surely there’s a college, whether powerhouse or Div 2 or 3, that will give him a coachimg job. Recruiting-wise, he may be a hit with all the moms and dads of poor black players as well as the players themselves. If I had to guess, a west-coast school would be the best fit. Definitely not the SEC or even ACC.
Guess who else is supporting the protesters – a group of black police officers, and Frank Serpico (subject of the book and movie about his exposure of police corruption). Serpico wrote this piece, and I found his perspective interesting:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/25/kap-cops-and-confederate-statues-a-better-world-without-double-standards/
To clarify, I didn’t mean to imply these supporters are self-serving, as the NFL management appears to be.
Whenever crazed, leftist radicals start calming down, and returning to sanity, Trump comes by and kicks them in the balls again.
I think he just likes watching them spew.
“Crazed, leftist radicals?” that are somehow “returning to sanity?” You might want to look again, since your comment makes no sense: Trump is kicking himself in the balls, and you’re sniffing the back end of a moronic masochist.
The Donald better mind his better nature or I will stop amusing myself by influencing Patriot Games and turn my minds eye on him.
In an age of political theater and charity charades, thanks for keeping it real.
Karl is obviously white and has never had the police throw him on the ground without provocation. To imply that black people suffer from “victim mindedness” is ignorant and dangerous. On the other side, as a veteran and immigrant I can also say that not standing for the anthem is disrespectful to all who died so that Americans could call themselves Americans and live in peace. There are no Yemenis kneeling in protest and getting payed ridiculous money to catch a ball. I love football and watch it religiously. I’m just trying to keep perspective. Those who kneel have never lived in a 3rd world country where poor is really poor. I don’t care what hood you grew up in. It doesn’t compare to places in India, or China and it definitely doesn’t compare to the poor of central and South America. Surely there a way to protest and still honor those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so that there is anthem to beguin with. Those who disrespect the flag are taking it out on those very people who have provided the rule of law necessary for pro sport to even exist. How about instead use some of that large check and throw a rally. Get your point out there door to door if necessary. The great Martin Luther king Jr didn’t need disrespect to deliver his massage.
You may be a vet but by kneeling he is showing his respect to the constitution. The flag is just a symbol like the cross. Why don’t you call him what you are really thinking, an uppity rich n*****er. You and Trump are just brainwashed ignorant white boys.
Tup- what an idiotic response! A vet who has fought for your rights says that it’s disrespectful to kneel. I think that proves it! Yet, your sense of entitlement blinds you and you can’t see the obvious. I on the other hand have never served in our military. I respect those that have had the courage to do so. I will stand during the national anthem to honor Juan and others that have lost limbs and died because that’s what good Americans do. I don’t feel entitled. I feel blessed to have the freedom each one of you have fought for. I am smart enough to know that there are other ways to get attention but I won’t do it at our veterans expense. Thank you to ALL VETS!!! You will continue to have the support of strong minded Americans such as myself. Kneeling during the national anthem is for the spoiled, weak-minded person who are overwhelmed by a sense of entitlement who takes their freedoms for granted. They’ll shoot you then blame it on the police. If you don’t want to get shot, DON’T BREAK THE LAW!!!
Juan Williams on African-American ‘Victimhood
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618023
Wow…
The hatered is thick. No one us trying to listen to the other one, even if on the same side… WTF? 2 brothers fighting…
Oh for Christ’s sake, this is third-grade level junior patriot bullshit. Disrespect the flag? Like a poster below says, the flag is a symbol. The constitution and the Bill Of Rights are what this is about. That’s what soldiers died for, a long time ago. WW 2 was the last war where one might honestly say the soldiers died defending those rights. All modern wars have nothing to do with defending and upholding the constitution. They were fought for oil and treasure and property. It was about stealing, in other words. Grow up, and toughen up.
” don’t care what hood you grew up in. It doesn’t compare to places in India, or China and it definitely doesn’t compare to the poor of central and South America.”
Tell that to the kids living in Chiraq who are afraid to walk on their blocks for fear of being shot. More murders yearly in Chicago than in any cities in India or China. Not even sure that the murder rate in the Favelas is higher.
You are aware of the national anthems actual history, right? It wasn’t even the “national anthem” until 1931. So actually nobody “made the ultimate sacrifice” so that there was a “national anthem to begin with” unless of course you’re a veteran of The War of 1812.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
How exactly is it “disrespecting the flag” or a US service member, past or present, to engage in an activity (Americans engaging in peaceful protest against everything or anything they choose) expressly enshrined in the US Constitution? You know the thing you and your fellow service members swore an oath to protect and defend, and some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice protecting and defending.
Pretty sure nowhere in the US Constitution is there anything about protecting and defending a flag or a song, or any American being forced to show compelled deference to the flag, a song, or a US service member.
And since WWII, I am convinced American service members have not been in a position to fight and die defending the rule of law, the US Constitution or my rights as a US citizen in, among other places, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Belgian Congo, Dominican Republic, Zaire, Grenada, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia/Serbia/Herzegovina, . . . .
Moreover, other than the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War and WWII it is debatable whether America’s service members have ever fought to defend the “rights and freedoms” of US citizens given all the other wars American service members have fought on purported behalf America, have not actually been fought against an opponent who was trying to take those rights from any US citizens in our own lands.
But believe what you choose–doesn’t make it true or factually accurate historically speaking, or otherwise, just because you served in the US armed forces and believe you fought for a particular thing or idea.
