In the Age of Jingoism

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The refusal by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to stand for the Star Spangled Banner and the resulting scandal has got me thinking.
It occurred to me that racism is actually the least interesting, important and controversial part of this scandal.

That's not to say that racism isn't a significant part of it. Kaepernick couldn't have thought of a better song to protest during. Consider the largely ignored third stanza of the song.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Me an da boyz are gonna hunt down and kill us sum runaway slaves when this all's dun! Yeehaw!

Let's not get hung up on that point. Too many people are missing the Big Picture of just how ridiculous this whole thing is.

It's a random sporting event! Who gives a flying f*ck if you stand up for it or not?
Do you really think people sacrificed their lives in wars to make sure that people stood during the playing of the national anthem at pre-season football games?
Was that their dying wishes?

And if so, why not stand at high-school football games? What about people watching the games at home on TV? What about when you hear the national anthem in the grocery store? At work? While having sex?
What if you slouch, or kneel, or hop on one leg, or stand on your tippy-toes, while watching the game on TV at home, while having sex?

What if you leave your hat on? What if your hat has an American flag on it? What if your hat is made out of an American flag?
What if your hat that is made out of an American flag was made in China? What if you put that hat on backwards? Or sideways? Or set it on fire?

As George Carlin explained about swearing on the bible, it's all just a bunch of stupid shit that someone made up.

Yet, this isn't even the most ridiculous part of the scandal. That part is reserved for the outrageous hypocrisy of those spouting the loudest about being outraged.
Those are the ones who think American flag t-shirts are patriotic.
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The assumption here is that standing during the playing of the national anthem at pre-season football games equals patriotism, which in turn equals love and respect of the men in uniform.

Now here's a thought: Would veterans be more honored by this standing gesture? Or by fixing the VA?

Would veterans be more honored by your flag lapel-pin? Or by doing something about 40,000 homeless veterans on any given night?

Would veterans be more honored by the Blue Angels fly-over at the Super Bowl? Or doing something to stop the creation of thousands of war dead, maimed and disfigured veterans, and 20 veterans per day committing suicide from untreated PTSD.
Which shows more love and concern?

Speaking of concern for our men and women in uniform, it's sort of a requirement to by modestly interested in their state of well-being to be able to claim that concern. To reflect this, it is necessary to take the time to know if the nation is at war, and with whom.
Yet, judging by polls, not even one in ten of these sporting-event super-patriots can name all the nations we are at war with. A majority of them can't even name two of the seven nations we are at war with.
In fact, more Democrats would have guessed that we were bombing Agrabah – the fictional nation portrayed in the Disney movie Aladdin - than Yemen, correctly.

This sort of collective delusion, of violently pretending to care about men and women in uniform, while not actually caring in the slightest, can only be maintained as long as a child doesn't point out the lack of clothes on the Emperor.

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Cassiodorus's picture

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

lotlizard's picture

and assorted covert operatives in 160 or 170 countries, I’ve heard.

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the USA has a military presence in almost all of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Why are the USA & South Korea engaging in war games in the ocean near mainland China?

Why did Biden tell Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania that a Russian attack, loosely defined, on any of these small countries would be countered by all out war by the USA on Russia?

Start by cutting the military in half, allow retraining benefits for the laid off personnel; cancel all contracts with the mercenaries we employ.

(The USA is reported to have 16 intelligence agencies - 16)

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

to use Indian military bases for refueling, repair and for storing military hardware. India seems to have allowed itself to become a "frontline state" in the American plan to encircle and isolate China and prepare for war with China.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

musicalhair's picture

since our capitalist class insisted on forcing exploitative trade deals down our throats, forcing us to abandon policies that tied trade to human rights, which only empowered China's feudalism that hides behind the label of communism. We used to have a kind of active free Tibet movement. Now we have a typically schizophrenic set of policies which both enriches and demonizes them, and we can thank the Democrats for that as they just capitulated to the capitalists for cash.

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more or less assume that we are at war with somebody or other, all of the time. Unfortunately they happen to be correct, and even more unfortunately, they have no problem with this. There's even a certain vicarious thrill they get from it. War and uber-patriotism go hand in hand, you can't have the one without the other, and both are meant to be encouraged by TPTB.

Kaepernick was protesting racism, but the people who were most upset were not the racists, but the uber-patriotic flag-worshipers. The my-country-can-do-no-wrong, militarist crowd. Of course there is probably quite a bit of overlap there, but it isn't racism that motivates all the flak Kaepernick is getting - it's ultra-nationalism.

