Why The NFL is in Deep Kimchi

Need I ask if protesting the National Anthem is foolish politics? Do you suppose it’s foolish because that’s one of the symbols that unites us? It’s the equivalent of burning the American flag; has any successful American political movement ever built itself on flag-burning or Anthem-protesting? American history say's no. 

Protesting the National Anthem based on police brutality is for the most part ill-advised given the lack of statistical authentication or evidence of national law enforcement discrimination against innocent African Americans. Star Spangled Banner protest-initiator Colin Kaepernick is chiefly and appropriately seen as a halfwit who bifurcates or divides the nation. 

By turning the Anthem protests from a settled issue into a referendum on him, Trump pushed the Left’s buttons — and the Left responded in the most asinine imaginable way, by proposing, that everyone kneel for the Anthem. The Left thinks they’re protesting Trump’s overreach. The image that will (and did) hit the media airways, however, is Leftists supporting protesting the Anthem itself, which is deeply and properly unpopular. If the Left believes they’re going to win hearts and minds by kneeling for the National Anthem, they’re five beers short of a six-pack. Trump may have trodden in excrement, but he’s the one who will (and did) come out "smelling like a rose. "

So much for that rosy concept. The NFL, like their entertainment and late night late night TV cohorts/hosts has become ground zero for the traditionalist and social Liberal culture wars. Which means that we can’t see movies anymore, watch TV shows anymore, or even watch sports anymore without feeling that we’re being judged. That means our common spaces are disappearing. And we have so little political common space already that cultural common space was our last remnant of harmony.  

The NFL will lose most from this poppycock, and may even be ruined by this. They warrant it.  Multitudes of Americans were already tuning out due to traumatic brain injury/concussion coverage and confirmed domestic abuse issues. Now that will accelerate. That’s due in large measure to the NFL’s utterly inconsistent stance regarding political posturing. When St. Louis Rams players engaged in “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” protests, the league did nothing; when Dallas Cowboys players wanted to wear Dallas police decals to honor the department after a massacre of officers by a black radical, the NFL turned their request down. When Kaepernick knelt for the Anthem, and other players followed, the NFL did nothing; when some players wanted to wear special football cleats in commemoration of September 11, honoring the fallen, the NFL threatened fines. Now, is it any wonder that fans feel like the NFL took a side here? Is there a bottom line? Yes! Here’s the return: this divergence is not good for America. Do we not need our shared symbols? Do we not need our shared spaces? In all actuality, we need them equally. Both of those components are being destroyed for political and ratings boost. If that doesn’t stop, we’re not going to have anything at all in common in any form conjointly or apart.