Posted on 05/25/2018 4:44:34 PM PDT by davikkm
Conservatives seemingly got a victory this week when the NFL decided to change its policy regarding the national anthem. The NFL decided that players would be allowed to stay in the locker room while the national anthem plays, but the players and personnel that stay on the field will be required to stand for the anthem. President Trump reaffirmed his support for the decision by saying that players who don’t stand for the national anthem maybe “shouldn’t be in the country.” Leftists were outraged. This is a lot of controversy for such a small gesture, but I feel that both sides are missing a crucial point.
Seeing as the conservatives have been the ones promoting free speech in recent years, does it really make sense to encourage the NFL to limit the players’ expression. I know, the NFL is perfectly within their rights to make this rule. They are a private entity and therefore not bound by the First Amendment in the way the government is. But shouldn’t we be pressuring private companies to respect all our free speech.
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“Both Sides”
Who said that there are only two sides?
The owners are scared to death of locker room wars.
Die NFL, die.
But why does the expression entail insulting military men and women, and their families? What have they ever done to the NFL?
It’s not a victory to allow people to skip the anthem without a fine.
NFL players can protest however they please, ON THEIR OWN TIME.
“Who said that there are only two sides?”
Agree. While I’m a firm supporter of the 1st Amendment I’m also a firm supporter of property rights, employers rights and so on. These NFL players are employees of the team owners and the NFL at large. And, as such they are required to comply with their employers rules and regulations. The players are “on the clock” so to speak when they enter the dressing room and start preparing for the game. At that time they are on company property and are in the process of putting on their company uniform in which they will shortly thereafter go in the field and represent their employer as prescribed by the coach (supervisor) and general manager/owner. So, long story short, if they’re instructed to stand respectfully while the National Anthem as terms of employment as it is played they should do so or be prepared to suffer the consequences....
Geebus, is EVERYONE getting stupid???
NO POLITICS ON THE FIELD!
How hard is that?
People are not paying to see that. It’s not smart to annoy paying customers. You’re PAID ENTERTAINERS - not political activists.
Do it on your own time, and I will support your right to 100%
First, this is not about free speech, it is about appropriating a 100 year old American cultural tradition that began in the 1918 World Series to honor injured veterans from World War 1. NFL players are stealing this solemn time that brings us together as a people and turning it into a protest that most NFL customers did not pay to see.
But shouldn’t we be pressuring private companies to respect all our free speech... If you are patriotic, I know it infuriates you when people disrespect the flag and national anthem. But our founders and military personnel didn’t put their lives on the line for symbolism. They made sacrifices for the principles of freedom, including your freedom to express yourself however you see fit.
Second, if Mr. Carter is all about pressuring private groups to respect free speech, does he feel the same way about the Westboro Baptist Church members who protest at military funerals. Are the NFL player kneeling protests on the same level as the Westboro Church protests in that they are appropriating a cultural moment to honor our military and using it for their own narrow purposes? Can one support the former while rejecting the latter?
-PJ
When the Denver Broncos (now Denver donkeys) took a knee, I changed the channel and have not watched a MFL (Marxist Football League) game since then. They are dead to me.
They censor fakebook and the social media where folks gather on their own time to converse and express ideas but all of a sudden someone working on someone else’s time has the ultimate freedom to protest or express ideas. The NFL blew it big time last year.
The NFL chose not to enforce it's rule, but the players would be in breach of contract if it did. It is the League that is trying to have its cake & eat it too. They want to have the rule AND appear to have an enforcement mechanism. But does anybody seriously think Goodell is going to collect a fine from Robert Kraft or Jeffrie Lurie?
So have the dissidents put their Big Wallet where there their big mouths are and donated time and money to their “causes”???
No one is required to give players a free platform for their political/social justice views.
Facebook, Google, Twitter, et al. are private companies but, like all businesses, they are subject to potential regulation against misconduct and abusive practices. Arguably, due to their importance, overwhelming market power, and near monopoly status, they may even deserve to be treated as banks, railroads, or utilities and made subject to routine oversight by a primary regulator. In contrast, as a professional sports business dependent on consumer sentiment, the NFL is subject to criticism and backlash. Conservatives are fully justified in bashing the NFL’s miscreant kneeling players and in trying to find redress against the various forms of tyranny now being brewed up by Silicon Valley’s goliaths. There is no contradiction in doing both.
I still wonder what the “free speech!!!” people would say if someone started a protest that looked like honoring the Confederate flag. (If I betted, I’d bet that many of them would call that flag “hate speech” or something, and everyone should hate Hate Speech. If asked for a definition of this Hate Speech, they will offer a rather convenient one.)
Just as the NFL is well within it’s rights to “express” how they feel about veterans and this nation, I too am will within my rights to express how I feel.
Only I express how I feel with my wallet. I now have season tickets to the NHL.
“Conservatives seemingly got a victory this week when the NFL decided to change its policy regarding the national anthem.”
Nobody wins in this...we all lost when the NFL poofters kneeled during the anthem.
Answer: Because this is one of the most preposterous issues any marginally employable person could ever imagine promoting as something even worth giving a sh!t about.
The NFLPA and the U.S. media have given this idiotic issue more attention than NFL player safety, for heaven's sake.
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