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native

Pricknick's picture

will we call them unpatriotic?
If so, Nascar is in deep shit.
I live near one of their major staging events. Good ole michigan international speedway (MIS).
I hate the place and most of the people who associate with it. You'd likely be in trouble if you didn't stand and solute the flyover of taxpayer funded military jets just before the start of the gas guzzling, alcohol induced free expression of all things stupid. Nobody can hear an anthem. Nobody cares.
Freedumb.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Meteor Man's picture

During the Clinton Impeachment Fox News was all over how strongly Nascar Dads felt about Slick Willy disgracing the Office of The President by getting a sexual favor from Monica Lewinsky.

Let me assure you, the only complaint Nascar Dads had about the Lewinsky Affair was how low Slick Willy stooped from the good old days of JFK.

I mean really! From Marilyn Monroe to Monica Lewinsky? That is a national embarassment of untold magnitude.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

lotlizard's picture

Everybody must, fall in line. “Two more terms! Two more terms!”

What Clintons want, Clintons get.

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Yeah, used to live in Brooklyn, MI on Clark Lake. Saw one of those race car events. Camped on the infield. Couldn't get out after the race started. The noise and air pollution was horrific. Cured me. Insane!

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gulfgal98's picture

because I have been a race fan for a long time and used to regularly attend the spring race at the most red neck of all tracks, Talladega. Race week at Talladega is like visiting a third world country if you venture near the free camping areas. And yes, the infields and the cheap lower level seats tend to be where you will find the worst of what most people consider the stereotypical NASCAR fans, but I can assure you that not all NASCAR fans are toothless backward rednecks, nor are they all white either. One of the most liberal people I ever met on line was through a racing board. I have attended races at eight different tracks in the east from the deep South all the way north to New England and from what I have seen, the fans at the tracks tend to reflect the populations of the region in my experience.

The overt patriotic displays at the tracks are simply another way for the US military to make its presence before a large captive audience. The governing body does promote them, just as the NFL, college football and most other sporting events. It is something that has always made me very uncomfortable.

For the record, I try to keep my politics separate from my occasional guilty pleasure of watching races as well as my interest in other sporting events. I would hope that people here do not judge me personally as a stereotype. Stereotyping is bad, no matter who we are doing it to.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Car racing is fun, and it really has little to do with politics. When I was a kid in the fifties my favorite place was a little quarter-mile track in Detroit called the Motor City Speedway. A mostly local affair and not expensive or exclusive, plenty of drama and noise and excitement. A friendly working-class haven open to everyone. Of course back then there actually was a prosperous working class. Might be different now.

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native

Kap took a risk to stand for something he thinks is important. That makes him a hero.

Or as Les Claypool would say:

To defy the laws of tradition.
It's a crusade only of the brave.

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Peace out, tmp.

thanatokephaloides's picture

To defy the laws of tradition.
It's a crusade only of the brave.

As you've been told many times before
Messiahs pointed to the door
No one had the guts to leave the temple!

-- The Who, "I'm Free" from Tommy

[video:https://youtu.be/uRD_gIoVOmY width:560 height:315]

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Big Al's picture

We live with a lot of that don't we. A lot of stupid shit someone made up and most of us don't have the fucking courage to question it. Reminds me of suits and ties, one of my pet peeves. A piece of cloth hung around the neck. Someone made up that shit and now everyone wears it like it makes them more important or something. Lemmings. Check out the lemmingness of our so called leaders, they do the same lemming things all us lemmings do. They think they're special but they're really just lemmings like the rest of us.

But, to me the primary point and what isn't coming to the surface is the fact that our military are nothing but suckers fighting for the rich and powerful, the corporations and banksters and not for our freedom, democracy and all that. That's made up shit to the maximus. This is a time that can be challenged, has to be challenged. Hell, we're approaching fifteen fucking years of war! Bullshit war. And people are out there all up in arms about Kaepernick because they feel he's disrespected the military, those who fought and died. That's really the main point, that the flag represents freedom and therefore the military who fight and die for our freedom. And of course, that's just made up shit.

It's time to get blunt.

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Meteor Man's picture

Stick to the black parts of the page Meteor Man. If someone starts quoting from the between thrr lines of The Big Book, ask them what page they are talking about.