Moreover, there is no long history of NFL players being forced to line up for the national anthem. The NFL got paid millions of dollars by the DoD to do it starting in about 2009. Now personally I don’t believe the players union or its representatives should ever have agreed, assuming they did, for standing or appearing pre-game for the national anthem to be anything but voluntary for the players.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/25/take_the_knee_us_athletes_unite
@deray said it best:
The anthem stand for freedom and pride of this country. It is such a shame that the owners and NFL fell that the representation of the anthem shows a lack in honoring those who have served for this countries so that they have the freedom to protest. It is sad to see the lack of respect.
The freedom to protest is diminished when protester shaming is widely practiced and encouraged.
LMAO – I will have to remember that term.
Kapernic is simpler. The crazy girlfriend problem. You may be a key employee, but if a fatal attraction girlfriend screams in the parking lot, vandalizes, and causes a big nusiance, you are likely to be fired just to get rid of the crazy girlfriend nusiance.
Kapernic can do whatever on his own time, but decided to create a nusiance wearing his employer’s clothes, on his employer’s time.
Would the Intercept allow various offensive bits of political activity as a first paragraph instead of the actual news story?
There are no footballs thrown or caught or run down the field towards a goal line; there are no tackles made, no tackles or avoided; there are no blocks made, no blocks avoided during the blatantly *Political* playing of The Star Spangled Banner previous to the playing of an NFL game. So in what way, except for catapulting the propaganda, is that the time of the owners’.
I’ve got this theory ol’ twitprez suspects YOUR boycott push against the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick, something you’ve tweeted about for weeks, might actually be working. You know Trump’s addicted to Twitter, Shaun, and you’re frequently prolific there. ;)
I can’t help believe that’s why he tried turning it around yesterday; both suggesting fans should boycott because of the protests – and also claiming attendance / viewing is already down because of the protests (therefore certainly not in support of Kap). He’s nothing if not opportunistic.
Welcome to you, Mr. King!
Another brilliant, insightful article by Shaun King. As someone who deeply admires the strong stand of Colin Kaepernick and has been disgusted by those who treat it as some trivial private vendetta, I was perplexed too by seeing pics of his critics joining players in taking the knee. King’s analysis rips the disguise off those two-faced managers.
1. Black identity politics in the US is little more than historically misappropriated reactionary bias that has percolated from a collegiate postmodern deconstruction of American black history into the vernacular of victim-hood that pervades American black culture today. To think that, after two terms with a popularly elected black president in the US, anyone is still arguing that the prospects of black people are being limited by either systemic racism or white privilege is patently false. One only needs to examine the oft repeated conscious lie that blacks are more likely to be the fatal victims of police shootings than whites to understand the degree to which racially decisive movements like BLM are committed to advancing their own brand of deeply destructive race hatred at the expense of truth; BLM, alone, is responsible for setting race race relations back in this country by a whole generation. More pathetic still are their white liberal enablers whose long simmering hatred for all things American, compels them to embrace and nurture such lies at the expense of social cohesion and the common good. The irony of this retrograde pattern is that it is designed to feed into the neoliberal NWO agenda which mandates that nativist attitudes worldwide must be vilified as a necessary precursor to eroding the traditional social fabric of nation states – especially those of the west.
2. Unlike Obama, who claims that his birth certificate is proof positive of his bona fides, Shaun King claims that his is a lie as it reports that both his parents are white – thus his own seemingly specious claim of illegitimacy can never truly be resolved. However, this is the least of Mr king’s problems… a long trail of alleged racial, religious, and disaster exploitation has been accompanied by a relentless string of accusations concerning his chronic misappropriation of donated funds. So much so in fact that Daily Beast editor Goldie Taylor wrote a 2015 article entitled, “Where Did All the Money Shaun King Raised for Black Lives Go?”.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/goldie-taylorwhere-did-all-the-money-shaun-king-raised-for-black-lives-go
Of course, Mr King has yet to “open up his {financial} records” as Ms. Taylor suggested. Rather, he moved forward from that date to publicly endorse Bernie and then Hillary Clinton’s campaign while simultaneously calling for greater racial diversity of congress itself. Such pleas are standard fare for Mr King who would have us ignore the glaring fact that melanin alone is no guarantee of positive political change – Obama being a poignant and painful example.
3. Like all self-interested, politically motivated chameleons, King’s brand building strategies include aligning himself with purportedly progressive cause celebs like Colin Kaepernick. In the doing, Mr King is predictably averse to labeling Kaepernick’s hand biting stunt as misguided, short-sighted, and/or hypocritical. Even while King enthusiastically endorsed Jeremy Scahill’s assessment that professional football consciously “encourages a worship of the military and weapons of war as the one true form of patriotism”, he failed to acknowledge his own glaring hypocrisy in calling for its boycott in support of Kaepernick’s reinstatement. Rather, he chooses to adroitly ignore the fact that Kaepernick is a multi-million dollar black exemplar of NFL endorsed militarism (and alleged racism) along with another 70 Percent of NFL players who are also black. When one stops to consider the degree to which millions of young Americans are influenced by such corporate media propagandic manipulations, the true nature of King and Kaepernick’s hypocritical brand building manipulation of social justice movements becomes plainly evident.
This is an excellent takedown of Shaun King, who is an absolute fraud. He could solve the mystery of his race not with thousands of words defending his “racial identity” on medium, but with a simple DNA test proving the man on his birth certificate is not his father, but we all know why he won’t do that.
