Football. The prized American sport is once again under attack from the media and Americans nationwide after several players sat during the National Anthem, locking arms in solidarity with each other.

Between screaming tweets from President Donald demanding the players get fired from the NFL to everyone and their brother having an opinion on Facebook, the issue is a hot topic that's been dominating topics of conversation ever since.

Now, I love America.

Maybe not the current state of it, but I love what it began as what it was intended to be. A place where people can be anything, come up from nothing, speak out against the government, and have individual rights protected by law.

However, today in 2017, it seems as though the majority of that has flown out the window.

It's controversial to hear and to say, but the First Amendment isn't circumstantial. It isn't something that applies when it's you talking, but no longer applies when someone you disagree with posts on their Facebook page.

It isn't something that we can just toss out the window.

The First Amendment was chosen to be what it was by America's Founding Fathers for a reason. It wasn't chosen so that hundreds of years later, people are fired from their jobs or blasted on a global platform.

Do I personally agree with the act of not standing during the National Anthem? No.

That's my perspective, that's my right to think. However, I understand the demonstration of these individuals as best as a young, middle-class white woman can try to.

America has forgotten what it was founded on, the entire purpose of the colonists being so fed up that they went to war to have the rights we are treading upon. The Constitution of the United States is something I hold in very high regard, being the American history nerd that I am, and my little pocket Constitution states the First Amendment as such:

Amendment I: Freedom of Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We all know what it means.

We've been taught it since grade school, we took tests over it to graduate. Then why do we throw it out the window the second we disagree with something a person says?

Newsflash: The freedom of speech doesn't only apply to yourself.

It doesn't only apply to you if you're a certain race, gender, sexuality, or any other category. It's not exclusive. It's not a VIP privilege. It's not a Republican thing. It's not a Democrat thing.

If a person believes a certain way and chooses to use their public platform and national following to make a peaceful statement or demonstration, that's their Constitutionally-given right to do so. It's not open to the rest of the nation's interpretation if they can or can't do so.

People have fought and died for our flag. I'm absolutely not dismissing that fact.

My own father fought in the military and survived. People also fought for our freedoms, though. They're not mutually exclusive issues; both are valid. The issue is, if we start taking away our freedoms, or limiting them in any way other than to avoid harming one another, we invalidate that. No matter what that person you're disagreeing with might say.

You can't argue hate speech is free speech in Charlottesville and then a month later demand professional football players be fired from their job for kneeling during the National Anthem without completely invalidating everything.

That's not how the First Amendment works.

If we start allowing the First Amendment to be determined through a matter of opinion, our very foundation cracks. Kneel, don't kneel, that's up to you. You have every right to do either, no matter what public or popular opinion has to say. This is America, and your rights are your rights, no matter who you are or what you have to say, and I'll stand by your right to do so you as you say it.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."