The Big Book and The Bigger Big Book ate both more coherent if you stick to the black parts of the page.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

and powerful" - same could be said about pro athletes too. I just saw that movie Concussion last Saturday night, and while I'm not a huge football fan, sometimes I do watch the Seahawks. But that movie makes me stop and really think about just what we ask of those athletes too, and how we all act shocked when one of them dares to speak out about anything. We want them to be superhuman, but act indignant when one uses steroids. And while those athletes make a lot of money, obscene amounts of money when compared to many other professions (don't even let me start on paying teachers shit but paying a guy to play a kids game millions), compared to what the NFL and advertisers, etc. make OFF OF THEM, it really makes it hard to condemn the athlete for trying to get whatever he can, while he still can. They don't have long careers and they do take their life in their hands every time they get out there.

And what fan wants to confront that ugly little truth during game day? Far easier to bitch about an athlete doing more than just playing than to really think about just what you are supporting by watching that game.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

thanatokephaloides's picture

Yet, judging by polls, not even one in ten of these sporting-event super-patriots can name all the nations we are at war with. A majority of them can't even name two of the seven nations we are at war with.

We are at war with ZERO nations. For us to be at war with a nation, Congress (and only Congress) must issue a declaration of war (and it must be called exactly that and nothing else) against that nation. (See: Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 8.) The last time we were legally, morally, or ethically at war with any other nation was World War II. That's right, we were technically at complete peace during Korea and Vietnam, too; Jane Fonda got herself into a bit of trouble reminding Americans that because of that, our captured military personnel did not enjoy the protections of the Geneva Accords with respect to the rights of prisoners of war.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Pricknick's picture

so many forget the past is not only a fucking shame, it's criminal.
Always remember:
“We need to look forward”.

What I — I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is that he’s the people’s lawyer. Eric Holder’s been nominated. His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people. Not be swayed by my day-to-day politics. So ultimately, he’s going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past.

Barack Obama
http://www.salon.com/2009/01/12/obama_prosecutor/

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

lotlizard's picture

Sad.

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Meteor Man's picture

Yeah. You heard me right.

Violations of those "quaint" Geneva Conventions are now Standard Operating Procedures (hereinafter SOP).

If you ain't breaking bones you ain't doin' the job right! Step aside son. Let me show ya how we did it at Pelican Bay.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

ggersh's picture

I knew we were fucked as it was time to BOHICA (bend over here it comes again)

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Steven D's picture

or Korea or Panama or Grenada or Lebanon or ...

Define what war means these days. A declaration of war by Congress hasn't been in vogue for most of our history, and yet we employed our military to fight what by any rational definition were wars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

PriceRip's picture

          People look at me as though there is something wrong with me , and I just return their stares. To be fair I don't go to sporting events, so I suppose the lack of cameras pointing in my direction accounts for my relative anonymity. But, who really cares? This all seems very silly to me.

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Way back in the fifties, the school made all us innocent little kids place our hands over our hearts and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, every day. I was only five years old, but I wasn't buying it. I used to quietly recite gibberish so as not to stand out: "I plah ja hooly bumbloo jum flob..." and so on. Luckily, no one ever noticed. I was such a clever little coward back then! Still am, in many ways.

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native

PriceRip's picture

          So I can not pinpoint when I started my anti-(secular religion) thing. There are big chunks missing interspersed with some incredibly clear episodes. There are yet others that are accessible and manageable if approached under controlled conditions. Such is the nature of trauma.
          I remember the 50s as a time to be terrified that I would be discovered and get locked away, think "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", with no hope of extricating myself. I was lucky, by the fifth grade (second time through on that one) I found my "center" (alluding to "eastern" disciples) and started to gain control of my life. I was able to have some positive effects during my high school days before I was able to escape and become truly independent. My life only really started after that time.
          Through it all I was able to make some deserving individuals quite uncomfortable with their self-imposed provincialism, jingoism, et cetera.

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The fifties were a hard row to hoe for many an independent soul. A trip down memory can be fraught with potholes and chasms of despair.

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native

Interesting, long, interview with a man from rural WI, slow starter academically, farms, military, computers, law school, JAG, out of military, back and a JAG at Guantanamo, and starting a Ph. D in political science at age 65.

My hunch is that we will hear more about him in the years to come. The interview is published in Mondoweiss which I take to be a Jewish, anti Zionist, pro Palestinian publication.

I met Guantanamo defense lawyer Todd Pierce last year in New York, and over lunch he offered a fully-formed critique of American foreign policy since 9/11:

“Everything that we have done since 9/11 is wrong. We are embarking on a totalitarian foreign policy that is a hallmark of how Hannah Arendt defines fascism… The false claims about radical Islam show how little we understand about ourselves or the Middle East.”