And as far as his money raising fraud, it goes back much further than Taylor’s writeup. When he was living in Atlanta and gained the nickname “internet pastor” he was blasting a large collection of email addresses he’d gathered over time and asking for money. It was to the point of spamming — multiple times a week. Always asking for money and never offering transparency as to what the money was for or where it was going.
And now he says he’s a journalist. Name one credible journalist who got his start spamming email addresses asking for money.
This guy is a fraud and he is toxic.
Yes, an Intercept rehash of Juan Thompson in white face. There are ample first hand accounts of activists online who had occasion of working with, or donating to, causes under Shaun’s direct control and who found his activities to be extremely shady. For example:
The rise and fall of Shaun King, former Black Lives Matter darling
By Feliks Garcia
http://www.complex.com/life/2016/01/shaun-king-black-lives-matter/
I didn’t know it was possible to adroitly ignore something. Willfully neglect, maybe, or intentionally refuse to mention. But to do so, to willfully neglect your silly premise, means King would have to know your premise beforehand.
In other words, you condemn King for not reading your mind before publishing his article.
Instead King should have asked you why Kaepernick tries to speak his mind even though he’s more wealthy than 99% of all Americans. You would have told him that Kaepernick is a pawn of the US military industrial complex (or the Deep State) and therefore defends NFL ownership. Why won’t that ingrate Kaepernick protest like you want him to? Why won’t King tell your truth? Why are all these pussies running from your steel certainty? How can they so adroitly ignore you?
What’s the matter with them?
What’s the matter with white liberals and Black Lives Matter protesters, Colin Kaepernick and Shaun King?
Obviously:
Here’s a hint.
When brainwashing explains why people refuse to listen to you (even before you say anything and even if they’ve never heard of you), you should probably rethink your version of reality.
It might be that different people have different opinions.
Here is a little clue for you Milty: If you plan to initiate a conversion with a potential adversary by means of condescension, I suggest that you make sure you don’t step on your own dick in the process. Do a google search on the phrase “adroitly ignore” and see how many published authors have used the phrase. The top ten responses were from Google were books. Secondly, the sentence to which you refer reads: “Rather, he chooses to adroitly ignore the fact that Kaepernick is a multi-million dollar black exemplar of NFL endorsed militarism (and alleged racism) along with another 70 Percent of NFL players who are also black.” Thus he was choosing to adroitly ignore a “FACT” not a premise.
Here is a hint for you Milty: Finishing up with a straw man argument reveals a conscious awareness that your entire post is lame. But hey, whats new?
This is exactly my point.
Writers — individuals — “choose” their facts. Feel free to attack the facts someone presents. But you don’t attack the facts, you attack the writer’s motive using his choice from among a million facts. You have your facts; others have their facts. When someone doesn’t include your facts — rightly or wrongly in your opinion — it indicates very little about the author’s motive.
It’s sort of like noticing that someone appears suspicious to you. Your suspicion isn’t sufficient to determine what’s going on in his or her mind. (Except for mind readers who are usually 100% wrong.)
Thus my issue with “adroitly ignored.” It doesn’t matter how many people use those two words. “Adroitly ignored” implies a knowledge of thoughts to which you have no direct access.
To avoid condescension, I’ll let you decide for yourself the real world consequences of this sort of mind reading.
I think it’s obvious. But that’s just me.
You said, “I didn’t know it was possible to adroitly ignore something.” You are wrong, pure and simple. The phrase can apply to fact alone as attested to by the numerous examples provide.
In this instance, the FACTS to which I referred, and the motives served by those facts, were derived from a recent Intercept interview of Shaun King by Jeremy Scahill. Get a clue and listen to the interview Milty.
you are a racist moron.
Oh sweet irony! This coming from the person who chose the screen name “Dark Rage” to write a single sentence comment that begins with a small case letter.
“To think that, after two terms with a popularly elected black president in the US, anyone is still arguing that the prospects of black people are being limited by either systemic racism or white privilege is patently false.”
Your ignorance is profound indeed.
Sure would be nice to live in the world you think exists, but that’s not the world we’re actually in. Systemic racism exists in the USA today, as does white privilege and both are endemic and pervasive; that you don’t see it says a heck of a lot about you.
Simply stating something is fact does not make it so. Provide me with irrefutable evidence in support of your claim.
vapid virtue signaling turns into pig pile, film at 11
Here have a downvote!
Misty eyed, braindead manchild salutes flag soaked in blood .. your go
Over 630k white men died to end slavery in this country. What did you do?
Nope, 258,000 of those were traitorous confederate secessionist that died fighting for states’ right to keep slaves, and not all 630,000 that died in the Civil War were white. You believe history and math a vapid virtue as well, huh?
Facts not feelings snowflake. It took all of them to resolve the issue. Yeah and not all of them were white but then again when the war took place 40% of slave owners in the south were black. I believe you are a vapid snowflake who has no appreciation for this country or the people, all of them , who live in it , own it and have the potential to make it better. Virtue signaling is what you are all about. Your empathy does make you a better or more in formed citizen. Just a trendy one.
Your assertion all 630K who died in the Civil War were “white men” was a race-baited lie on its face and that makes you a simpleton troll, snowflake; an ugly one at that. If you had any facts they didn’t make it to the table, only your white man “feelings” showed up.
The idea that the Civil war was a moral crusade to end slavery is an absolute myrh. And not a benign myth. It’s been used ever since to try and portray every US military action as divinely-ordained.
