How do you feel about the booing of the protest at the Chiefs/Texans game?

This just shows that the rigth wing outrage against kneeling in protest during the anthem, was never about the anthem. It was about the kneeling.

“No Form of Protest against Racism is acceptable to Racists.”

سعيد تسعة أحد عشر

I understand the negative response to the anti USA protests.

I use to enjoy the spectacle of professional football even though I strongly suspected that it was rigged.

I don’t watch anymore. I don’t need to watch rich black professional athletes rubbing my nose in their propaganda.

@gondwanalon
You just want to enjoy your gladiator fights, while Nero burns down Rome.

@ragingloli ANTIFA, BLM are the problem. They are the cop haters, the USA haters, the looters, and rioters that are burning, killing and destroying. Why? Not for racial justice. Not to help people of color. Not for some nebulous concept of systemic/institutional racism. They are all about destroying capitalism and bringing about absolute socialism. People who say they believe otherwise are either liars or people who believe the lies. Sadly so many people are cowards afraid of the truth.

It was considered a major step to have black athletes playing alongside white athletes, even if there are a few like @gondwanalon who don’t care to see them. The white fans are okay with being entertained by black players, but they are making it clear that they don’t have much interest in those who are not able to get paid high salaries for their athletic prowess. Things change slowly, but the move by NASCAR to ban the display of confederate flags is an indication that things are nevertheless changing.

I think it was a bad choice to stay in the locker room for the anthem, but I am completely against the booing. I am especially against booing the teams during a moment of silence while they linked arms.

It’s just what I said on another Q, White Nationalists and their sympathizers don’t want to give minorities a way to peacefully protest, to be heard. This does not disrupt the game, it’s safer than the protesting on the streets that are being invaded at times by rioters and looters. The instigators of the messaging against kneeling I truly believe was WS or very smart foreign agents creating havoc in the US, and it is in other countries too. They manipulate the masses.

Q and trolls in social media have turned anyone supporting BLM and awareness for equality into supposed anti-American Marxists, which is total bullshit. Very clever though. Really sickens me.

Just tell me, what should Black people do to be heard? How should they protest for equality and justice?

Meh, it was a misunderstanding. Many friends who were there said it was all about Houston staying in the locker room. Bad timing.
Anyone is free to believe what they want but rednecks couldnt afford those prices, trust me.

I totally get both sides of the issue. I understand what the people of color are carping about but enough is enough already! I shouldn’t have to have my nose rubbed in it every time I turn around.

@gondwanalon “I don’t need to watch rich black professional athletes rubbing my nose in their propaganda.”

What about rich white professional athletes? Is that acceptable to you?

#CancelCulture

@gondwanalon: “I don’t watch anymore. I don’t need to watch rich black professional athletes rubbing my nose in their propaganda.”

Hoods off.

#CancelCulture

I can’t tell which players are black and who isn’t black anymore. There are some very light skinned “black” people. Most of the players definitely have dark skin. I just called them all black.

But to be clear, I don’t like anyone (skin color isn’t important to me) trying to feed me their political agenda or propaganda (liberal or conservative propaganda).

@hmmmmmm So now you are implying that I’m part of the KKK. That’s not nice. Why don’t you be kind? Why do you feel the need to attack me personally? Good health to you.

Sports fans aren’t known for their critical thinking and empathy. Some see athletes as “the entertainment” and don’t think of them as human. They’d rather ignore brain damage and concentrate on the money they bet on them with.

@Blackberry Critical thinking. I have to admit I laughed out loud. Thank you for that.

It’s true people don’t like their entertainment to be political. Reba McEntyre has spoken to that saying at her concerts people pay to see her sing not make a political statement. When I heard her say it I agreed with the sentiment.

So, now you have me questioning is a football game different than a concert? No matter what I think no one should be booing or getting fired.

@JLeslie “It’s true people don’t like their entertainment to be political”

What’s funny though, is that most people who say this don’t seem to mind when entertainers get political for conservative causes. I never saw, for example, this kind of outrage when Jeff Suppan was lobbying again stem cell research. I don’t see this kind of outrage from those same folks when Colby Covington goes full on-board the Trump Train.