The marvel was that the critique came not from a leftwing urban blogger, but a retired Army major who had grown up in rural Minnesota and worked for years in farming and construction before becoming a computer technician for the army and later a military lawyer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, ultimately serving as a defense lawyer for two Guanatanamo detainees. Pierce is a truly independent intellectual, and next month he will fulfill a lifelong dream when he enters the New School as a graduate student in political science at age 65; but his views of American foreign policy are as thought-through as anybody’s and have gained him the respect of internationalists such as Daniel Ellsberg, Roger Waters, the late Michael Ratner, and Peter Weiss.

Last fall, I told Pierce that we needed to do an in-depth interview because his ideas are ones American leaders must engage if we are ever to act with fairness in the Middle East.

‘Everything that we have done since 9/11 is wrong’ — the worldview of Major Todd Pierce (Retired)

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Not standing is about the mildest political protest there is. I've seen Vietnam vets remained seated while the anthem was played at Fourth of July concerts. We keep talking about people dying for our freedoms, but heaven forbid someone actually tries to exercise their First Amendment rights in a way someone doesn't like.

Oh and no one is dying for your freedoms. Troops die because government sent them into harm's way, and not necessarily well-equipped, probably for no good reason, unless they died in World War II.

We want to treat a piece of cloth and a song about a piece of cloth that is nearly impossible to sing well as though they are holy objects. At the same time, we'll send human beings into a stupid, immoral war or deny human beings subsistence level sustenance without blinking. Aren't legislators who vote against veterans' benefits a tad more reprehensible that a guy who remains seated during a song about a flag?

Your flag is neither sacred nor irreplaceable, but your fellow human is. Let's start with make sure as many of our fellow Americans as possible stay alive and well. Once we've got that under control, we can worry about songs about flags.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

and no one noticed, because no one heard about it. The media, then as now, stooged for the government and swept any awkward or inconvenient news under the rug - telling the populace about it much later if at all, and only in the form of public apologies from people who thought the First Amendment had been worth defending. Look up "Committee for the First Amendment" - you may still be able to find some information, if it hasn't been "sanitized".

We have, for all intents and purposes, been operating on a few remaining shreds of the First Amendment ("freedom of religion" being the largest remaining shred), but gradually even those too have been and are being swept away.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

attacks on the National Lawyers Guild.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

At least Fred Fisher's membership in it occasioned the speech.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html

I wrote a post about this here regarding Welch giving background for this during a documentary I saw. The search feature rarely helps me and I am too lazy to try to recreate the post. Bottom line: McCarthy and Welch had a deal regarding mentioning things about Fisher and Cohn. This was McCarthy breaking the deal. Welch never broke his end of the bargain anyway.

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hecate's picture

when the Supreme Court decided Schenck v. US. It was 1919. That's when the high court determined it was "a clear and present danger," akin to "falsely shouting fire in a theater," to distribute leaflets urging Americans not to submit to the WWI-era draft. This wasn't swept under any rug. Everyone knew about it. Including the thousands of people in the jails for such "offenses." Such as Eugene Debs. Serving ten years in prison, for violating the Espionage Act, in giving an anti-war speech in June of 1918. He ran for president from in there. Received nearly a million votes.

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Scott and a case deciding states had a right to prevent women from practicing law. However, Dred Scott and the lawyer case did not mark the death of equal rights for black people or women. Similarly, the First Amendment did not become a dead letter in either 1919 or 1947.

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During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. 'I have to tell you,' said their spokesman, 'that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don't have that. What's the secret? How do you do it?'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pilger

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The difference, IMO: Russian people knew their media were trying to propagandize them in favor of the establishment, so they withstood the attempts.

Most Americans don't get that. They may assume that media is leaning right or leaning left or that it entirely objective. No matter which of those three they believe, they don't get the pro-establishment propagandizing, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are nominally in control of the establishment at the moment. When Bush was in office, Democrats tore their hair out over pro-Bush coverage, most notably the media collusion in the run up to the Iraq War, the Plame case, etc. As Obama is in office, the right is tearing out its hair over a perceived pro left bias. Meanwhile, the distinctions between right and left become fewer and fewer.

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From what people told me from that area including relatives in the Soviet Union, nobody believed press for the most part. In fact, writers developed an alternative language and symbology to write the truth through indirection.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don't have that. What's the secret? How do you do it?'

[video:https://youtu.be/-0kcet4aPpQ width:560 height:315]

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

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down after 1950, including holding flag burning is free speech and including this very controversial First Amendment decision. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Party_of_America_v._Vil...

I can't say the First Amendment ended in 1947 because the country went through a period of Red Menace insanity fueled by Hoover and his mouthpiece, McCarthy.

