The 2018-19 NFL season—also known as Season 3 of the NFL kneeling protests—is underway. President Trump is commenting. Endless and empty debates ensue. What was once used as a means to escape real world problems for a few hours has now become a primary hotspot for controversial discussions more suited for social media hellholes.
SoBros is a Nashville-centered blog. What better way to express my feelings than through a country song. Enjoy a contemporary/pop-style country strong from Joe Diffie. Jo Dee Messina eventually re-released the song and, in 2005, turned it into her last No. 1 hit.
Eh. Was that a curveball compared to what you expected after reading the title?
“Huh? Your title preaches “Acceptance.” Yet, your introductory paragraph showcases your zero-damns-given attitude. You contradict yourself, Joshua!”
Not necessarily. Compassion fatigue toward reasons of protests doesn’t indicate my stance on protester rights and protesting methods. I can disagree with someone but still believe in their right to express themselves. I want them to express themselves, not act like a puppet on strings. So should you. More on that later.
I vehemently disagree with the timeliness of the protests. I question the motives of protesters who’ve protested inconsistent topics including police brutality, systemic oppression, Anti-Trump, solidarity, and free speech. Did the message of systemic oppression get lost when Colin Kaepernick was unofficially exiled from the league? Watching players claim bribery when the NFL offers $90 million toward social inequality makes me question whether this has become more of a hostage situation than an actual protest.
Anger and frustration over protesting ornamentations were a significant reason for why I forfeited watching most of the 2017-18 NFL season. I watched the first few weeks and Super Bowl LII. I didn’t watch much in-between that. My boiling point came when Chicago Bears cornerback Marcus Cooper did this…
…just days after President Trump made a series of tweets chastising the players for their National Anthem conduct. That type of not-even-worthy-of-a-participation-trophy effort mixed with politics flat-lined my interest for NFL football to the point where I viewed a handful of snippets from a few games throughout the remainder of the regular season and postseason.
I’ve moved on from that. I’ve spent the offseason thinking about this whole ordeal. Politics won’t ruin my enjoyment for 2018-19. I’ve even had a change of heart about the NFL kneeling protests. My opinions about them remain unchanged. What’s different is how President Trump, fans, and I should approach it.
I hate these protests. My logic is much closer to Trump’s than the players. I’d prefer different protesting methods or kneeling during a different time frame (e.g. Opening Kickoff). Acceptable alternatives include locked arms or a raised fist. The National Anthem is not meant for the players. It’s the one part of the game that isn’t. Why must players protest intolerance with their own form of intolerance?
Here’s the reality: there’s no physical harm. The players have prioritized their causes above demonstrations of respect to the military. The ironic part about that is that the military fights for that very reason. Disliking an opinion is no reason for banishment.
You want more irony? Let’s consider how President Trump won the election. A significant reason—maybe even most significant—was that he was a symbol of toleration for those who felt their belief systems were jeopardized. Leftists could refer to this as a type of reverse toleration. An example comes with homosexuality. Leftists express tolerance toward homosexuality. Reverse tolerance is acceptance toward those who disagree with it, even if you disagree with their disagreeing. Reverse tolerance doesn’t condone violence.
President Trump won largely because he was that symbol of toleration for others who were oft-criticized and even punished for different ideologies. Now he’s displaying the same type of intolerance toward leftists that the leftists used to suffocate rightists during the Barack Obama Administration.
The “You don’t support gays? You’re fired!” rhetoric is now “You don’t stand for the National Anthem? You’re fired!”
Conservatives won’t want to hear this: you’re becoming who you hate. Same exact attitude. Same. Exact. Attitude.
America has fallen in love with that “You don’t agree with me? You’re fired!” mindset. We’ve become a society of professional stone-throwers. It has established a politically correct culture where individuals are afraid to voice harmless opinions without fear of retribution. People have chosen silence or, when forced to make a decision, simply agree with the popular stance.
Society shouldn’t silence individuals. When properly used, silence is the deadliest weapon. Consider the 2016 election. Trump was an underdog against Hillary Clinton. Most people thought he had no chance of winning the nomination. At this point, simply not participating in a gay pride social media posting was enough to earn condemnation and unfollows. The perception was that there was no way that our country would want to stray away from the accomplishments of the Obama Administration.
Trump won. Reality set in. Those silenced voices didn’t translate into changing mindsets. Silence created a false perception of the opponent. That opponent was just buying time to prepare to play Guerrilla Warfare. Leftists weren’t ready for the ambush. They bought into silence as their sign of victory. Turns out it was four years of retreating.
What can everyone learn from this, especially rightists? Political correctness doesn’t solve disagreements. Silencing voices doesn’t kill the enemy; it creates a deadlier, harder-to-combat foe.
Don’t prohibit these NFL kneeling protests. Does the lack of proper etiquette offend you? I don’t like it neither, but I’d rather they openly demonstrate what I dislike than force them into doing what Trump and I want and then falsely convincing myself that people have changed.
Imagine a criminal. Would you prefer that criminal brag about his or her crimes on the dark web or just keep everything buried and well-hidden? I’m not saying that kneelers are criminals. My point is that society should allow things out in the open so everyone isn’t forced to guess on whether someone is authentic or just playing the politically correct card. I want to know who I’m dealing with, not guess.
Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about humans, it’s that they’re terrible judges.
Huh? You wrote all this crap after you embedded “My Give a Damn’s Busted?” You contradict yourself, Joshua!
Yeah…well…maybe I care more about it than I originally thought /:
ALSO CHECK OUT:
ESPN Get Up! Review: It’s Not THAT Bad; It’s Just…
Joshua Huffman was born and collegiately edumacated in Middle Tennessee. That said, Huffman spent 13-plus years with the type of Northern Wisconsinites and Yoopers who turn Nashville bars into alcohol wastelands whenever NFC North teams travel to play the Tennessee Titans. This makes him the NoBro of SoBros. He has published content for Yahoo! Sports (via Contributor Network) and Titan Sized, among other venues. At SoBros, he’ll provide Daily Fantasy Sports suggestions and broad sports coverage. Check out more of his musings at his blog, Millennial on Maple Street.