The soldiers fighting for the Union were as racist as those fighting for the Confederacy. Lincoln himself was as racist as the day is long and had no intention of freeing a single slave in the south until the number of fugitives fleeing to union lines became unmanageable. Even after emancipation, Lincoln wanted to ship every black American out of the country and ‘back’ to Africa.
Forget the fairytales and focus on what this country has been doing in the name of ‘freedom’ for the last 70 years.
Yet the fact that 630k white men died to end it is still a fact. And “hands up, don’t shoot” is still a lie. Facts not feeling snowflake.
fact: the civil war was not fought to end slavery, please read a book, any book, about it.
A sophomoric argument from a sophomoric snowflake, thanks for playing, your teachers would be so proud, but the rest of us are laughing
This is the worst possible read of civil war history and, as such, speaks to the degree in which anachronistic interpretations of history are purposefully misconstrued to serve covert social and political agendas. Here is a 1999 Journal article that gives a 10yr retrospective view of Lincoln’s treatment by present day historians:
Lincoln and the Problem of Race: A Decade of Interpretations
ARTHUR ZILVERSMIT
Volume 2, Issue 1, 1980, pp. 22-45
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0002.104/–lincoln-and-the-problem-of-race-a-decade-of-interpretations?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Just after armed white nationalists organized a “protest” to complain about non-whites and non-christian religions, The Intercept featured an article by Glenn Greenwald decrying the harsh words some had for the ACLU. The
riteright of free speech must be protected at all costs.Threaten minorities? Fine.
Brandish weapons? Fine.
Shout slogans recalling Nazi rhetoric? Fine.
Organize a political event to support a politician who bathes in racial animus? Fine.
Rebrand the symbol to bastardize the symbol? Fine.
NFL owners are protecting their interests just as ACLU lawyers protect their interests — in the loudest possible ways.
By contrast, Kaepernick sacrificed his interests to uphold a principle. He said,
[Note: same post, properly formatted. I have no idea why the last line ended up bold.]
Just after armed white nationalists organized a “protest” to complain about non-whites and non-christian religions, The Intercept featured an article by Glenn Greenwald decrying the harsh words some had for the ACLU. The
riteright of free speech must be protected at all costs.Threaten minorities? Fine.
Brandish weapons? Fine.
Shout slogans recalling Nazi rhetoric? Fine.
Organize a political event to support a politician who bathes in racial animus? Fine.
Rebrand the symbol to bastardize the symbol? Fine.
NFL owners are protecting their interests just as ACLU lawyers protect their interests — in the loudest possible ways.
By contrast, Kaepernick sacrificed his interests to uphold a principle. He said,
It’s not surprising that NFL owners — a who’s who club of flesh traders — supports Trump with cash and public praise — one giving him a Super Bowl ring while another was rewarded with an ambassadorship as a quid pro quo for his support. How better to support their own interests than giving actual political and financial support to a politician and party determined to destroy the State as an agent guaranteeing human rights.
Of course they’re going to complain about his words; Trump’s cruelty, stupidity, and incendiary remarks is what makes him valuable to them.
Slyly colluding with these “owners”, national media consortiums relentlessly promote a libertarian/fascist ideology (aka “Republican”) that celebrates deprivation, austerity, and institutionalized racial animus as political abstractions fit only for Disney cartoons and drooling children.
Kaepernick, according to an article in the Guardian, has already won because he “started the conversation.”
Nonsense! He won with a $120 contract ($61 guaranteed) in 2014.
More sugar for a diabetic nation. The supposedly ungrateful and incompetent Kaepernick crossed a line that ownership MUST enforce. That line is the “all for me, none for you” line. It is tacit in every large sports contract.
It is what keeps the sausage factory operational.
There’s no conversation about human rights, no concrete effort to hold (agents of) the State responsible, no voice for the hundreds of millions of people excluded by the political edifice (excluded by design), and no effective dissent that isn’t immediately attacked by those protecting their interests.
Unlike the political and financial class, these athletes have family, friends, relatives and fans living within enduring this sado-masochistic dystopia … a dystopia created, exploited and mocked by a ruling class that rewards a crook with the presidency and pretends to be outraged when he appears deranged.
Compare the actual (non-abstract) difference between the treatment of Donald Trump and the treatment of Colin Kaepernick.
Calling these “owners” hypocrites is like giving a lover a pet name — tantamount to calling the Frankenstein monster a “monster.”
Accurate, … slightly.
Without context, … meaningless.
One serves the interests of his creators, the other has the audacity to defy his creators.
I think most of the black NFL players are cowards. Seventy percent of the NFL is AfricanAmerican. If all of them take a knee, what are the owners going to do? Fire 70% of the entire NFL? Instead you have the Cowboys owner on Foxnews humiliating them. SAD!
And what about the NBA?
Well said! I always thought it meant the game was about to start so everyone could go to the concession stand or restroom.
The bigger issue with this whole controversy is that the NFL has been used for years now as a propaganda outlet for the military. We need to get all of that pro-State and pro-Military imagery out of professional sports. No Airforce jets flying overhead, no pledge of allegiance and no calls to “support our troops”.
Not only should Kaepernick not stand for the anthem, none of the players should. It’s a ridiculous ritual that conditions people to worship the State as it’s symbols.
With that said, I will say one small thing in defense of the owners. The owners are not obligated to participate in a political protest if it hurts the profitability of the team. If many Americans don’t like the idea of professional athletes not standing for the anthem, as much as you or I disagree with their beliefs, then this can hurt the profitability of the team. Therefore it could be perfectly rational for owners to discourage this protest if it is alienated a large segment of their audience.