Loyalty oath requirements for jobs were struck down as unconstitutional after 1947. I believe that "Freedom of association was "found" in the First Amendment after 1947. Not only was the Warren Court liberal on the First Amendment, but so was the Burger Court.

The Patriot Act, the NSA, Homeland Security and other post-911 matter, however, are extremely troublesome with respect to a number of provisions of the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment.

However, my post was not so much about the law, but about the intolerance of many Americans to protest with which they do not agree while they simultaneously cite troops dying for the flag or our freedoms or some other romanticized reasons.

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lotlizard's picture

to ensure that #IraqLivesMatter.

Every time PoC (people of color) in the U.S. fail to stand up for PoC in places the U.S. targets, we may not realize it at the time, but we’re digging our own grave.

At least that’s what the dirty old Asian Pacific Islander hippie lady thinks.

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Vietnam War.

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orlbucfan's picture

The Star Spangled Banner is a martial song praising war. It's a bad joke as our national anthem. I have no respect for it, and don't salute it at football games. I also sit when it's played. Colin K. is also mixed race: black/white. This Land Is Your Land would be a more appropriate tune. There are a lot of us Americans sick and tired of corporate war games. We're also a peaceful lot. REC'D!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Damnit Janet's picture

I'm leaving my seat and heading for the concourse during the "Hometown Hero" bs they have. They trot out a vet or a "cop" and make us all whooot and clap. It's stupid. It's so jingoistic.

Now onto Kapernick.... I don't do football so is this the football player who abused drugs, beat up their girlfriend, murdered their pregnant girlfriend, accused of rape or just a dog kiler? sarcasm: my daughter.

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"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

One of my favorite players of all time

It never fails. A professional athlete does something that goes against the views and sensibilities of a portion of the population and the media call on current and has-been professional athletes to gather their perspectives.

I, one of those has-beens, received such a call and have chosen to offer an opinion as an athlete who has in the past done and said things that have gone against the views and sensibilities of a portion of the population.

In 1995, on a hot summer day in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of professional football, I was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On live national television, I broke two cardinal rules that day for acceptable acceptance speeches, time and subject matter.

UTI0168520_t837.jpg

The allotted time was seven minutes. My speech went on for 21 minutes. Most of that time, I spoke on the need for African-American athletes to speak out on social issues and the lack of opportunity for people of color in sports, away from the field of play.

Of course, the outrage followed. “Not the right place or the right time.” “Disrespectful.” Letters were written. Talk show hosts had new material, and the then-speaker of the House, Newt “Contract with America” Gingrich, who attended the ceremony, said, and I paraphrase, “it was hard listening to a liberal for that long.”

Which brings me to the current outrage over Colin Kaepernick sitting during the presentation of the colors and the playing of the national anthem. As a professional athlete in the prime of his career, Colin decided to express his concern for society by breaking a cardinal rule or custom of professional football. He sat during the playing of the national anthem.

Critics have called Colin’s nonparticipation during the performance of the national anthem “un-American.” That I cannot do. Colin Kaepernick’s protest is authentically American.

To express our views is a basic fundamental right of any citizen of this country and plays an integral role in our pursuit of the American dream. Colin joins a long list of groups and individuals, too numerous to mention, who have been moved by injustice to protest in some form of action.

As an American, I respect and support Colin’s right to protest and express himself and refuse, unlike so many others, to offer an opinion on his methods and timing. With great conscience and forethought, he chose not to participate in a traditional American custom. However, he broke no local, state or federal laws nor did he violate any rules of the National Football League or presumably his employer, the San Francisco 49ers.

We must allow room for a respectful, dignified debate of issues in order for this experiment called democracy to continue to evolve into the America so eloquently expressed, but not practiced, by the Founding Fathers. For the record, there is still a great deal of work to be done.

If you disagree with Colin’s protest, say so in a respectful manner reflective of a principle necessary for an inclusive society, tolerance.

Comments and actions by political figures, fans, former/current players and talk show hosts ranging from “if he doesn’t like it here he should leave” to “he isn’t even black” reflect how uninformed and intolerant our country can be.

What I have found most disheartening in this debate are those critics who have inferred that a professional athlete should stay out of social issues and stick to performing on the field. Just a small reminder of the role sports played in moving the racial and gender opportunity needle in this country. I am so glad that Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King and many others did not keep quiet.

In closing, I want to comment on the statement released by Colin’s college coach at the University of Nevada, Chris Ault.

Coach Ault referred to Colin’s actions as “selfish” and his interest in the subject matter “personal” and reminded Colin that “you never lead by sitting down.”

