Wow! Such controversy over the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegience and the NFL! Who would have thought a football player's knee could attract so much attention without an injury?
Trump tweets, Pence walks out, and I am left shaking my bewildered head! How is not standing for the National Anthem showing "disrespect" to our soldiers and veterans? The reason behind the protest has nothing to do with war, except the one police have been waging on Native Americans and African Americans. The military Oath of Enlistment talks about defending the Constitution and mentions domestic enemies.
In case there are people who do not realize it, the Oath says "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962). https://www.army.mil/values/oath.html
It does not say "I will stand for the National Anthem". It does not "mandate" patriotism (as Jesse so wisely explains).
If we are more concerned about a NFL player taking a knee for the anthem, than we are about child poverty in America, or homelessness among veterans or the fact that twenty-two veterans every day commit suicide, then we have misplaced our priorities.
No amount of singing or standing or holding hand over heart is going to negate the fact that indigenous people and people of color have been abused by out of control police and even National Guardsmen. And it certainly will not provide what our veterans desperately need-healing and a new life.
Ask yourself how important is Colin and his knee. Ask, if we respect our veterans, why tens of thousands of them are homeless and twenty-two every day choose to end their misery themselves. Those are the crucial things we need to be concerned about.
The rest is simply rage, gone horribly stupid!
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