Well said Jacob but some people are blinded by their hatefulness. In 2040 they will start being the minority and this is their last stand. Small minds are not able rationalize their mistakes.
I get where you are coming from but that is an empty defense of the owners if there ever was one.
Many have fought and died for our freedoms and yet many are more than willing for others to give them up for the sake of profitability and their individual greed.
I don’t think this is an issue about free speech. Of course the players have every right to speak about any political issue they want on their own time and with their own property. But, as employees of NFL team owners, they don’t have the right to demonstrate any way they like on national television, on private property. I probably side with the players in their political views more than the owners, but I recognize that the owners have the right to require players to adhere to certain conduct as a condition of their employment.
Team owners have to respond to consumer demands, and many consumers are turned off at the prospect of heavy-handed political messages being forced upon their sports events.
By the same token, we ought to eliminate all the pro-military propaganda and political messages as well.
If I was an owner, I’d hire Kaepernick in a heartbeat. But I might require certain conduct from him. Not necessarily because I disagree with his political message, but because I’m looking to put a profitable franchise out that consumers appreciate.
I’m not sure a white guy who goes around telling everyone he is black gets to call anyone a hypocrite.
Haha agreed. Good stuff
What is even more appalling to me, is a gutless draft dodging coward who lies at every turn and has no ethics or morals wants to wrap himself in the American flag, because he won an election with the help of a hostile foreign government and rail against true patriots. this a**clown in charge has spent years railing against our judicial system, our president and most decent Americans and now thinks he deserves respect. As a Veteran, I salute the athletes who had the courage to call this idiot what he really is, a racist. His followers own hats, jackets, pants, shirts, bikini’s, thongs and all sorts of other garments and trinkets with the American flag designed on it and don’t mind that they sit on it or wear it to prove they are patriotic. Real Americans don’t need a lag to know that America is only strong when “all” people in this country are treated equally. It is only the republicans who seem to have a problem with the term “all”. To show support for this excuse for a human being (the liar in chief) when he didn’t have the courage to serve his country when asked, shows how little they value the flag and the people who died, so they could wave their confederate piece of crap and claim they are true Americans by supporting a Hitler wannabe. Yep, the GOP as always, is pandering to lowest form of intellectual cowardice possible. A true American, stands to protect every American, no matter which race, color, religion or creed they live under. To the people who believe white America is the only America, you need to move to your leader’s favorite country, Russia. That would make America great again. Go team Mueller!!!
Why is the anthem even played before regular league games in this country? Doesn’t happen anywhere else on earth. What is the point of it??
It goes back to a time before the Star Spangled Banner was the National Anthem actually. The oldest known playing at a professional sporting event was in 1862. Back in 1918 we were in WWI. At the world series the crowd was evidently feeling down in the dumps. Then, in the 7th inning a band started playing what was then the Army and Navy anthem (now the national anthem). Red Sox third baseman Fred Thomas stopped on the field and saluted…then other players on the field did the same…then the crowd joined in and started to sing. For the next two games the song was played in the 7th inning. When the series moved to Boston for the next three games, the anthem was played during the pre-grame, along with introductions of wounded servicemen. The anthem became a fixture at the series and at special games after that, then slowly spread to be played at more games over time. It also spread to other sports. Back in 1945, NFL Commissioner Elmer Layden said the anthem should be as much a part of every game as the kickoff. Back when Pete Rozelle was commissioner he declared that players were to hold their helmets in their left hands and salute with their right hands. As you can see, the anthem at sports events has a long history in this nation, predating it’s adoption as the national anthem.
Also, many other places besides the USA do similar things. In Australia, Canada and Ireland for example. In other places the anthems of two nations are played during international events. Then, of course there are the Olympics, many anthems are played at those games…though admittedly at the medal presentations.
As for the point? Originally it was intended as a patriotic gesture and a nod to the armed forces. It was the anthem of the Navy and the Army after all back then, long before it became the National Anthem.
Bless their hearts,
They’re all brain damaged, and not a one of the owners, or their coach, or their fans give a rats ass about that.
What good is your first amendment when your brain is mush?
I anyone truly gave a shit about these people they wouldn’t watch football at all.
No one is asking this question: Why, exactly, is the national Anthem played at big business events lie the NFL, MLB & NBA anyway? They are corporations, not citizen owned or representative of anything other than profits. Do WalMart, Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. ask their employees to stand with hand over heart pledging unfailing loyalty to the State before opening for business each day? Would they be fired or banned if they refused? Professional Sports are, by definition, professional; people get paid. They are businesses folks, not a sacred rite to appease the gods!
Richard, sorry, posted the same question blind! This saccharin anthem-every-5-minutes baloney needs to end. It makes Americans look like childlike simpletons in the eyes of the rest of the world.
I live in Notmerica and I confirm that view.
Aha! Then something good comes of it, after all!
As far as management is concerned, it is a time honored ritual to wrap yourself in the flag for commercial gain. For a long time companies were allowed to use the US flag on ads, but it got banned in the early 20th century. I suppose the study of that would be one of the more bizarre possible investigations of free speech erosion.
A dispassionate observer might notice that the prevalence of national anthem playing and assorted accoutrements is mostly associated with events aimed at the redneck elements of the population. I mean, they don’t play the anthem at the symphony or ballet, do they?
For a long time companies were allowed to use the US flag on ads, but it got banned in the early 20th century. I suppose the study of that would be one of the more bizarre possible investigations of free speech erosion.