I would like to offer some recommended reading to the coach, a book by Joyce A. Hansen: “Rosa Parks, A Biography.”

Stay strong, Colin.

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This caption of this photo at the source says Ghandi preparing for his hunger strike for freeing India from British rule, but his ribs say otherwise.

A less emaciated Ghandi, for purposes of comparison to the above photo


Ghandi, reclining during his hunger strike

Pete Frates, co-founder of the ALS ice bucket challenge in 2014. The challenges raised hundreds of millions of dollars for a charity that previously raised very little money in many years because it does not touch the lives of as many as have been touched by cancer or heart disease. The influx of funds derived from the ice bucket challenge enabled researchers to discover an ALS gene. http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html

And

Leading is not positional.

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Mark from Queens's picture

One of the best things I've read all week. Sharp and clear rebuke from the great tight end.

So mind-numbing and draining when the Fascist engine of sports gets revved up, and the cop goons come out all hot and bothered and the transparent racism of the fans comes boiling the surface. Jerry Rice's statement was so vapid and typical of the way this country stays stuck in the mire because so few have the courage to speak out honestly. Stars like Rice, et al just protect their own personal interests, instead of taking a stand for what they know is right. Cowards, one and all. I got mine, so let's all just shut up.

Football has been my favorite sport. Though it's hard to avoid that it's become the nexus of militarism and corporatism. Think of all the years I went to the stadium to see the Jets. Total breeding grounds for fascism. Hardly tune in anymore. But when I see it it's hard to away. Once wrote this at TOP, "The NFL Has Managed to Diminish My Favorite Pastime". But fuck those pestilent Neoliberal frauds. I haven't clicked over there at all for anything, only to look through my published and unpublished stuff, with thoughts of moving it all over here).

Excellent essay, thanks.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Big Al's picture

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musicalhair's picture

I used to follow football very closely, baseball, NBA & Big East basketball, boxing, and even hockey. I started seeing a "might makes right" fascist culture as the backdrop for sports culture. With the NBA I used to cringe everytime announcers would say something like "Jordon will get that call when others wouldn't" and that is just a more palatable version of phantom calls that Jordan, Kobe, and now Lebron get. We accept it in sports and we accept "above the law", "too big to jail" and abuses of the law that crush whistleblowers and small fish that wandered in the wrong pond. We accept lying officials, corrupt judges and lawyers on all sides rigging the system the same way we accepted Mark Jackson's patented lay-up move that was a traveling violation every single time.

Worse, we accept colleges using women as playthings for recruits for big football programs and accept our own frustrations when the system promotes rape and protects rapists. Now it extends to fucking swimmers? It's beyond time we just turned it all off.

From crack-smoking hockey players to boxers (& soccer players, apparently) defending domestic violence and the entire boxing industry treating boxers like cartons of milk to be sucked dry and tossed aside, sports have nothing to do with fun competition or play. Instead it now embodies everything we struggle against. I'd love to watch something like that one National Championship between Nebraska and Miami. Which even though they trailed, I thought a Nebraska win was fully inevitable, because by the end of the game Miami would be just pushed over one too many times to stop them. It was closer than I thought but what it was was a not so small part of an institution that reaffirms and enables rape culture.

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Mark from Queens's picture

Played baseball every summer from 5 to 18, two years of high school football and would have pickup games in my neighborhood all year round, in both and basketball and street hockey too.

But I haven't been to a baseball game in almost 20 years, gave up my season tickets to the Jets 6 or 7 years ago and am no longer tethered to the year round, one-sport-into-the-other, sports mania that American males think is their birthright. I no longer have any clue to what is happening at any time, in any pro sports.

I live a bicycle's ride away from both NY baseball teams' stadiums, could see the Mets with just a 25 min. bike ride, but have no interest whatsoever in those repellent empty husks from which to hang as many corporate commercials as possible. The God Bless America BS instead of the 7th inning stretch absolutely clinched it forever for me. I will say this, however, if I pass a high school football game or a local Mexican league baseball game in Red Hook I will stop for that and watch. Sadly the corporate scumbags have even made their way down to the schools, where even HS football is a year-round endeavor in some places.

The corporatization of all sports (really everything, but especially and powerfully our sports) has disgusted me for years.

Here's that piece for anyone who is interested. I'd rather have it read here than have to click there to see it (sans the links):

Football has been my favorite sport for many years. Some of my fondest memories are of going with my Dad as an 8 year old to high school football games he officiated on weekends; and for close to a 20 year stretch I hardly missed a home game at the Stadium to see the Jets. I played a little in high school and caught two touchdown passes on the day my JV high school team won its first game in three years for our small Catholic school - it was a thrill I still think about over 30 years later. There are few things to me that are as graceful as an airborne receiver making a diving catch with his body extended in a way the defies reality, or the fluidity of a running back running making tiger-like moves with agility, sheer power and stamina. I will even stop on the side of a road to watch a high school or amateur game.

However, I find the game as it is presented today by the NFL holds less and less favor to me. Not so much because of the game itself, though my enjoyment has been greatly impacted by the revelations of the Frontilne report “League of Denial,” but because it has been overshadowed by its caretakers’ decisions to militarize and corporatize almost every aspect of its presentation. The corporatization of football as a commodity to sell advertising is at the heart of the NFL today, it’s the engine room of a capitalistic society that demands profit over people every time. All manner of commercial ads, from beer to cars to fast food to banks, bombard the viewer throughout.I have come to loath consumerism, and it is impossible to separate it from the game.

Far more dangerous than the corporatization is the collusion with the military to neatly weave this creepy fascistic tapestry of nationalism, the military and football. If it makes you shudder to see old newsreels of stadiums full of Germans in the 1930’s pledging their fealty to the Homeland, it’s not very far off when multiple times during the Super Bowl one watches and listens to the many choreographed moments of militaristic and nationalistic imagery and theater resulting in orgiastic, ritualistic and ecstatic fervor. At the core of both events are notions of national superiority, false pride, violence and fear. George Carlin's classic piece "Baseball vs Football" cleverly describes the infatuation with military language, culture and names. "The quarterback aka field general,” has to be "on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense, hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy, in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use the shotgun,” “with short bullet passes and long bombs he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing his assault with a sustained ground attack."

The most obvious change has been in the Super Bowl Growing up I can’t recall holiday-like gatherings with feasts bigger than Thanksgiving and major, big-scale Hollywood production sets, not until the 80’s (yeah, that decade which was the worst culturally, politically and musically). Now every Monday Night game is a spectacle, as are each playoff game. And to think, the NFL made $10 billion this year. How are they considered a non-proft business? It is the same kind of mockery of Exxon/Mobil paying no taxes, or subsidizing farms not to harvest crops, or not taxing all financial transactions. When will the jig be up? We’ve been screwed, by a system run of, by and for the plutocrats.

Even the stadiums themselves have become high altars to consumerism. They feel like malls first, playing fields second. Shea Stadium, or whichever bank or corporations bought the rights for its name which I refuse to use, has become a vile and ugly faux heritage-style stadium. Being there twice when there wasn’t a game is when you see it in its nakedness. They’re now McStadiums, a place whose only purpose seems to be that from which to hang as many corporate banners as can be affixed. The last 20 years have seen many new stadiums, and for the most part they’ve conformed to this crass setup, with few exceptions. A seamless flow from shopping mall, to franchise food to sports stadium. Shop and eat, repeat. Shop and eat, repeat. A full stomach and an empty head, ready to be filled with advertisements.

Which makes sense. You’re no longer there to just watch a ballgame. You’re also there to shop, which in contemporary America means your ultimate civic duty. That’s as much as the last President said,, in response to 9/11. He went even further, offering specificity in a refrain familiar to any who watched football in the 80’s. That era could have been the beginning of the end, when we had to endure the banality of a player - engaged in the biggest battle of his career, being watched by hundreds of millions around, look into the camera and say “I’m going to Disneyland.” It’s surprising the team uniforms don’t yet have corporate logos on them like they do in Europe. Perhaps we shall hear I the not-too-distant future Al Michaels say, “This fourth down is being brought to you by All-State.”

So it’s no surprise that NFL franchises operate the way Corporate America does: if you don’t give us tax-free investment we’re gonna take our ball somewhere else. Corporations in all fields of business use this canard(see Boeing in Seattle now – which surely will get no mention on Sunday - and dozens and dozens of other companies). Threaten to move the operation to where there’s an offer of tax breaks and cheap labor. The American way is to depress worker wages and be rewarded with a windfall of money from a desperate small cities willing to fork over local tax money. It’s another form of outsourcing,; the only thing different is that the greedy monomaniacal businessmen owners can’t take the Patriots or the Redskins to Bangalore or Ho Chi Minh City. The one bright spot is the Green Bay Packers, who are owned by the people of the small city in Wisconsin, and not by some vainglorious .01%er looking to dabble in football for a little fun.

