(Note: I did this as a Facebook post; I'm just re-posting here for historical reasons.)
I’m going to go ahead and note right off that you and I are probably not going to see eye to eye on this issue. That’s okay; I’ve no intention of trying to “win” a discussion or anything; only to share concerns and thoughts. Civilized discussion I feel has really taken a turn for the worst lately, and I’d like to try and make effort and be civilized especially given the strong emotions both sides have on the issue.
To my actual concerns: I empathize with the feeling that people have about the National Anthem; the actions of sacrifice. I do. I don’t think anyone who is protesting and kneeling has any intent of trivializing the men and women who’ve served. I’ve shared an article on my wall that gives the side of Kaep and Reid on why they started what they started.
Here’s the thing about protesting: the intent is to cause people to take notice. People protest in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of places. To get people to notice, you must do something. Sometimes, probably often, to get people to notice, you must do something to get people to notice that’s out of the ordinary. You must break people’s concentration from the normal day to day. It can be non-violent; like shouting, walking a picket line, wearing shirts, the sit-ins of the civil rights era, etc. Or it can be violent, like what happens at Berkley, in Charlottesville, and numerous other examples.
But often, to get people to notice, you must do something that makes them uncomfortable. It doesn’t have to be unsafe, or violent, or obscene, but you must do something that gets their attention. That’s why people shout and walk in picket lines; and in this case, taking a knee during the Anthem.
That’s why these guys are doing what they’re doing.
There’s been plenty of other ways people have protested in this Nation. People walk down the damned highways, lie down in the middle of the road, people show up to a White Nationalist rally and pick fights; people do all sorts of things.
For me personally, I’d prefer if people wouldn’t take those steps when protesting. It’s unsafe both for the protesters and for others.
You could say that there’s other means to protest; and you’d be right. But for me, personally, I think it’s not my place to tell others how to protest. For sure, there are ways I’d PREFER people to protest, but often when people are protesting it’s often because it’s a point of view that I don’t understand and from a situation that I probably don’t understand and share in my day to day life; and I’d figure if you want to share your concerns and frustrations with the world then you should figure out for yourself the medium and the method to do so.
If instead of picking fights, starting riots or walking down highways you decided to quietly and without being obscene take a knee during the anthem, then at least I can sympathize with that.
It may irk people, but that’s kind of the point.
I’m going to go ahead and note right off that you and I are probably not going to see eye to eye on this issue. That’s okay; I’ve no intention of trying to “win” a discussion or anything; only to share concerns and thoughts. Civilized discussion I feel has really taken a turn for the worst lately, and I’d like to try and make effort and be civilized especially given the strong emotions both sides have on the issue.
To my actual concerns: I empathize with the feeling that people have about the National Anthem; the actions of sacrifice. I do. I don’t think anyone who is protesting and kneeling has any intent of trivializing the men and women who’ve served. I’ve shared an article on my wall that gives the side of Kaep and Reid on why they started what they started.
Here’s the thing about protesting: the intent is to cause people to take notice. People protest in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of places. To get people to notice, you must do something. Sometimes, probably often, to get people to notice, you must do something to get people to notice that’s out of the ordinary. You must break people’s concentration from the normal day to day. It can be non-violent; like shouting, walking a picket line, wearing shirts, the sit-ins of the civil rights era, etc. Or it can be violent, like what happens at Berkley, in Charlottesville, and numerous other examples.
But often, to get people to notice, you must do something that makes them uncomfortable. It doesn’t have to be unsafe, or violent, or obscene, but you must do something that gets their attention. That’s why people shout and walk in picket lines; and in this case, taking a knee during the Anthem.
That’s why these guys are doing what they’re doing.
There’s been plenty of other ways people have protested in this Nation. People walk down the damned highways, lie down in the middle of the road, people show up to a White Nationalist rally and pick fights; people do all sorts of things.
For me personally, I’d prefer if people wouldn’t take those steps when protesting. It’s unsafe both for the protesters and for others.
You could say that there’s other means to protest; and you’d be right. But for me, personally, I think it’s not my place to tell others how to protest. For sure, there are ways I’d PREFER people to protest, but often when people are protesting it’s often because it’s a point of view that I don’t understand and from a situation that I probably don’t understand and share in my day to day life; and I’d figure if you want to share your concerns and frustrations with the world then you should figure out for yourself the medium and the method to do so.
If instead of picking fights, starting riots or walking down highways you decided to quietly and without being obscene take a knee during the anthem, then at least I can sympathize with that.
It may irk people, but that’s kind of the point.
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