Miami Dolphins owner FORCES players to stand on the field during national anthem !

I support your right and everyone else's right to not watch. But no, I'm not on your side on the issue. I have made a decision, as have my husband and our families and friends, some of whom are season ticket holders, to continue to watch. That's what makes America a great place.

 

Even if you push a Dog too far ... they will Bite Back.

 

You are on my side that it's my right not to watch the NFL based on their behavior. We are in full agreement.

 

Your rights were never in doubt, Sawyer. Did I or anyone else make an argument that you have no right to not watch NFL games? You have the right to not watch whatever you want. Nobody in this country to my knowledge was ever forced to watch something on television, or was forced to attend a sporting event against his will. Did this just occur to you?

 

You make up assumptions about me because they suit your point, rather than just ask me where I stand. I was just on the thread a few days ago about the boys in Texas being kicked off the team for kneeling, defending the school's right to do so, and reminding certain members that its not illegal for students to pray in public school and shouldn't be.

As usual, you always think you know what you're talking about, but you actually don't. Yeah, I'm going to force my students to sit while I stand every morning .

 

Then what's to debate on this subject? Why thread after thread on it. Nobody has started a thread demanding everyone boycott the NFL but there is a plethora of threads demeaning those of us who have decided not to watch football because of the knee taking.

 

I don't know. It's the Trump supporters who keep starting the threads on the issue. You need to ask them.

 

I asked you earlier and you declined to answer. Now you do, thank you.

 

I thought they did it for the million dollar contracts. In your eye they're like firemen or soldiers.

 

What did you ask me earlier? None of your posts to me on this thread contain a question. You simply told me what you believe I'd do or how I'd behave. Where's this question? Did I miss a PM? Was it from another thread?

 

I expressed my opinion based on your previous post and it was yours to confirm or deny. You did neither until a later post and I said thank you.,

 

So where was no question asked of me. Got it.

 

And where is your factual, unbiased proof of this?

Or do you often go around telling people - whom you have never met - what they think about things they have never commented on?

 

I'll concede it could have been better asked,my error.

 

How so, it's a private business. What do you think an Airline would do if the cabin crew started wearing BLM buttons or started making political statements during the flight?

They are ENTERTAINERS being paid by the boss to represent the TEAM and the LEAGUE. If they refuse to comply and don't want to represent the TEAM and the LEAGUE then they can quit and go be community organizers.

 

They are perfectly free to "stand up for the rights of people", although none have been able to state clearly what that means or how it would manifest itself, on their OWN time JUST like me an my employer. When they are on the field they are paid entertainers and their boss tells them how to behave and what they will do with the anthem is played and the flag displayed. If they don't like they can quit.

 

No real arguments I can make except that, to me, the reasoning behind the action is irrelevant.

 

Well it might get them some sympathy if they could explain exactly what it is they are protesting instead of tired old cliches'. But seems the NFL had doing a reverse course and is going to put a stop to it now.

 

Former ESPN Commentator: I Was Told Not to “Like” Conservative Tweets

 

On all of this, we agree. So long as this issue remains a matter of an entertainment business making a calculation based on what its fans want, all’s well and good.

However, the fact that Trump reignited this controversy out of the blue after it had all but blown over with whats-his-name getting fired, and the sheer animosity and militancy demonstrated even here on this very thread points to something more than just business as usual.

Fascism is born of and thrives on this feeling of national grievance, the kind that Trump and his fanatical supporters love. According to Trump, merely kneeling in patriotic protest during our anthem is somehow equivalent to disrespecting a flag that is based on the principle of freedom of expression. According to Trump, every problem we have is a horror and can be blamed squarely on others. NAFTA is ‘the worst trade deal signed maybe anywhere ever, but certainly in this country.’ The Iran Nuclear Deal is “disastrous.” NATO is “obsolete.” The TPP is “a rape of our country.” And who’s to blame? The ever-evil Obama. The Chinese. The Democrats. The Mexicans. Liberals. The Muslims. And what are folks on the right doing? The elites avoid and spin. Trump supporters hang on his every word because it feeds into their rage, and then they turn around and suggest that thoughtless compliance is a patriotic American value. Moderate Republicans and reluctant Trump voters shrug and dismiss – in fact people all over the spectrum are doing more and more of that as the weeks pass!

Both Hitler and Mussolini were initially legitimately elected by their citizens, and neither of them immediately declared themselves the dictators they became or made any immediate moves on the private sector. Rather, they used rhetoric to inflame social unrest, to blame their many national grievances on scapegoats ranging from liberals and leftists to Jews and Catholics. They got people thinking that only a strong leader could save their countries. It was and is with most authoritarian regimes, a bit-by-bit backslide into tyranny.

Now don’t get me wrong – if and when America does backslide into tyranny, it probably won’t look like Mussolini’s Italy or Hitler’s Germany. Trump won’t ever declare himself Grand Poobah of the New United Republic of America, or anything so obviously traitorous. If you want to get technical, we’ll probably end up as a more modern autocratic kleptocracy, where a strongman at the top keeps the general public distracted, cynical, and leaderless while he shamelessly abuses a capitalist system for the profit of himself and his chosen cronies.

We’ll still have our smartphones and cars, we’ll still have the Star Spangled Banner, we’ll still have [crony] capitalism, and we’ll still have a veneer of democracy. But our unpopular-yet-somehow-keeps-getting-elected POTUS will rule us until the day he dies, by stoking his supporters’ sense of nationalistic entitlement and nurturing our own cynicism, disunity, and sense of helplessness.

In short, fascism doesn’t come out of the blue. Fascism and fascist-adjacent tyrannies don’t begin when some secretly-tyrannical leader springs it on a wholly hostile population – the leader starts by saying outrageous things here and there, and when his supporters agree and start shouting even more outrageous and hateful things as we see happening, then he knows that democracy is ripe for a fascist backslide.

Perfect example. It’s a war, and if you’re not with us you’re against us! Not only that, but the implication that you fellow American have no purpose. This is the kind of militant attitude that tyrants use to oppress their own people.

 

They are for the most part Democrats, supposedly demonstrating against police tactics in cities run by Democrats.

 

The owners can't force anyone to be a patriot (most of these players probably never will be) but the owner can force the players to show respect to the flag, anthem and people in the stands. The owners also can't force a player to hit another player as hard as he possibly can, but for a few bucks the players will do it.

 

Because as my dad used to say, there's a time and place for everything. A football field during the national anthem being played is not the time or place.

 

OMG, did I really just read that? Excuse me while I upchuck.