This Sunday I will at some point be thinking of how green with envy Leni Reifenstahl and Joseph Goebbles would be over the spell the NFL has cast over the American people. The mass indoctrination of American nationalism ranks for me as one of the most dangerous developments of the NFL. With this help from the NFL, non-stop warfare around the globe, corporate fealty and a lemming-like culture of consumerism is made easier.

The NFL, the tv networks and corporate America cultivate this fascistic union by weaving together American nationalism, consumerism and an obsession with the military all throughout the game. Every few minutes the announcers are telling you what the tv program is for the rest of the week (“Don’t miss tonight on Fox ----“), the ads come pouring in after every kickoff, change of possession, scoring play, carefully crafted to make you think of something you had no interest in or to gently nudge you to a favorable feeling for a product brand (allegedly the banks have been the biggest spenders this year… cue sympathetic music, video clips of diverse, multi-cultural people cooperating, gleaming shots of progress, etc – all from Goldman Sachs, who led the way in the financial meltdown). There will be a great attempt by the banks to makeover their image and the NFL is all too happy to oblige.

The screen will be filled with glittering images of giant American flags, fireworks, military flyovers and of course, multiple shots of military personnel. David Zirin of the Nation watches the Super Bowl every year with guys from the Iraq Veterans Against the War. “As the troops said over and over again, ‘this is about exploiting the soldiers for the purpose of selling the war.’” He also notes that the commercials “depend very heavily on selling women’s bodies.” The problem, he says, is that “you can’t separate the camera lingering on Kim Kardashian’s body to sell some product or another, and then the shots of the troops. It’s all sort of woven together in one large tapestry that says ‘Join the Army, sex, Rock n Roll, the Super Bowl, flyovers. It’s the same way you can’t separate Top Gun from Tom Cruise getting to sleep with Kelly McGillis. It’s all the same package. “ Even though I reflexively mute every commercial, including the in-between commercials from announcers which are cleverly thread throughout the broadcast, it is still pretty overwhelming.

The story of Pat Tillman should be remembered here too, because his tragic death was a result of that nefarious alliance . He met his demise literally in the crosshairs between football and the Army. Here was a dynamic, intelligent, well-liked standout defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals., who was killed by “fratricide” in Afghanistan. But that’s not what the Army wanted reported. They concocted a more “heroic” story, because they wanted to use him as the patriotic poster boy for the war. His family wouldn’t accept the company line and despite being stonewalled by every rank in the government concluded finally that he was killed by his own men. Tillman had also been reading Noam Chomsky. The ardor with which he left professional football to defend his country after 9/11 was waning as the reality of the war shone clearer to him on the ground. He had arranged to meet with Chomsky upon his return.

Another level-headed guy who also read Chomsky and willingly gave up his chance to be in NYC right now, reveling in the anticipation of playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, is John Moffitt . He was playing for the 8-1 Denver Broncos when he quit in the second week of November, having had his fill of football and blocking for Peyton Manning who was on an unbelievable streak. He’s also a Buddhist. "I just really thought about it and decided I’m not happy,” Moffit said. “I’m not happy, and I think it’s really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness, for money… How much do you really need? What do you want in life? And I decided that I don’t really need to be a millionaire.” Similarly, Dave Meggyesy, a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 60’s, decided he’d had enough too. Surprise, he was also a highly literate guy who concluded in his prime that football was “institutional violence,” comparing the game to the military, with its obedience to authority, the players plagued by fear and subservience to titillation.

Football, like the Army, depends on malleable, loyal pawns who for the most part don’t really take to literature, philosophy or politics. They’ll take guys like Dexter Manley, the All-Pro defensive end for the Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins who actually never learned to read until he was almost 30 years old. Just pushed through the system for his athletic ability, herded like cattle. In the minds of its superiors the Army and NFL functions more smoothly when the employees are incurious about the world at large. Maybe then they could use a guy like Mitch Daniels to run things. Remember that RW ideologue clown/former Governor of Indiana, who went on to become President of Perdue University? As Governor he attempted to ban Howard Zinn books statewide from all public colleges. Banner of books becomes university president!

I’ve noticed I don’t quite watch football the same way anymore. Especially after the Frontline investiagtions revealed the NFL’s denial and coverup of the epidemic of consussions. Every time a player goes down I used to just get up to grab something to eat or go to the bathroom. Now I imagine a guy closer to agonizing dark depression, memory loss and debilitated physicality in the years to come, the pain his family goes through.

These days it’s hard to see a professional football game as more than it being a vessel upon which Corporatism, Militarism and Sexism can attach their brands to, and not much more.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut