08-22-2017, 07:24 PM
I've been pretty fascinated by people's reaction to this more than anything. It's just my personal belief, but I feel like we spend too much time worrying about respecting "the flag" and not enough time respecting the actual land, air, water, and people that make up this country. You never see someone tell a guy who just threw his Bic Mac wrapper or a cigarette butt on the ground to pick it up because veterans fought for this country and that's disrespectful. Did people fight for this country or fight for the flag? Is that why it's a slap in the face to veterans if you burn the flag but no one worries about the veterans' feelings when we poison the water or air? I know, hippie stuff. Save the earth and all that crap.
I also find the social barriers that accompany the anthem to be interesting. I worked at a stadium and you could hear the anthem inside and out when it was played. People in the stands were expected to remove their hats, stand, and shut up. People outside or in the concourse who could still hear the anthem kept walking and talking and drinking and kept their hats on, etc. I assume there is a rule that you aren't expected to observe the anthem if you can't see the flag at the time? It just seemed odd. Additionally, in some of the pics of the protesters you see photographers walking around and taking pictures and doing their jobs. Is that ok because they're doing something? What are the actual rules here?
It also seemed to be in poor taste to me, or at least annoyingly pandering when JJ Watt runs around with the flag throwing up citizen salutes like he's a GI Joe come to life...but people seem to eat that stuff up.
Anyways, more teams and more players and more races of players are supporting this sort of protest so you'd better brace yourselves in case someone on the Bengals joins ranks. The Steelers have a legit veteran on their team, so they'd probably be the last team to do it. Great, we can all just jump on that bandwagon lest we make the troops mad. Eep.
I also find the social barriers that accompany the anthem to be interesting. I worked at a stadium and you could hear the anthem inside and out when it was played. People in the stands were expected to remove their hats, stand, and shut up. People outside or in the concourse who could still hear the anthem kept walking and talking and drinking and kept their hats on, etc. I assume there is a rule that you aren't expected to observe the anthem if you can't see the flag at the time? It just seemed odd. Additionally, in some of the pics of the protesters you see photographers walking around and taking pictures and doing their jobs. Is that ok because they're doing something? What are the actual rules here?
It also seemed to be in poor taste to me, or at least annoyingly pandering when JJ Watt runs around with the flag throwing up citizen salutes like he's a GI Joe come to life...but people seem to eat that stuff up.
Anyways, more teams and more players and more races of players are supporting this sort of protest so you'd better brace yourselves in case someone on the Bengals joins ranks. The Steelers have a legit veteran on their team, so they'd probably be the last team to do it. Great, we can all just jump on that bandwagon lest we make the troops mad. Eep.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