In lieu of a study, I offer this twitter thread ….
https://twitter.com/koopa_kinte/status/911715150507454464
Listen to DN from this morning. It was explained that the military pays the NFL lots of money to play the anthem and recuit.
Why, exactly, is the national Anthem played at big business events lie the NFL, MLB & NBA anyway?
Because the Department of Defense paid them your tax dollars to do so.
We are paying for our own indoctrination. It’s a pretty sweet scam for both the sports leagues and the military.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/11/04/report-at-least-50-teams-were-paid-by-department-of-defense-for-patriotic-displays/
Three things:
1. Is that Indiana-University/Purdue-University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indiana-University/Purdue-University Fort Wayne (IPFW), or both?
2. From Shaun King’s column, which of the two is Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts: a Donald Sterling-like racist or a cowardly collaborator with racists? As a Colts fan who hasn’t watched any of this season because Kaepernick is still unsigned, I want to know.
3. The kicker with that gov’t oversight report is that while those live displays before the game are paid advertisements, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, & Marines participating in those paid ads don’t get paid themselves for being in the ads! Leave it the U.S. gov’t to find yet another way to screw over our veterans.
Sure it was marketing (the owners don’t want attendance to fall or to lose sponsors)…… but MAYBE with time they and the public in genera may change their ways and even come to understand the underlying reason for the protests
I love the picture of the owner of the Washington NFL team. A jew who tells Native Americans what they should or shouldn’t find offensive. You can’t make this stuff up
Dan Snyder’s being Jewish is merely incidental; his behavior betrays no moral underpinnings whatsoever. Like the President, he is driven solely by the demands of his own ego.
Now Kap is just another guy who takes a knee. And unemployed like a lot of others who walked away from their jobs.
Rich people want ordinary folks blindly patriotic because it instills a sense of order and fellowship.
Unhappy and disconnected people want to make changes that usually cost money.
In 2008, the Pentagon began PAYING the NFL to bring the teams out for the national anthem.
GO BACK TO KEEPING THE PLAYERS IN THE TUNNEL (or locker room) during the anthem…or better yet–QUIT playing the national anthem every game!!!
This all seems like a PsyOp designed to turn the public against the NFL players before they go to renegotiate their contract with the owners.
Looks like The Intercept had a very good off-season acquisition of their own. Congratulations to Shaun and The Intercept.
He isn’t being denied a job. He just isnt that good. There are long lists of players with boderline talents who aren’t picked up by teams. If he was a sure bet talent a team would pick him up. This is a league who has given chances to dog murderers, wife beaters, actual murderers etc. And the one thing that they have in common ? they were able to pay the game at a high level. Its easy to claim Kap is being denied a job, its even easier to show he isn’t very good at that job.
still doesn’t make him wrong. He and the players are right to protest etc, but to say a league with ZERO for a moral compass is keeping him out is just silly. He just makes it easy for them. His talent doesn’t demand a spot and it certainly doesn’t overcome the PR headache for the front offices that would have to deal with it. So its about as easy a business decision as possible.
Exactly… hundreds of players protest, but when ONE mediocre player who had several bad seasons in a row can’t find a starting QB job, he is being blackballed for protesting. :/
Thought they did a pretty good job of laying out why he deserves at least a backup QB job.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/colin-kaepernick-is-not-supposed-to-be-unemployed/
Tom Brady & Aaron Rogers disagree.
He’s plenty good enough to be in the league. Whether the owners are being honest for not hiring him doesn’t change that fact.
maybe the hypocritical owners did not anticipate that trump was completely insane, and would attack them and the constitution. lots of trump supporters made that mistake. at least some of the owners sided with the constitution when push came to shove.
maybe they were willfully naive, and chose to overlook what trump clearly WAS. millions did, and millions still do.
maybe they have changed their minds and regret their support. time will tell if they are truly hypocrites.
i suspect some are.
To anticipate =/= to expect
If you anticipate something it means you thought about the possibility and took action to circumvent or counteract it.
The people you’re talking about, in my experience, didn’t anticipate beans.
The problem isn’t that they can’t think. The problem is that they don’t even know what thinking is; they confuse it with feeling. Or maybe they don’t and know exactly what theyre doing
Really, this clown?
I am not a football fan but I read the papers.
The swift rebuke by the players was extremely moving – team after team after team.
And no matter how you try to recast the discussion, the fans reaction was swift and derisive. Boos for the players and the teams. You go ahead and wrap cop-hating and flag-hating around the necks of your 2018 campaigns.
LMAO
I bet you think the confederate flag should also be flown next to the American flag. These people aren’t cop haters or flag haters, they are patriots, who are standing for what the constitution promises. All people are equal, no matter what their race, religion or creed. If you don’t understand that, the maybe you should go back to school or find another country for your racism, hate, bigotry and fear.
Cops are the haters. Hating abusive violent racist government workers is the right thing.
K.
And of course the comments are filtered now so the fucking race baiter can censor those who call him out.
Shaun King is a race-baiting troll who perpetuates existing racial tensions for personal gain. He is every bit the problem and nothing of the solution. I cannot believe The Intercept has chosen to share its platform with this cancerous hack.
Jeff is a lil’ red hatter who can’t see racism except as an inconvenience to his simpleton’s view of the world.
Exactly. Removing The Intercept’s bookmarks and other contacts from all devices. I’ll follow Greenwald on Twitter and read his articles there. This is a sad day for the Intercept publishing this divisive clown.
Buh-bye now.
Greenwald doesn’t like white supremacists. He may block you.
What in this article is untrue? Nothing. The solution starts with drawing attention to the problem and Shaun King has done that. I am guessing you don’t have a solution that acknowledges the depth of the racism in this country. Blaming – the victims or the reporters who report on it – is not a solution.
Jeff thinks the only racists out there are those who criticize the KKK. if you speak out against the Nazis, you’re obviously “race-baiting” , otherwise be quiet about racism.
Great article that helped clear up the situation going on with the NFL for me. However, the team photo is of the Washington REDSKINS team, a term which is a racial slur against Native Americans and the subject of intense controversy. (I do see the racial slur was left out of the photo description). While it is no surprise to me that this particular team and it’s hypocrisy would be the selected photo, erasure is one of the issues we face specifically as Native Americans. We are still here and we hate that shit. We too are suffering tremendously from mass incarceration, police killings and brutality as a community in the United States, whether as MMIW, people of color, as the homeless or as the mentally ill. This suffering, especially among Tribal Youth, is directly linked to our status as logos, mascots and stereotypes in the popular imagination and its institutions like professional sports. The Intercept and Shaun King are among our greatest allies, so I submit this respectfully and in solidarity.
The owners say bye to patriot Hank Williams, Jr., and hello to demon-harrassed Lady Gaga.
I hope the NFL players take it a step further rather than this being the peak.
The other hypocrisy is the withholding of vital medical data showing permanent brain damage (CTE) to NFL players by those same owners
and front office lackeys. They love their country so much that the military
has to pay the NFL for all its vain-glorious advertising (fighter plane fly overs, troops on the field, etc.). The fans aren’t much better; just ask if they’d rather see their team lose more than win without “Kap” or go to the playoffs with him. The ESPN comment of “performance art” was correct.
Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?
Mr. Trump took the heat off the team owners. They will richly reward him once the 2020 election rolls around.
However, I’m surprised that Mr. King wasn’t touched by the spectacle of the players and owners, standing together in solidarity. Mr. Kaepernick has done more for labor relations in the NFL than any other individual. The least the owners could do is erect a statue to him (I understand there are a number of empty pedestals in Baltimore).
I’ve honestly lost the narrative at this point, even after reading this article. What is the “cause”? Kaepernick or racism? Which one responds to protests against the national anthem?
No. Getting fired from a private company for speech is not a restriction on free speech.
I bet he said they “want to” move on. Because that would make sense.
Fun fact: Kaepernick was about to have an offer from the Ravens, then his girlfriend tweeted this: https://twitter.com/nessnitty/status/892902143983792128
Here is one of the many articles discussing it (and Ray Lewis discussed it on Inside the NFL as well): https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ray-lewis-ravens-refused-to-sign-colin-kaepernick-because-of-girlfriends-tweet/
Kaepernick’s mother was Irish, and he was adopted by a well-off white couple that gave him everything he needed to be a successful multi-millionaire playing a game. Despite this privileged upbringing, he never picked up a basic understanding of statistics, and he ended up sacrificing himself on the altar of a false cause. He also, stupidly, forgot that he was paid millions of dollars to play football. Nobody ever paid him for his opinion, nor did he apply to be an activist, lobbyist, or politician. He instead decided to play those roles while on contract to throw a football, and he lost his job. Anybody that needs to reach to “racism” to tell that story is an idiot, and if I were an NFL owner, I would never hire this clown. If you would, fine, but that opinion alone strongly suggests that you will never own a large business in the first place. You’ll probably write drivel online or something.
He walked away from his SF job. That’s why he’s unemployed.
They aren’t protesting the national anthem. (this is a recording).
Fun fact: If you believe Ray Lewis, you’re one gullible sap. The girlfriend tweet was a convenient excuse because they’re too cowardly to go on the record to say they’re afraid of the backlash.
He didn’t lose his job, he had an option and declined it. If he wanted, he could’ve been on the 49ers this year.
Kaepernick is half-black, which in America means all-black so I don’t know what his mother or adoptive parent have to do with any of this.
What are they sitting for, “Happy Birthday”???? — they are refusing to stand for the national anthem. So…anyway, English — that’s what I’m speaking (heads up).
If you refuse to believe that K-Nick and his idiotic girlfriend are more trouble than they’re worth to the NFL, you’re retarded. If you believe that owners who employ 80% black people are racist against Kaepernick, you’re fucking retarded.
Kaepernick had more advantages than most white kids. So you know exactly what “this has to do with this,” liar.
Also, Kaepernick’s agent denies he turned down any contract or option. You are the epitome of why this article exists in the first place — stupid liars making shit up to virtue signal to people that couldn’t care less about them. Perfect.
“I’ve honestly lost the narrative at this point, even after reading this article.
That’s because you, like most libertarians I know, look at humanity through the distorted prism of capitalism. all while parading that economic system as somehow the ultimate expression of liberty for the individual, and therefore the savior of all mankind.
Like most libertarians I know, you’re too stupid to realize that you (like most of the GOP) have actually sold out individual liberty for the false promises of capitalisms “inevitable rewards’ to those who just “work hard enough” and adhere faithfully to all of its tenets.
As for your morally repugnant views on Kaepernick – the “libertarians” amazingly dissonant thinking somehow allows that the personal liberty Kaepernick’s been exercising to speak and protest (as all individuals should be able to wherever they are), somehow ends because he’s not “fulfilling his role” as a contracted employee of private business?
Shut up and play?
