Here’s a GREAT idea. Don’t play the national anthem before games. This phenomenon is relatively new and makes no sense. What do sports and the national anthem have to do with each other anyway? It was just someone’s way of coercing shallow displays of fake patriotism.
No other mass-crowd events (concerts, movies, plays, operas, art exhibits, etc. etc.) play the national anthem before the events start, unless it is something like a 4th of July picnic. Sports are the outlier here. It probably wouldn’t bother most people if the anthem ceased to be played before sporting events. (Notice we DON’T recite the Pledge of Alegiance or read excerpts from the Declaration or the Constitution before sporting events?)
I could agree with not playing the national anthem. However, the “players” are at work during this time frame. Freedom of Speech is something you do when you are not on company time. At the end of the day, NFL is a business and the players are employees. If they aren’t employees, why do they have a union?
Coercive patriotism is not patriotism. Forbidding players from protesting besmirches the flag far more than any amount of taking a knee. What the flag represents – or is supposed to represent – is far more important than the flag itself.
juneybug almost 6 years ago
Or we could all just play football.
cdward almost 6 years ago
Here’s a GREAT idea. Don’t play the national anthem before games. This phenomenon is relatively new and makes no sense. What do sports and the national anthem have to do with each other anyway? It was just someone’s way of coercing shallow displays of fake patriotism.
Godfreydaniel almost 6 years ago
No other mass-crowd events (concerts, movies, plays, operas, art exhibits, etc. etc.) play the national anthem before the events start, unless it is something like a 4th of July picnic. Sports are the outlier here. It probably wouldn’t bother most people if the anthem ceased to be played before sporting events. (Notice we DON’T recite the Pledge of Alegiance or read excerpts from the Declaration or the Constitution before sporting events?)
rodney almost 6 years ago
I could agree with not playing the national anthem. However, the “players” are at work during this time frame. Freedom of Speech is something you do when you are not on company time. At the end of the day, NFL is a business and the players are employees. If they aren’t employees, why do they have a union?
FreyatheWanderer almost 6 years ago
Coercive patriotism is not patriotism. Forbidding players from protesting besmirches the flag far more than any amount of taking a knee. What the flag represents – or is supposed to represent – is far more important than the flag itself.