For those of you concerned that I will be discussing the options available to a male using the restroom, fear not. I am actually referring to Colin Kaepernick and the “National Anthem” debacle. (If you don’t know what I am talking about…google Colin Kaepernick anthem)
What happened America? When did we lose our collective sh$t? Opposing opinions and views are paramount to the success of our country. That is the exact process we must utilize to enact change…voicing opinions and logically debating them.
Someone who chooses to express an unpopular opinion doesn’t deserve death threats. Are we so incapable of rational discussion that at the first sign of an idea that offends, we retreat into attack mode? Apparently the answer is yes. Why is everyone so easily offended? The craziest part of it all is that those who are usually most butt-hurt are the ones furthest from the actual situation. Example: NCAA says that mascots referencing American Indian tribes are offensive and any college continuing to use them will be sanctioned. Offensive to whom? UND was the Fighting Sioux and here is what one member of the local Sioux tribe had to say about it: “Honor, respect tradition, culture and pride,” he said. “How can those values be considered hostile and abusive?” For those of you scoring at home…Sioux, not offended…the over compensating, mostly white board, offended.
If you have watched political campaigns over the last few decades, you would see that they too are increasingly less issue and more attack.
candidate 1 – I believe that we need lower taxes.
candidate 2 – You are a lunatic! You may not even be from this country! Look at your tiny baby hands!
The follow-on news coverage will not be about the lowering taxes but instead, will be about tiny baby hands (which is why I am not running for office). Why does it go this way? Why can’t people rationally discuss opinion and actual issues anymore?
I believe that I know why…and this may also be an unpopular stance, but here goes: People (not you individually….the collective people as a whole) are far less informed than ever. We have built a society that revolves around entertainment and soundbites. What used to be news channels are now nothing more than entertainment and opinion. People can name more of the Kardashians than justices…or senators or even the Vice President of the US. Apparently, it is now not only commonplace, but acceptable, for people to be outraged about headlines, without knowing the substance to the story that follows. Problem is, when they get called on their ignorance they either retreat to more stick throwing and name calling or, more likely, they will just move on to the next subject of their rage.
Think about the recent story of the 12 year old girl who hunted, and then killed, a giraffe. Headline – ‘Despicable’: 12-year-old girl targeted after posing with zebra, giraffe … ” See…right there the “news” has pushed an opinion and tried to rile you up. This isn’t some Clickyspot or Newsyhole or whatever those fake link sites are, this was the Washington Post. People came uncorked and wished she would die. They actually said they hope that one of the animals turns on her and kills her. A 12 year old girl…
Look, I don’t kill things that I don’t have to (I rescued a bug from the light fixture last night and set it free) except wasps, because they are pure winged evil that serve no purpose other than to cause pain and suffering to the people of the world… but I understand that people do kill things.
Had any of these tooth-gnashing, mouth breathing, oxygen wasters bothered to read beyond the headline and the inflammatory pictures of the girl with her dead animals, they would have seen that the giraffe was a problem giraffe that was going to be put down to protect the larger group of giraffes. Had it been a government worker in a helicopter taking it down, this wouldn’t be news. Read on and we see that the meat was harvested and sent to nearby villages to feed people and now this story takes on a wholly different slant. She isn’t out harvesting ibex solely for their penises so some ancient shaman can cure his patient’s gout or some nonsense, she was doing something that the government was going to have to pay to do (instead her family paid the government) and feeding people at the same time. While you still may not like hunting, when you read all of that, the death threats sound a bit severe, right? But…who will ever go back to those tweeters and call them out? (Other than me…I think after I finish this, I may just go see if I can get them into a civilized conversation…)
We just scream absurdities and, right or wrong, we move on to the next item up for bids on the Price is Right and do it all over again. I don’t agree with all of my friends on all of their opinions. They are still my friends and we can talk politely and even agree to disagree at the end of it all. If this girl was your neighbor, would you walk over to her house and wish for her to die in a grease fire on Christmas morning in front of her family? Probably not, but put the feigned anonymity of social media in the mix and you have a whole nation ready to de-vein her like a shrimp.
Back to Colin – You don’t have to like that he didn’t stand. You are entitled to your opinion about his actions, no one can make you like his stance…but isn’t he allowed to voice his opinion? Yes, I get the irony that he won’t stand to honor the flag of the country that gives him the right not to stand to honor the flag of his country. However, you do have to accept that he has the right to speak out in any way he sees fit as long as it causes no harm.
So…if we have the discussion in a sedate and orderly manner, and not just blast each other with epithets…maybe we can figure out whether we should be angry at him or if he has a point.
He says “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color…”. OK…so let’s hash this out with facts and figures:
Starting with the NFL (his employer), 1696 active players, with an average salary of $2.1 million…each. 71.5% minority players. He made $13 million last year. Certainly the NFL is not oppressing minorities. This just in…the percentage of Americans that are black is 12.6% yet they make up 68.7% of the NFL and 74.4% of the NBA…no complaining from anyone, but when the MLB shows that only 8% of their players are black, everyone wants to know why so few. In actuality, that is far closer to the actual population alignment than any other sport.