You and most libertarians I know have completely corrupted the idea of individual liberty – by commingling it with a thoroughly discredited economic model, yet you’re too stupid to realize that that is the problem that leads to such inequities in our country and around the world.
You are the epitome of why this article needs to be written in the first place — stupid, hypocritical liars making shit up to further indoctrinate people, so that they, too can be subject to the inevitable shitty end results; you idiots constantly trumpet the failed, trickle-down economic policy as the end-all-and-be-all philosophy that will truly reward all those who practice it, while at the same time ignoring that it does mostly the opposite.
It’s perfect. Perfect bullshit.
I stopped at “capitalism.” Time to get over past conversations and have this one.
“I stopped at “capitalism.”
That’s the entire point that you (and the GOP) continue to witlessly miss. Libertarians, like you and the GOP, confuse capitalism and liberty. I said you were stupid, I meant it, and you proved it.
You and the GOP, the self-proclaimed champions of individual freedoms and individual liberty, hypocritically quash those same concepts if, as in Kaepernick’s case, an individual dares express them at the perceived expense of the owners.
You and they’ll not have this conversation because it’s discomfiting. It shows that not only do your claims of protecting individual liberties actually restrict them based on class (those with more money {in this case, the owners} actually have more liberty or can restrict others liberties) it shows also that you’re all unprincipled fools.
Whew. My point went whizzing on by you buddy. Regardless, if you think it is pro-liberty for business owners to have to hire whom you want, then I’m relieved you think I’m a fool. Take a deep breath, calm down, read a book, or do whatever you need to to swallow that giant clump of self -righteousness in your throat and allow yourself enough oxygen to let a neuron fire.
“if you think it is pro-liberty for business owners to have to hire whom you want, then I’m relieved you think I’m a fool.”
You, and libertarians like you, claiming that I and others say that “owners have to hire who we want” is utter crap, and symptomatic of the mental contortions that your unprincipled stance on individual liberties requires.
You and yours are fools to think that the rationalizations made on behalf of your screwed-up, bastardized, combination economic/pseudo-human rights policies can continue to hold water. It will end, the sooner the better, because from a real human rights standpoint, it’s simply become unsustainable.
Wasting your time Sillyputty.
He’s too far gone into the warped rabbit hole of his own immoral capitalist/propertarian/libertarian fantasy land to be anything other than a stopped clock, which is to say only right twice a day through no mechanism of his own.
It used to be fun to mock libertarians by inviting them to go to Texas, buy up some cheap land, and demonstrate to all of us dummy socialist lefties how they can make their Ayn Rand fantasy land a reality via their own boostraps without all the socialist underpinnings of a functioning society. Unsurprisingly they never have, and never will because it’s a counterfactual immoral fantasy of a bunch of fabulists.
That tells you all you need to know about libertarian cranks on the internet, like Macroman, and particularly ones who used to work in the financial industry but now get paid by some right wing crank degree mill to disseminate their stupid ideas to undergrads. Or are employed as the university token (or more likely a function of a Koch Bros. endowed chair) to demonstrate their commitment to free speech not that any of his academic colleagues can’t swat down his libertarian argle bargle in a heartbeat with the most minimal intellectual effort.
No kidding – this is literally my dipshit, redneck brother in law (who, like most thought-leaders around here, doesn’t even know he’s bought into the libertarian mythology).
He literally did this a few years ago, moving from liberal California to liberty-loving-Texas.
He moved his sorry-ass back to California as soon as reality hit. Of course, he’ll never acknowledge it as such; it will have to be couched in whatever nonsensical pablum that gets these nuts through their un-self-examined lives.
Speaking of fantasy-land we’ve been describing – I’ve yet to read Kurt Anderson’s latest of the same name and topic. I hear it’s quite good.
Bravo, Shaun! We can always count on you to present an informative piece.
#TakeAKnee
It protests & raises awareness of police violence.
There is no disrespect, real or implied.
#PeacefulProtest
Too late. The team owners need nationalists more than nationalists need the Communist Football League.
When the first comment on this article is a poor attempt at deflection, you know the author hit a nerve.
What the hell is going on?
Everyone knows that sports is one of our great national diversions along with shopping.
This guy is challenging our sacred culture by pointing out that the Star Spangle Banner is racist and has a history rather than just being a feel good song that celebrates US militarism and VICTORY!.
And being macho.
And to top it off, there was a recent tweet that 300 million Americans have been forgiven (I may have this wrong, someone can correct me) have been forgiven by Native Americans who were murdered and their land was stolen.
Back to being amusing myself to death, as the title of a book says
Does it really matter if they’re hypocrites if they ended up being pressured into doing something right anyway? I don’t think anybody expects them to be sincere in the first place.
Also, we seem to be forgetting how Kaepernick was on the block to be fired for underperforming right before any of this happened. A more cynical person might think that he was trying to save his job by making himself the focus of a racially motivated movement, so that firing him would destroy public opinion for his team.
Kind of what I wanted to say. White male… but if we are to believe this has been taught… we have to start somewhere. I’ve never said a word to my son about his choices of friends, but I do remember my father and teachers having opinions about his good if a kid I’d be if I hung out with the right crowd… Teach your kids morals, the best thing you can give them. And stand by your neighbors because this is our fucking country.
And snowflakes calling Trump racist are even bigger hypocrites:
Colored People’s Time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTFOLK18EY
– Crooked Hillary and NYC Mayor Bill De Blazio racist skit 2016
“Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd.”
– Crooked Hillary on KKK Grand Wizard, Senator (D) – West Virginia
Democrats will be Democrats: