Coach teaches some respect for the National Anthem

I'm appalled by the National Anthem being politicized.



It's to honor this great country, to honor everyone who served to secure our rights to protest, and to honor what makes us a great people, and the strongest country that's ever existed.

I'm bothered that earlier today I said I wasn't bothered. I am. There is a time and a place to protest, and during the National Anthem is neither. You're disrespecting men and women that DIED for you. That FOUGHT for you. People of all races, and all creeds, and they put it all on the line for you to have the right to be a disrespectful jackass.

Did it get attention? Sure it did. The kneelers got attention. i think it was in a piss poor cowardly way though. Get yourself fined for putting something on your helmet, refuse to answer press questions, there are far better ways to protest than disrespecting the people who have fought for you.

I think that this will backfire heavily, as Mr Trump just started a discussion about "necessary habits", aka "traditions" which could be topic on being outdated, backwards or just being overviewed for too long.

I do not say that you have or have not to stand up to your anthem, I just want to point out that he opened the door to pandora's box of PC and SJW's loud and obnoxious answer to anything seen as "oppressive", "rascist" and so on - which could be labeled on your anthem and the traditions around it and around the flag, too.

a reply to: Domo1

If you have a problem with these kneeling protests, then you have no idea what the flag you covet is supposed to stand for, nor what the blood you falsely claim to wish to honour, was actually shed for.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Domo1

If you have a problem with these kneeling protests, then you have no idea what the flag you covet is supposed to stand for, nor what the blood you falsely claim to wish to honour, was actually shed for.

None of this is shocking.

It's a giant ploy and every single person paying attention is falling into the trap. The government has sponsored football teams since 2009 to stand at attention for their recruitment agenda in the armed forces. Don't believe me? Look it up.

I won't say much about this topic because is seems ridiculously silly to argue about.

There are MUCH greater problems that face this country.
The water crisis in Flint, MI is a great example.
Still no solution.

Let people protest however they feel necessary, but if they signed a contract to stand at attention when the national anthem is played, because they get gov't money to do so, and they don't uphold their end, fine them.
Problem solved.

This is not a national crisis like the media wants people to believe.

a reply to: havok

No, its not a crisis...

However, on the matter of fines, it seems as if team bosses have no intention of doing any such thing. Luckily for them, there is no law saying that they have to impose fines on players or teams for failing to pander to the mindless indulgence of the faux patriotism engaged in by the sort of person who will dishonour a flag by wearing a shirt made out of it, while lambasting those who merely kneel rather than stand.

Yeah, great country... denies most of it's people basic social needs, provides generous student loans and have one of the highest imprisonment rates on this planet.

But hey, you may carry a gun.

I would crawl under that chair....

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Domo1

If you have a problem with these kneeling protests, then you have no idea what the flag you covet is supposed to stand for, nor what the blood you falsely claim to wish to honour, was actually shed for.

Enlighten me.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Sorry mate you are wrong, want to know why...

Domo1's opinion is just as important as the protesters, the first amendment protection the protesters and their defenders claim applies to those irritated by the protest as well.

originally posted by: Ddrneville
Yeah, great country... denies most of it's people basic social needs, provides generous student loans and have one of the highest imprisonment rates on this planet.

But hey, you may carry a gun.

I would crawl under that chair....

This wasn't at all the point of the OP. The point was that standing for the National Anthem is a sign of respect for the men and women that fought for our ideals, including the right to protest. So kneeling during song is effectively spitting in the face of those that sacrificed everything to GIVE you the right to act like an asshat.

Crawl under your chair. Protest something else. Protesting the National Anthem is protesting ALL OF US.

a reply to: Domo1

"the strongest country that's ever existed." That is debatable.

originally posted by: havok
None of this is shocking.

It's a giant ploy and every single person paying attention is falling into the trap. The government has sponsored football teams since 2009 to stand at attention for their recruitment agenda in the armed forces. Don't believe me? Look it up.

I won't say much about this topic because is seems ridiculously silly to argue about.

There are MUCH greater problems that face this country.
The water crisis in Flint, MI is a great example.
Still no solution.

Let people protest however they feel necessary, but if they signed a contract to stand at attention when the national anthem is played, because they get gov't money to do so, and they don't uphold their end, fine them.
Problem solved.

This is not a national crisis like the media wants people to believe.

Like our President said, "fire them". As a Vietnam Veteran (American) and grew up with us standing up every morning to say our pledge in school, I say and I mean it, let them continue, it will only backfire on them. It's like when they go to a restaurant and they start checking out their hamburger that maybe the cook put his sperm on it, then they'll get the message. Screw em .

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: TrueBrit

Sorry mate you are wrong, want to know why...

Domo1's opinion is just as important as the protesters, the first amendment protection the protesters and their defenders claim applies to those irritated by the protest as well.

Thank you. I'm not discounting the protesters. I'm bothered by the way and the what they are protesting. There is some nuance TruBrit doesn't understand since it's not in his thesaurus. The mighty virgin can't slay us all with his sword collection.

a reply to: Domo1

It's another act to try and end civility,haven't you noticed the govt pushing the single mom support rather then push the marriage effort,it's been a social engineering plan from day one,as of late really been pushed,with the glorifying of gay marriage,forced compliance with transexuals,how you destroy an army,within

originally posted by: EveStreet
a reply to: Domo1

"the strongest country that's ever existed." That is debatable.

Debate it.

a reply to: Domo1

That is beyond even my capabilities, since the only way to achieve any kind of enlightenment, is through personal effort and research, not through being force fed.

However, with specific regard to the flag, and what it actually represents...

The people who died to make America a reality, those who gave their lives and died, and indeed those who dedicated their entire lives to its foundation, did not do so, in order that America could become as indoctrinated, mentally incompetent and backwards as the Empire it fought to gain its independence. The people who fashioned America from the raw material of the land beneath their feet and the human resources available to them at the time, were not Pavlovian in their responses to the demand for patriotism that many in this period adhere to and respond to. They were thoughtful, insightful, fiercely independent persons, who understood that government is dangerous if it is allowed to run amok. They also knew that fealty to banner and state, which they had experienced well enough under British rule, was a weakness, not a strength, because it removed a persons ability to be objective and honest about the quality of ones own life, not to mention the quality of the governance one was foisted with.

These were not people led around by the nose, aroused to some patriotic fever pitch by a cheeky glimpse of some flag cloth. These were realistic, practical people, and wise to boot. That is why there is no part of the constitution of the United States of America, which demands blind loyalty to its government, nor insists on pseudo religious worship of its emblems or flags. Simply put, the men who came together to Declare the Independence of the United States, the people who penned its constitution, were not the same weak minded dross who populate its halls of power now, nor were they the kind of knuckle dragging ingrates who either needed to be, or desired to be controlled with imagery, or told what they ought and ought not respect. They were told constantly that they ought to respect the law as handed down by the British, and they gave the proverbial finger to that, despite the fact that America did not actually exist at the time, that there was no flag, there was no unified identity, and understand, these men did not formulate independence, nor the constitution, for the purposes of creating a unified identity. They did so, in order that they be free of the tyranny of identity which was the British Empire (I am British, but empire building is a Roman trait, one we should have allowed to pass away with the same speed at which the habit of wearing togas did).

They did not rewrite the future of an entire continent, just so the sort of mindless, drooling halfwittery which informed the British Empires manner of controlling its citizens, could be used in future to control the masses in the United States of America. There was supposed to be a difference, it was supposed to be better than that, its people wiser.

Standing there and flag worshiping, and throwing up ones hands in horror when someone fails to respect the flag, is precisely the sort of mentality that the founders of your nation were sick enough of, to rebel against, because that mentality was too easily led, to easily controlled into accepting the unacceptable, tolerating the intolerable, and even now, as intolerable things happen in this century, people are more appalled at the idea that someone might not have a strong enough boner for a piece of cloth, than they are about the need for a protest and what initiated it in the first place.

You might as well piss in the founding fathers eyesockets, for all that screaming about the flag and the anthem (which, by the way in the case of the anthem, was only adopted formally in 1931) would endear you to them, were they alive to see it.

a reply to: Domo1

wow, chill out. The guy just put a kneel on the ground. Were you in his head to know exactly why he did it ? You look like you were. You talk of "disrespect to those who have died" as if you were in his head. For someone else from another culture, putting a kneel on the ground could mean a sign of respect, you know. But here you are talking of disrespect as if he was peeing on dead bodies.

Furthermore, a flag is just a symbol, it is not the real thing, you know that right ? And symbols often have different meanings for different people. It depends on life experience etc..

Also, having so much respect for a piece of land, talking of "greatest country and greatest people", is nothing more than glorified tribalism. But that's for another topic..

a reply to: TrueBrit

Your response was pompous and rude. What has happened to you? Stay off the drink.

It's her feelings and they are valid to her and she has every right to express them without a Brit who has no understanding of the American way. Please, as a courtesy because on ATS you have a right to express your opinion, allow another culture to be given the tiniest of respect for their beliefs.

This involves the USA NFL/not British football of which there are really extreme spectators of which I have never understood the violence and instinsity for the game but respect your and other country's love of the sport.

a reply to: Domo1

Sorry did not think you were discounting them, I am just tired of seeing people get jumped on for giving their opinion on things.

So many supposed intellectuals do not seem to grasp that Freedom of speech applies to all speakers and ideas, not just socially acceptable ones.