The Anthem, Football, and Observations – Round Two…

I was lookin’ back to see if you were lookin’ back at me
To see me lookin’ back at you…

I was on my way to go see the dentist earlier today and my mood dictated that I transition from my 70’s playlist to Massive Attack – the soundtrack of a deep and dark place swaddled in layers upon layers of meaning and tension. The above quote comes from the song “Safe from Harm,” and as I negotiated the indecisive and unmotivated drivers of Columbus, this line resonated with the insinuation of a complete lack of trust and faith of two opposing and contentious parties.

Not long afterwards, I had a brief exchange with a friend I had sent Chad Prather’s most recent vlog “Attempting to Understand These NFL Protests.” Originally, I had decided that this post was going to sit incomplete due to my overall disgust with the whole situation, but her question seeking my thoughts has prompted me to kill two birds with one stone.

These protests against the national anthem were not new when it came to everyone’s attention last year. A dozen of the graduating students of Kamehameha School’s 2016 class chose to sit during it was played, and other than a slight coverage on the local news there was little further attention given to the subject… until last summer, when Kaepernick happened.

Moving forward on my own timeline, I stopped writing the following a few days ago, and am now picking it back up:

A little over a year ago, I wrote about my thoughts on the subject of patriotism and professional sports… and here I am, once again on this cyclic subject. My prediction is that this cycle will continue the same way in 2018 – a surge of interest and outrage subsiding, unfortunately, back to “business as usual” with little to show for the progress towards a resolution other than more division and outrage.

This year, a different perspective was offered by a friend asking an interesting question and the discussion which followed.

“Does it piss you off a little when people (largely not veterans) cite taking a knee as disrespecting veterans when you’ve fought for us to maintain the right to determine ‘should’ for ourselves (and the greater good, I would even venture)?”

Not really.

Credibility equals consideration for me. There are very few of these athletes who I find credible as role models or individuals on the surface. I don’t know any of them, so I have to go off the little public exposure there is, but there are very few celebrities I find have any direct influence on my life… therefore, little consideration.
They play a sport, and for that they enjoy lucrative contracts, product endorsements, and public attention. The same goes for Hollywood, the music industry, and whatnot… they are public figures for one reason, and a source of attention for many.
Personally, I really don’t care what they do on the field or off…my irritation is exactly what I said in the blog – the “standing room only bandwagon of social outrage” that inevitably follows. There are MANY things to maintain focus on, both within our country and outside our borders, and this selective focus is infinitely annoying. These celebrities and their opinions tend to draw entirely too much attention from stuff that we could and need to pay attention to.
I made my choice to choose a path, just like they did… and the reasons and rationales behind those choices are valid and cherished by those who choose to follow a certain path. Am I pissed off that they are choosing their status to make a stance on what they feel is a worthwhile cause?

No.

However, do I question if they actually understand all that has gone into their ability to take such a stance without facing far worse than the outrage, ostracization, and controversy they are currently experiencing. This brings to mind the soccer stadium we flew over every day at Speicher on our way back from dropping off patients to the CSH (combat support hospital) … it was said that Hussein’s sons had tortured and executed soccer players there for simply not playing well in 2000. (Clarification: this brutality was not just one year – it began as early as 1984 and continued during Hussein’s rule.) Examples like this offer a jarring perspective on the privileges enjoyed by these athletes here in the U.S. If they want to make a change in our society and nation, there are better ways to do it, other than collecting millions… to play a sport.

“I was referring to annoyance at the people (who aren’t veterans) who say exercising this type of protest is disrespectful to veterans, ie: using you as an argument to silence others.”

Ha. I find it amusing that veterans, in this case, are continued to be used as pawns by those who don’t really understand us… and when I say “amusing,” I mean in the “Oh, we’re getting extended to 15 months? Ha.” sense.
Veterans come in all shades, orientations, and other identifiers… so the idea of disrespect, in this sense, is interesting. For me, though, other than being in the category of “pawn of convenience,” it really doesn’t bother me at all.
The “argument to silence others” is an interesting aspect to the conversation… We are getting well beyond the point where there is much that can be discussed with civility. Too much emotion, and not enough logic. Everything is heated, everyone HAS to be “right,” and the moderate voices are becoming stifled by the yelling from either side of the spectrum… yet no one is listening to the other side. THAT is what truly bothers me. The problem with that is that we are going from our understanding of the statements and stopping there. Not many people will take the time to actually learn the other side of the argument and truly understand it.

I think that part of it may be that we are becoming emotionally calloused – so many headlines, but every little we can do about everything. Either that, or we have gotten to the point where we feel that we need to provide commentary on every…single… thing wrong in the world. My commentary on this whole issue even falls into that category, somewhat… but from a slightly different perspective (hopefully).
There was a thought that came to mind yesterday as I was making corned beef and cabbage:  sometimes the loudest statement is the one not spoken. I sit here and read a lot of what people post, and I find it interesting at times, frustrating more often than not, and occasionally even inspiring what people choose to post. For the most part, I sit here and think as much as I read… and when I have a coherent opinion about something, I may or may not post a blog about my thoughts. Am I doing something to make the world better by doing so? Not directly… that is reserved for the relationships I can influence through their influence upon me. Small steps, I guess.

Which brings us to today and the initial quote.

Chad Prather brought up an interesting point in his video:

“If you want to solve any of the problems that are out there – and yes there are problems – it’s necessary we define them correctly and I don’t think we’re doing that.”

People have been talking, but a lot of what has been said is not how we fix this or where we go from there. As another friend put it: “OK, so now that you have everyone’s attention, what are you going to do with it?”

Instead, what I have witnessed can be best described as “divide and conquer” on so many levels… to include Democrat against Democrat… Republican against Republican… Veteran against Veteran…Divide, divide, and divide again. Point and counterpoint. People who were not on one side or the other of this argument being nudged even closer to identifying with that which they had detested and avoided. Why now? Why is this suddenly a national crisis when events from the past would logically necessitate outrage? Who benefits?

Emotion versus logic.

That’s the angle being played.

You can free the world, you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby’s safe from harm tonight.

This is what bugs me about this whole controversy – we are looking for an external source of salvation. We are forgetting not only the reason for the controversy, but the solution that we can help provide to de-escalate the larger problem. Rather than protest the protesters or continue to feed into the tension which is hanging in the air, we can make the decision to improve our immediate areas. Listen without judgement. Act in suspension of bias. Communicate without accusation… and think without a preformatted script. Blind faith in a solution without understanding what unintended consequences which may follow has been the precursor to many historic “bad decisions.”

Yes, civil movements have started out of protest, but the conflict and desired outcome was much clearer than it presently is. Until then, the divide will keep getting wider and we will continue to become more polarized… looking back to see if they were looking back…