2016 has divided many Americans into two categories. Those who think America needs to be "made great again," and those who claim that America is an oppressive, racist, terrible country that doesn't deserve to be honored. It's well past time for a third category. Those who believe America has been and still is the greatest country in the world.
A couple of months ago during an NFL preseason game, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem, because, as he put it, "It would be selfish to stand for a flag that oppresses black people." The $20-million-dollar-a-year back-up quarterback has spawned a movement of entitled athletes dressing up as social justice warriors. Over the course of the NFL season, many players have taken a knee, or held up their fists in protest, as the national anthem has played, and it's not just the players. At my school, The University of Alabama, 30 students sat down during the national anthem during the Crimson Tide's most recent home game against Kentucky. The goals of this movement remain entirely unclear. There seems to be no cogent societal or policy goals that unite it's participants, but an overall attitude of marxism and defeatism.
It's not that there aren't any policies that disproportionately affect minority communities. The drug war has targeted the most vulnerable in our society, and put way too many people behind bars for non-violent crimes. Widespread criminal justice reform is desperately needed and it appears that most people on both sides of the isle are beginning to wake up to this reality. But, that's not what this movement is about.
This is not a political movement. It's a self-esteem movement that, like most "social justice" movements, is rooted in the politics of feelings instead of the politics of reality. Like most movements on the left, it attempts to demonize those who disagree with it, in this case patriotic Americans. The first amendment is the backbone of our nation, but unfortunately many people on the left believe that it only applies to them, and this is just the latest example of left-wing intolerance. Colin Kaepernick, of course, has the right not to stand for the national anthem and nobody should want to take that right away from him. People who have threatened violence against people who have refused to stand for the national anthem are fascists and should be condemned as such.
Patriotic Americans who recognize that we live in the greatest country in the history of the world, however also have the right to our own free exercise, and we are using it. NFL ratings are down dramatically this year, and why I personally am not intentionally boycotting the league, I will admit that I have watched less football than I have in years, and I don't miss it at all. By all accounts, the overall product is down, and nobody outside of media newsrooms and far-left social justice circles want to spend their Sunday's watching spoiled, rich athletes participate in pointless, narcissistic displays of nihilism. The values that are being promoted by these athletes, and the leftist media and entertainment industries do not represent the thoughts and opinions of the vast majority of Americans.
Put simply, people are sick and tired of being told what a terrible country we have, when we live in one of the few societies in the history of the world that gives us the opportunity to be whatever we want to be and do whatever we want to do, through hard work, and good values. And if pro sports are going to become yet another entertainment machine drowned out in anti-American sentiment, then that will just free up a lot more Sundays for all of us.