As a side note, I would happily throw race and gender out the window as things we should measure. I mark other or use Norse-American as my write in when a form needs to know my background. Why is my heritage any less important for tracking? Shouldn’t we make sure that our campus or workplace diversity includes the proper amount of Norse? Am I less entitled to put my kids in your college because I am Norse-American? Sounds silly in that context, no? But it is these same groups that say race and gender shouldn’t matter that force the counting and division…
OK…tangent over…so NFL – not oppressing minorities. What else…almost 50 cities with populations over 50,000 have black mayors. There are currently 4 minority Governors and 7 Lieutenant Governors in office. Two justices of the supreme court are non-white (isn’t that a cuddly non-offensive term?). The 2-term President of the United States is black. Who is the most famous astrophysicist today? Perhaps Neil DeGrasse Tyson? 5 CEO’s of the Forbes 500 are black. Oprah Winfrey is worth $3.1 billion (Robert Smith and Michael Jordan are also billionaires) so who is being oppressed?
Oh…the police are targeting inner city and minority youth. Kaepernick also says that police are put in place by the government. Sorry Democrats, you may not like this part, but under the Obama administration, black on black violence is up and the black youth unemployment rate is 393% higher than the national youth unemployment average.
If we say that the President isn’t to blame (which is fair…but then he can’t get credit for any of the good stuff, right?) let’s look at the local governments in the poorest and most violent cities. Detroit, with 40% living in poverty, democrat since 1961, 55 years, and what do they have? Failed auto and music industries, the country’s most dangerous city, and a mayor convicted of corruption and sentenced to 28 years. Chicago has been democrat since the 30’s…and they had 2,300 shootings and 400 homicides…just last year. The homicides per 100,000 people in the US on average is 5.1. Which means Chicago with 3 million people should have only 153…so they more than take their share. St. Louis, Philadelphia, Oakland…keep going down the list and they are democrat led for decades and the poverty and violence just gets worse.
What? Not local government, but just the police? Sure…Milwaukee’s sheriff is black, as is the police officer that was involved in the shooting that sparked the riots. The chief of police in Dallas (where that ass pony shot the police in defense of black lives) is black. 90 percent of all black people killed…are killed by other black people. Read that again…90%…Please don’t be “that guy” and try to feed me some college grad student thesis nonsense about this being the result of decades of institutional racism that forces impoverished groups to live together, denies them an opportunity to flourish, and then expects them to behave within the laws set about by this very same institution that holds them in stasis. That is excusing away the problem that you don’t want to discuss for one that you do. Also, Appalachia…96% white, pockets of extreme poverty, and a violent crime rate that is half the national average.
Are there problems? Sure…are some caused by oppression? Perhaps, but in a country where you can vote for your leaders, people have the power to vote out the oppressors or just keep voting for Marion Barry. Black people are the overwhelming majority in Detroit (nearly 85%), yet they keep voting for the same crooked people who keep the city crumbling while filling their own pockets. Jackson, Mississippi has a black mayor, a black police chief, and yet has the highest number of murders per capita of any city between 100,000 and 250,000 residents. Oh…and is 86% black. They also have a black City Councilman who called on his residents to throw rocks and bottles at the police because chasing criminals endangers the children. I see now…criminals aren’t the problem, the police chasing them are. Who is oppressing the people of Jackson other than themselves? Stop it! Change the government that you think is oppressing you and stop blaming the circumstances.
Having researched all of this, I certainly don’t agree with Colin Kaepernick that this country oppresses minorities. No, I believe that the opportunity is there for anyone…just ask him how he is doing in this country of oppression. Do I think some have it easier than others? Absolutely…some people have very difficult environments that may work to hold them back. But that doesn’t have to be an excuse. Ask Tyler Perry who came out of a poverty stricken area of New Orleans, or Colin Powell of the South Bronx, or Oprah Winfrey who grew up dirt poor with her grandmother in Mississippi or any of the numerous people who started in crappy places and made their way out.
I know…I am white (Norse-American is how I prefer to be labeled, thanks) with all of my white privilege (don’t worry, I have something teed up for this subject coming later) and I can’t possibly understand the minority point of view in this country. Oh…I see, then how on earth can the minority claim to know what life is like for a white person. Weird how they can assume that everyday is roses and sunshine when you are white but we can’t know anything about them. That is just another nonsensical argument designed to deflect facts that don’t support their cause.
Do I agree that he has the right to sit on the bench while the national anthem plays? Of course I do, he will be sitting there during the game, he may as well get an early start. All jokes aside, he has the right to sit. He has the right to his opinions and the right to voice them. He has the right to stand (well, I guess sit is the proper term here) in support of people that he believes are oppressed. I just wish his opinions were researched and not based on headlines and social media…but then that would make him the outlier, wouldn’t it?
Sadly, in the end, the cynic in me believes that this is a meticulously orchestrated way to get himself traded to a team that will play him. Nothing more, nothing less…why do I feel that? His record…he is charitable, no doubt. He supports a charity called Camp Taylor and has for years. It is a charity for children with heart defects. He donates money and time and appears to be driven to do this for good and not for publicity. That said, where is the money for these children that are being oppressed? The ones that this country is keeping down? Ahh…today he pledged a million dollars to the communities in need. Shouldn’t it have been there all along if this was truly his greatest concern?
Above the Nonsense 