8-year-olds On Football Team kneels During National Anthem ahead of recent game

Do these kids understand how many people willingly gave their lives to the idea that their sacrifice was made to ensure the USA remained a free country, and so that the Constitution remained the rule of law? Do these kids understand what real sacrifice is? I don't mean going without desert, or being grounded for a week, I mean spending months in a sandstorm away from family hoping that the next incoming mortar isn't going to hit near you or your friends.

Do they know the fear of those who survived D day? Do they know the sorrow of the Vietnam vet who was spit on when he finally made it back alive? Do they know the pain of that same soldier who has to spend the rest of his life remembering the horror he was forced to endure at such a young age?

Sure they have the right to protest any way they see fit, as do the millionaires in the NFL, but that right was paid for in blood and it sure as hell wasn't their blood.

originally posted by: Hazardous1408
a reply to: Bluntone22

My kid will get her ass kicked if I catch her disrespecting the flag.

Riiiight...
But punching Nazis is bad, yes?
Just want a make sure...

I suggest if you love freedom you'll let your daughter disrespect any inanimate object she wishes to.

How far up your ass do you have to reach to pull out that little nugget?
Adults can say or do whatever they wish because they should understand the consequences.
8 yr old kids cannot understand the consequences and should not be used as political tools.
I'm not being critical of these kids, I'm being critical of the people using them.

And I taught my daughter that the flag is a symbol of the her freedom and her rights. I used my freedom to raise my kids my way.
She can use hers to make those decisions when she is no longer a minor.

Patriotism is not mindless. It is not Pavlovian, and what is more, it is impossible for the intellectually inferior, no matter how loudly they sing their anthem, no matter how straight their backs or how many tears they shed when they see their nations banner in the breeze.

Patriotism is not obedience, nor is it fealty to an institution, nor an office. Patriotism is love of country, and support for it.

Just because someone takes a knee, rather than putting a hand over their heart and singing, does not mean they have stopped loving their country. Just because a person turns away from a flag, does not mean that they no longer love the land beneath their feet, or the people who live on it with them.

Patriotism, love of country, has many expressions. I love my country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. I disagree with every single thing its government does on the regular, I disagree with the way its government is morally aligned, I disagree with the way its public services are run, I disagree with the actions of its intelligence services and its security services, I disagree with every moral failure which has lead to this sorry state of affairs, and because I love my country, I refuse to bow to the peer pressure which sees others mindlessly support broken, inhuman, capitalist agendas. Because I love the people of this country, I refuse to support the corporate machinations which have damaged and destroyed both industry and trade unionism. Because I love the people of this country, I cannot support a government which attacks and assaults the weakest and the least able to defend themselves, attacks which force innocent people into lethal levels of poverty, through no fault of their own.

And these young lads on this American Football team must surely love their country too. They are prepared to suffer the outrageous accusations and aggression of those who have only mindless obedience to their name, prepared to be vilified for expressing their dismay, that the country they love is not supporting the right elements in society, choosing to be honest about the problems their country faces, rather than allow them to pass beneath notice. They show their love for their country, by being prepared to suffer in order to show solidarity with members of their society, with other human beings, other American citizens, who ARE being killed without any justice forthcoming, who are under greater threat of being killed and forgotten, just because of the colour of their skin, by people who will never face proper punishment for their crimes. They are, by being unprepared to let these things go, better patriots than a thousand and one of their fellow countrymen, who will see these things and either revel in them, or brush them aside as statistical anomalies, rather than the unfortunate norm they represent.

Just as Snowden and Manning are likely as not the only true American Patriots who have been in the news in the last ten years, these young people express far more love of country than do other people, because they are prepared to be realistic and honest about how they feel about the direction of things in their country. They understand that patriotism is not obedience, that accepting failings is not love of country, but expresses a deep seated inability to take responsibility to change things for the better.

When one loves ones country, but the streets are dirty, one seeks to clear them up. When one loves ones country, but its infrastructure is failing, one supports infrastructure improvement. When one loves ones country, but sees his countrymen die for no actual reason, one protests, at least. One does not see a blemish on an otherwise noble and beautiful edifice, without determining to clear that blemish from the whole, unless one is not a lover of ones country, but a hater of those it most inconveniences.

They are prepared to suffer the outrageous accusations and aggression of those who have only mindless obedience to their name, prepared to be vilified for expressing their dismay

I doubt they thought that part through like adults. More like it's cool, let's do it. Their life experiences are some what limited.

originally posted by: the owlbear

originally posted by: stosh64
a reply to: seasonal

A F#ing 8 year old?

