General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: All this shit about an athlete taking a position and not standing for an anthem [View all]JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)The people are the country. A constitutional state is the country. Flags and songs are just that: flags and songs.
The flag is a piece of cloth. Worshipping the flag is not a sign of good citizenship. It mostly says you are ready to follow blindly any fool who waves a piece of cloth. It is unpatriotic to follow blindly!
The great scandal of our schools is that children know some crazy socialist preacher's "Pledge of Allegiance" to a piece of cloth, but they don't know the actual Constitution of their own country. This is one reason why so much shit is accepted that should not be.
The anthem is a war song that continues (in further stanzas) with a glorification of how runaway slaves were massacred.
Worshipping flags and singing anthems are religious rituals that do not befit the self-actualized citizens of a democratic, constitutional, secular republic.
As for your veteran relatives, they certainly sacrificed and no doubt believed it was for the defense of the country or some other high ideal, But unless they fought in the Second World War, that is just not so. Since 1945, the wars have almost always been for empire. U.S. soldiers had no business killing people (or being killed in return) in Vietnam, or Iraq, or Lebanon. Your veterans don't have any beef with people who protest these mass murders, or who sit through a song. Their beef should with a government that turned into a global empire.
They certainly didn't do anything to defend Colin Kaepernick or his rights. That is preposterous. His rights are natural, guaranteed under a rule of law, and in reality defended by people who fight for their rights when under attack right here at home, not by Marines in Syria or wherever.
Sorry that you don't like these realities.
Kaepernick is the patriot!