Over the weekend, a tweet storm by President Trump led to condemnation from the sports world. This was capped by an increasing number of players taking a knee for the national anthem. Some teams tried to avoid controversy all together, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ plan to stay in the locker room, or the Dallas Cowboys’ kneeling in unison before the anthem and then all standing together for the anthem.

Both sides of the political spectrum have argued support of their side and opposition to the other. This misses the point entirely. Instead of trying to justify if kneeling is “appropriate,” the whole point of the argument is missed. Players kneeling presumably do not disrespect the flag, or the country, or the men and women who bravely serve the nation. Players are kneeling to protest what they see as injustices and prejudice against minority communities. Some players may also be protesting in reaction specifically to President Trump’s statement that they should be fired.

Sounds reasonable for them to be able to express their outrage for social issues, right? The problem is that the average American, or one who does not follow what is going on, will see players kneeling during the anthem and make assumptions. These can range from confusion to indifference to rage.

The issue of kneeling during the anthem started a year ago with Colin Kaepernick. This protest along with other factors have led to a decrease in NFL viewership. Although this week NFL viewership was up compared to the same week a year ago, this could be in part explained by people tuning in to see the controversy. The outrage will continue to drive down NFL viewership, as there has been an outcry from fans about the sport becoming too political for making controversial stands. Some fans have called for refunds on the NFL packages they bought; some companies such as DirecTV have already processed refunds. There are also viral videos of fans burning memorabilia and season tickets.

So, what does all this mean? This means with America being extremely divided, there are now two less things that unify us as a nation: the flag which is supposed to represent the ideals and history of America and the hope that the future of our country will be better. The flag also represents that we will progress as a country and become a better place to make up for our shortcomings in the past.

The other unifying factor we lose is football. Football was used as an escape from politics and daily life. After the weekend, watercooler talk would be about the weekend’s games-- this could be soon be a thing of the past with viewership on the decline and someone not wanting to start a political controversy in the work place due to the politicization of sports.

The issues that the protesters brought up are important ones to be considered, but using the flag has compromised the issue. According to an ESPN survey, 51% of Americans oppose kneeling for the flag. This is why this is a losing issue for the protesters. Those participating in this protest are doing something that over half of Americans do not support. According to a study by the Cato Institute, 61% of Americans believe players should not be fired over their protests. This shows that a majority of Americans approve of what they are doing, just not how they are doing it. To take this protest from awareness to action, the players need public support. This is not achieved by alienating over half a country and losing their message.

People lose sight and don’t care about what you have to say if you disrespect them, and this leads to a nasty discourse. One side claims the high ground with free speech and injustice. They also argue that people making it about the anthem or the military are missing the point. In reality, the people protesting are missing the point. Is their protest justified? Yes. Are they conveying their message effectively without offending half the country? No. They can make their protest more effective by doing what a team such as the Cowboys did. The players can take a knee before the anthem and then stand and lock arms. This will still get their message across and not offend a vast majority of people.

The other side claims protesters are disrespectful to soldiers and un-American. The facts are that a majority of Americans respect the flag and don’t want to see it disrespected. So why is this issue being made? President Trump jumped on an issue that a majority of people agreed with and used it for political gain. This forced the other side to defend kneeling, something American’s view as disrespecting the flag and made the other side lose popularity. This creates an ugly divide and an escalation in the ongoing culture war where each side attempts to use the culture to further divide the nation. Two consequences in all this are the protesters message that gets lost, and the average American who does not wasn’t politics infused in every aspect of their daily life. They simply want to be left alone to enjoy the games and not have people disrespect the flag. The real loser in all this is America as a nation; this currently is dividing the nation even further and tearing down the remaining few unifying factors left in the country. This culture war only has one outcome. The outcome is American unity will lose.