Desperately Looking for Racism

Here is a story of a man who walked the streets of New York with a shirt the resembled the Redskins logo but was instead the profile of a white man.  The faux team was the Caucasians.  That's funny.  I would laugh at that.  Certainly not offended by it.  Of note, the story is entirely self-reported.  The journalist takes his word for everything.  Sure, an old lady said it was disrespectful and a white guy called him an a--hole when he realized it wasn't a Redskins logo.  That is obviously the reaction Mr. Joseph wanted and that is the reaction he reports to Yahoo News.  And they parrot it without any skepticism.  Hmm.

By contrast, when a woman wanted to demonstrate that she was 'harassed' while walking down the street, she had it all on film.  Mr. Joseph should try his 'experiment' again and have a similar camera setup.  I am doubtful that his reported interactions would repeat.  Also, there would probably be a lot of laughs.  Checking the comments, it seems the majority had exactly my take on the story.

Speaking of the Redskins controversy, the team is not named that to be insulting or privileged.  Barring the rare exceptions (e.g. UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, UC Irvine Anteaters), team names are chosen for being fierce (e.g. Lions, Bengals, Bears), or cool (e.g. Cowboys, Patriots, Buccaneers), or representative of local industry (e.g. Oilers, Packers, Steelers), and so forth.  Serious teams aren't named the Village Idiots, the Dolts, the Weaklings, etc.  No one wants a name that will provoke scorn or disrespect.  Should I be offended by the Boston Celtics or the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame?

 

Thought experiment: What if there was exactly one incident of overt racism every day and that one incident led the news that night.  Would that give an accurate picture of the level of racism in our society?  On the one hand, racist incidents are in the news every night but on the other hand there is only 1 incident a day in a country of 320 million people.  How we see the world is shaped and molded by the editorial decisions of a relatively small number of people.

NFL Suicide

Yet again, players are sitting and kneeling for the National Anthem.  After Colin Kaepernick demonstrated the wonders it does for a player's career and the ratings hit is caused, the NFL has decided to let it ride.  Sure, it's a penalty to celebrate too much after scoring a touchdown but kneeling during the National Anthem is free speech.  These geniuses whose paychecks depend on ratings are succeeding in depressing the ratings.  Combine this we-hate-America 'virtue' signaling with the ever progressing concussion story and you have a recipe for killing the sport.  I used to love football but now it feels like yet another opportunity for someone to tell me I'm a bad person for supporting a violent sport or that America is bad because... I don't even remember what Kaepernick's beef was at this point.   Yeah, I'm white and privileged while he is a multi-millionaire who is black and oppressed.  Who was head of state when Kaepernick started his protest?  Barack Obama, a black man.  Who was Attorney General when Kaepernick knelt for oppressed blacks?  Loretta Lynch, a black woman.  That was the national government and the National Anthem is about the nation, not the Ferguson PD or the Baltimore PD.  Do you see the distinction, Colin?

 

The NFL is letting these highly-paid players smear the reputation of the NFL.  Suicide by virtue signaling.  The only game I may watch this season will be the Super Bowl.

No Penalty for Intentional Kneeling

Commissioner Goodell praised players for protesting the National Anthem.  Why is it okay for the players to disrespect the country but a touchdown celebration is a 15 yard penalty.  Uncitizenlike conduct is lauded but unsportsmanlike conduct is a 15 yard penalty.  What message is being sent here?  End Zone dance is bad.  Kneeling during the anthem is good.  Eventually, this is going to get out of hand (if it isn't already) and the league will be forced to do something.  It would have been so easy to fine or sanction Kaepernick that first time and then football would be just about football, not social justice.  The old saying is that you should never talk politics or religion.  What do you talk about when politics and religion get involved in every facet of life?

These highly-paid athletes who are almost universally in the top 1% of earners in the US have the temerity to protest the country where that was made possible.  Spend some of your fortune to better the lives of people who are actually oppressed rather than this virtue-signaling crap.  Disrespecting the flag is disrespecting the country is disrespected Americans.  That is not a good tactic for keeping an American audience.

Free Speech on Your Own Time

Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has been in the news lately for sitting or kneeling during the national anthem.  Those who want to defend him say that he is merely exercising his right to free speech.  Not exactly.  The 49ers hired him to throw a football and help win games, not make political statements.  If he wants to make a political statement, he should do it on his time.  Freedom of speech gives me the opportunity to write this blog but my employer would be rightly upset if I was doing so while at work.  Sports is supposed to be an escape from the stresses of daily life, not another platform for political grandstanding.  There is no question that Kaepernick could offer his insights on the ills of America on some talk show or another.  If the NFL is going to deny the Dallas Cowboys the 'free speech' to honor the recently slain Dallas police officers, it is unacceptable that it would not similarly limit Kaepernick.  Well, unless the NFL has a bias.  Does it?