Kneeling during the national anthem and claims of disrespect

[samhain]

I think the kneeling controversy hit at a rough time for the country, politically speaking. Not many people want to hear grievances from either side. They are mostly interested in how it affects their "team" politically and what they can get out of it in terms of narratives. Liberals are communists and terrorsists to the far right. Conservatives are facists and Nazis to the left. There's zero common sense applied. If people like Kaepernick and BLM have a genuine discussion that they want to engage in, then why not do so without automatic disdain and assumptions of alterior motives/ignorance? Why automatically react?

The same attitude should be directed toward those who take offense to the act of kneeling. Don't just call them racist or MAGA types without hearing them out. I know for a fact that plenty of people that are in no way racist have a real problem with the kneeling, and it's not about any kind of disdain for black people that want to have a discussion about brutality. It's about how they feel about relatives/loved ones that made sacrifices.

We are at a very dangerous crossroads in this country. We're all very quick to dismiss anything that doesn't automatically line up with our own vision for what we think this country is about. That's a path to violence and ruin. I'm admittedly guilty of it myself at times. People are free to speak their minds however they like, but it would be of immense benefit for everyone to choose words more carefully given the situation.