However, when an entertainer’s politics lean towards the liberal side then it becomes “I don’t want to hear about politics! Shut up and perform for me!”.

Lord, my favorites are those who “really liked Rage Against the Machine until they got political”. When that band has always, from the second they formed, been ultra-political and very leftist. And they’ve been about a subtle as a sledgehammer with their politics over the three decades since they started.

It wasn’t a protest! It was an NFL sanctioned display of UNITY!

Those people booing are un-American and foment divisiveness..

@Darth_Algar I would absolutely agree that hypocrisy is for shit. You’re either ok with it in entertainment or you’re not whether you agree with the politics or not. People can’t have it both ways.

@zenvelo Was not being on the field for the anthem unity?

And honestly, why is the national anthem playing before sporting events in the first place? It’s just odd and out of place.

People don’t like politics mixing with sports and other forms of entertainment. Sports and entertainment are an escape; having woke messages delivered at a sporting event shatters that illusion of a break from reality. That said, I agree with @JLeslie and @Darth_Algar that it’s hypocritical to applaud Trump endorsements at a game but then bitch and moan over what’s happening with the NFL now. I personally would be bothered by any politics at a game.

@JLeslie
It’s not a “rule” that entertainment can’t be political, but I understand it’s an expectation for artists and athletes to perform the expected job they’re there to do. Hank Williams Jr advocated for violence towards Obama at his country music concert, then the Dixie Chicks hated Bush obviously. I attended a hippie music festival, and sure enough they started talking about the dangers of fracking in stage. I had no issue with it. It was a 2 minute speech.

If people want to attend a majority black sports event, then they can deal with it. This is currently about the clear double standard where white males can act like children for being asked to wear a mask, use a seatbelt, or only purchase certain amounts of ammo at a time, while 1 black male knelt during the anthem, and it was seen as unacceptable.

@Demosthenes

Dude, politics has always been enmeshed with entertainment and art. Always. Even Dante Alighieri’s Inferno was largely an attack on his political adversaries.

@Demosthenes: “People don’t like politics mixing with sports and other forms of entertainment. Sports and entertainment are an escape.”

They love politics being mixed with sports (national anthem, air force flyovers, military salutes, etc).

@Demosthenes: “having woke messages delivered at a sporting event shatters that illusion of a break from reality.”

Challenging messages delivered at a sporting event is apparently the problem.

Again, were seeing the breakdown of safe spaces for those who enjoyed safe spaces the size of most of culture.

It’s one thing for a work of art to have a political message, it’s another for performers and athletes to give lectures and flaunt their politics in an event that isn’t supposed to be about politics.

Obviously I agree that a lot of the people complaining are hypocrites who either don’t notice or don’t mind when the political message is something they agree with.

@Demosthenes “It’s one thing for a work of art to have a political message, it’s another for performers and athletes to give lectures and flaunt their politics in an event that isn’t supposed to be about politics.”

Jackie Robinson? Mohammad Ali? Jesse Owens? The 1980 Olympic Games? Any of those ring a bell?

@Blackberry I agree with everything you said. I’ve always defended the kneeling. I still see it as peaceful and does not interrupt what people paid for at all. It literally did not even take an extra 2 minutes of some sort of political statement or speech, it was during the anthem that is played anyway. I don’t feel anyone should be forced to stand for the anthem. I certainly don’t see it as some sort of statement dishonoring our veterans. That is right wing crazy talk to me. I also see the argument to leave politics out of such events. It certainly should not be such a dividing issue among Americans.

If white people had kneeled during the anthem in protest of masks if Hillary was president instead of Trump suddenly kneeling would have been a statement of what our soldiers fought for and an act before God for our country. I’m sure of it. Who is that football player who kneels to pray on the football field? The religious right loved the kneeling then. Everything can be twisted and spun.

The extremes just want to divide us.

The way to stop people kneeling at football games and to stop the protests was to stop and say, “we see now why you were protesting, let’s work together to make it better.” That would have shut it down, but rather people decided to be offended and create more hate and paranoia.

They’re idiots.

I want the 70s back, when a stand for peace and brotherly love was recognized and respected.

I find it interesting, reading the responses here. There is a lot of support for the rights of the players to protest. Yet there seems to be a lot of acrimony about people voicing a disparate opinion. Seems that there is a lot of angst about people not marching along to their tune.

Not sure what you’re trying to say @seawulf575, but whatever it is, it was protected by the Constitution. End of story.

@Jleslie Oh yes I forgot about Tim Tebow. I had no issue with him at all. I think there was an issue with athletes celebrating wins or good plays overall. I wasn’t paying attention much when that was going on.

@seawulf575: “I find it interesting, reading the responses here. There is a lot of support for the rights of the players to protest. Yet there seems to be a lot of acrimony about people voicing a disparate opinion.”

Let me correct this for you…

“I find it interesting, reading the responses here. There is a lot of support for the rights of the players to protest. Yet there seems to be a lot of acrimony about support for the rights of people voicing a disparate opinion.”

Don’t confuse pushback on shitty opinions as a declaration that you can’t have and express those opinions.

I didn’t see any of it either @Blackberry. A friend of Facebook said people booed because of the show of unity (to which I’d say, “WTAF?”) where as another said it was because one of the Chiefs took a knee during the anthem. Either way, both were protected under the constitution.

@seawulf575 Because for the past however many years, the roles were reversed. Harvey Weinstein was only outed after he lost his power, for example. I’m sure a lot of women were told to be quiet and “play the game” because it was easier not to ruffles feathers.

Larry Nassar abused 80+ young gymnasts because the Olympics had a reputation to uphold and they didn’t want people “marching along to their own tune’ and caring about their children.

Multiple cops and women that were also cops were also buried because it’s easier to be transferred to a desk job or leave your job instead of starting a huge scandal because you were harassed by your fellow police officer on the job.

When a white child was recently murdered by a black male, and didn’t receive any news coverage, even though the murderer was arrested and charged the same day, there was un uproar, yet it’s already been well documented the past 20 years that news networks and the amber alert system clearly favored missing white children and particularly blonde white women over missing children of color.

I think this was what people are referring too when they bring up “privilege”. It’s having no idea another world existed outside of yourself, then getting upset when all of a sudden other people start having a voice you weren’t used to hearing, and getting upset about it.

This is where the common phrase “shoving it down our throats” comes from: “they’re shoving the gay agenda down our throats” for example.

To answer your question directly as written, I think the “booing” was just dumb. The kneeling and staying inside did not interfere at all with the game, which is the reason that the fans in the stands were there. The outcome of the game was likely not affected by that. The people in the stands didn’t have to look if they didn’t approve.

What a silly little tantrum to throw about something that doesn’t affect them at all whatsoever.

Ever seen the movie a Time to Kill? It’s very good. The jury has their aha moment when they stop thinking about the little Black girl who was harmed, and changed it to being a little white girl. Suddenly, they are sickened in a different way. Suddenly, the perpetrator who did the attack cannot be ignored and deserves punishment.

You have to put yourself in the place of the minority.

A friend of mine posted this today, it is a real experience that happened to her, it is not one of those “posted by a friend” things being passed around. I edited out some things to shorten it:

A few years ago, Memphis commemorated MLK50 with a stirring series of events, services, and speakers. It felt like a time of hope, understanding, and honoring those who fought so hard for simple, basic equality.

The place where I worked commemorated as well. I felt honored to work in a place where it seemed that the idea that all men and women are equally worthy of respect and opportunity was core to its standards.

The day before the city’s commemoration of the I Am a Man march, about 50 of us were gathered for a meeting. As the meeting was about to start, we were discussing the march the next day and what streets it woud cover. We were invited to watch either outside the building or from one of our balconies as it passed by. The room buzzed a bit as colleagues compared notes on their attendance plans.

Then someone about four tables away decided to make a “joke” about sniper rifles on the balcony.

The entire room went silent.

I watched the friend next to me, my amazing, beautiful, always poised friend with skin the color of cappuccino tinged with caramel – one of only two people in our management team whose skin is brown – struggle to keep her composure, and then finally get up and leave.

I will never forget that not a single person followed to check on her.

I will never forget that the meeting started and went on as though nothing had happened.

I will never forget the face of my boss, whom, when I sought his advice, went stone-faced and told me to go to HR.

I will never forget that I was one of only two people who went to HR. Two people from a room of fifty.

I will never forget that when HR conducted their “investigation,” they could not find any other person in the room who heard what he said – even the people sitting at his table. I was told it was their word against ours since there was no one to corroborate our “story.”

HR had asked me what I thought should happen to him. I said I thought he needed to be spoken to about this in some way to ensure he understands the impact and wrongness of his words, and that I hoped he would not be fired.

You may wonder why people march and carry signs. You may wonder why people are angry.

I see the daily constant reminders of bias and unequal treatment large and small, the blatant examples of brutality and pure hatred inflicted with no provocation on people just trying to live their lives, and can only wonder why so few people march.

March, kneel, fill in the blank.

@Blackberry Yes, that’s his name, Tim Tebow. I wasn’t paying a much attention to it either. I wonder was it the religious right carrying on about it initially? Was there actually any sort of negativity about him praying?

@JLeslie Now imagine growing up around people like that, and you have eastern Oregon lol. I imagine Tennessee is even worse.

People telling you jokes like “What do you call a buncha black people buried in the ground up to their heads? Afro-turf! Gaahahah! No wait I got another one!”

I mastered the art of the fake laugh and smile at a young age. It was very easy to isolate myself and that’s probably why I’m a “gamer” now: I have no real reason to socialize with people because I grew up seeing it as a chore.

They’re telling people now that if you can’t go to college, the trades and industry work is just as great. Well guess what kind of people work in the blue collar industry?

I finished a 8 hour job at a waste water treatment plant, went in to the office to check out and give the rundown of the work I did with my coworker. Tried to socialize a bit and asked the guys in the shop if they were excited to watch the superbowl in a few days.

“As long as they don’t kneel….”, and queue 3 white males staring at me….waiting for a reply…

Being the great faker that I am, fired back “Oh yea definitely I’m ex-Navy man, I don’t agree with that at all. I just wanna see some football.”

And that’s why I stopped talking to most people growing up, it’s legitimately not worth hearing most things that come out of people’s mouths.

@Blackberry Oh wow. At times like that I think it’s up to the white person who doesn’t agree to speak up! I find usually there is a lead bully, and then other people following along. Some of them are just as racist, and some of them are just going along with peer pressure. I guess depending on the situation it can be dangerous.

Horrible that the USA has people like that. Even if they never would hurt a fly, we don’t know that. Terrifying.

@JLeslie In answer to Tim Tebow, it really isn’t the same thing. He took a knee and said a silent prayer on the field before the games. He didn’t do it during the National Anthem, he didn’t do it when it would hold up play, he didn’t do it at coin tosses…he did it alone and in what was to me a perfectly acceptable method. He caught a lot of grief over that. SNL even did a skit where they lampooned him. He also wore, on the little black patches under his eyes, “John 3:16” which the NFL made him change. They claim the rule that players aren’t allowed to wear modify their uniforms or marking themselves to make a personal statement. Interesting side note, they (the NFL) is now going to let players put a decal on their helmets supporting BLM. How times change.

I recall a lot of people making jokes about Tebow (as people will with anyone in the public eye), but not a lot of people saying that he “should shut up and play”.

@seawulf575 I have to agree with @Darth_Algar I don’t think anyone was telling Tim Tebow he can’t pray. Being an SNL skit is not exactly a boycott on football. Is players taking a knee during the anthem slowing down the game? They aren’t delaying the game in any way are they?

@Darth_Algar No, they didn’t say he “should shut up and play”. they just said they didn’t want him to play because of his religious demonstrations. Gee…and Kaepernick sued the NFL for the exact same sort of thing, eh? First Amendment rights? And Tebow’s “demonstrations” were not nearly as divisive as Kaepernick’s.

@JLeslie Actually, taking the knee during the national anthem doesn’t slow down the play of game. But taking a moment for silence to show unity (which is what just happened) did delay the start of the game. But the situations between Tebow and what is going on today is 100% the same. First Amendment rights are being exercised. The difference is that with Tebow, the media and the NFL went after him to make him stop and with Kaepernick, they supported him and vilified anyone that said they didn’t like it.

The NFL is all about making money. It is not political except when it means making more money.

A perfect examples is Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Joes was vehemently opposed to BLM because he figured being opposed would be more in line with his customer base. This summer he realized his customers want him to be supportive of the players, so he has had a change of heart to improve his marketing.

Same with Roger Goodell and NFL management. They see what will provide a better return on investment.

The fans that booed are not welcome by the NFL, it upsets the viewers and disrupts the feel good pregame display.

@Blackberry….I am glad you talk to us.

@gondwanalon

What is the right way then for people to protest police brutality, if you think peaceful protests are so terrible?

The idea that there’s a “right way” to protest doesn’t really make sense. Protests are by their nature disruptive. They’re not going to rent a room at the Radisson and protest behind closed doors, as much as that might please some. We like protests when we agree with the message, we don’t like them when we don’t.

@rockfan The problem with the protests is the total number of police brutality cases…and what exactly is police brutality. I saw some stats that showed that out of 53,000,000+ interactions that police have with the public in a year, they killed unarmed people something like 100 times. And that isn’t to say there wasn’t reason to kill them, it’s just to say they were “unarmed”. The kid in Cleveland that had a toy gun that he took the little orange tip off of so it looked real? Yeah…he was threatening people with it in a park because he thought it was funny to see them terrified. When the cops were called and they showed up, he whipped it out and they shot him. The call they got was that there was a kid with a gun in the park threatening people. They went into the meeting with that in mind. So when he whips out this toy gun that looks real, they reacted as if it were real and shot him dead. So that counts as an “unarmed” person that was killed. That is 47 deaths that could have and should have been avoided. But the responsibility is not all with the police. And of those 47 that were killed, only 18 were black. But let’s make it even more against the cops. Let’s look at the number of excessive force complaints that were sustained since that accounts for people that were “abused” by the cops but didn’t necessarily die. There were 2080 sustained complaints.
That means that they use excessive force only 0.004% of the time. That is a pretty damned good performance if you ask me. So really…what is the protest about? There are bad cops…I get it. But the vast majority are not. And often, the ones that do go to far are punished. The protests really aren’t about police brutality at all. It is about trying to get rid of law and order. It is all about trying to create chaos. What you are asking is what is the right way to create chaos. Want to protest against police brutality? You’d be better off suing the city when they get out of line. What is going on now is destroying the lives of millions of people in an effort to “shine the light” on something that isn’t as bad as the protesters want to make it out to be.

@seawulf575 “No, they didn’t say he “should shut up and play”. they just said they didn’t want him to play because of his religious demonstrations.”

Yeah, pretty much nobody said that.

The people who boo are just exhibiting the same rights, as the players. The right to peaceful protest…

^^^^ It wasn’t a protest! It was an organized NFL Show of Unity!

^Unity, via protest…
The booing was more reactionary than the proactive approach of the players.
But it was a form of protest.

@MrGrimm888 Honestly, I agree with you. Although I think some people received the message loud and clear months ago and are just sick of hearing about it at this point. Not saying that’s right, but I get it.

^Unless you are living under a rock, you already knew that there would be players protesting. If that offended someone SO bad, they shouldn’t have bought tickets….

They cheer for their team, during the game, but don’t support them otherwise…
I don’t get it…..

@MrGrimm888 haha, oh yeah, people are giving each other crap here for supporting the NFL right now, many want an outright ban until it stops. Sigh.

I wonder how, exactly, they propose banning it because of players exercising their Constitutional rights.

@Darth Cancelling NFL, no merch buying, not watching. The goal is to show them they are dependent on fan dollars, I hear.

That’s not a ban though.

@Darth_Algar The NFL could ban the protests if they so chose. The individual teams could ban them if they so chose. Already the players have many restrictions based on league or team rules that could be viewed as “violating their rights”. All jobs have such things. They are the price of admission for holding a specific job. It isn’t “violating their rights” it’s meeting the standards of the job.

@seawulf575

No, they have the right to do it. When or not they face consequences from their employer is another matter. And that matter is a moot point anyway, as their employer allows it.

Don’t forget that the NFL, has a union. That gives all the players power.
The NFL typically generates around $13 billion dollars, tax free…
They will obviously make less money, because of the pandemic, but they don’t want a strike…

@Darth Social ban? Its taken in a lot of people here. I got a little blowback from watching my Chiefs from a few FB friends.