Yeah, the parents had nothing to do with this did they?

You have to love Hipster parenting.

Did you even see where the school was?
Ain't too many white hipsters in Cahokia.
Remember the exit that Clark Griswold accidentally took in National Lampoons Vacation?
East Saint Louis. Cahokia is just past the strip clubs.

That would involve reading instead of posting a snap judgement with a stock photo of people I am sure if they are parents would not involve their children in Foosball...

a reply to: Bluntone22

Oh yes, because being indoctrinated to worship a piece of #ing cloth every morning is so much better.

a reply to: the owlbear

This makes me feel better about living in a country where it's permissible to not have to worship a symbol that doesn't represent everyone.

It's called respect, not worship. Good one though.

If you live here, it represents you.

It is absolutely insane how some people from the right go to condemn this but will go out of their way to defend Charlottesville Nazis chanting "Blood and Soil", “You will not replace us,” and, “Jews will not replace us.”.

These kids have every right to kneel, just as those idiots from Charlottesville had every right to chant.

originally posted by: network dude
Do these kids understand how many people willingly gave their lives to the idea that their sacrifice was made to ensure the USA remained a free country, and so that the Constitution remained the rule of law? Do these kids understand what real sacrifice is? I don't mean going without desert, or being grounded for a week, I mean spending months in a sandstorm away from family hoping that the next incoming mortar isn't going to hit near you or your friends.

Do they know the fear of those who survived D day? Do they know the sorrow of the Vietnam vet who was spit on when he finally made it back alive? Do they know the pain of that same soldier who has to spend the rest of his life remembering the horror he was forced to endure at such a young age?

Sure they have the right to protest any way they see fit, as do the millionaires in the NFL, but that right was paid for in blood and it sure as hell wasn't their blood.

You might have a valid point about the flag and America, if everything was equal for everyone but it is not. Have you ever heard of "institutional racism".

originally posted by: lightedhype
a reply to: Bluntone22

Oh yes, because being indoctrinated to worship a piece of #ing cloth every morning is so much better.

Some of us know the difference between respect and worship.
We don't worship the flag, we respect the people and ideas it represents.

So.. when these 8 year olds 'took a knee' during the anthem.... did people start going to jail for killing black people?

Did this help? Did it work? I haven't seen anything on the news yet.

originally posted by: noonebutme
So.. when these 8 year olds 'took a knee' during the anthem.... did people start going to jail for killing black people?

Did this help? Did it work? I haven't seen anything on the news yet.

It did help to trigger some conservatives.

Really? "8 year old" kids, did this all by themselves? I wonder who their "educators" are? This is the problem with "public education/indoctrination", obviously there is no supervision. No dad/father walked their little brat off the field and spanked them for shaming the family and country? The "coach" didn't knock a couple skulls together? This is sad. We really live in sick times.

a reply to: roadgravel

Children only do what they're trained/educated to do. That's what "public education" is about.

a reply to: Deaf Alien

You'd dread the day conservatives get near a trigger. This is more of a "I knew it", moment for conservatives. "trigger" does not mean the same to us.

originally posted by: murphy22
a reply to: Deaf Alien

You'd dread the day conservatives get near a trigger. This is more of a "I knew it", moment for conservatives. "trigger" does not mean the same to us.

This is an example of a conservative feeling threatened by a non-existent threat and threatening others out of a delusional fear.

a reply to: Deaf Alien

You said "trigger" and not even in the right context. "Trigger" is an action word. That aside, It does not bother you that a bunch of 8 yr. old kids decided to make a political statement in an organized fashion? The "threat" is wherever these kids are getting their "education" and there is no "delusion" among conservatives, where that is coming from. The "fear" is for these poor children who are obviously not being trained right. It's all about the children, our future.

a reply to: murphy22

Are you bothered about how some Fundies are doing the same to children? Watch the movie "Jesus Camp" and tell me you are bothered about it and I'll give you some respect.

a reply to: Onslaught9966

My only point is that these kids can't possibly understand the complexities as to why the flag and the national anthem is so important to the country as a whole. Even if you disagree with war as most do, and you don't like the government, as most don't, you still have some pride in our country and you can at the very least, respect the symbol so many died to protect, in the spirit of keeping their fellow man free.

Patriotism and politics don't mix, nor should they ever. (IMHO)

a reply to: Bluntone22

What if your child decides to beat you into submission first?