Here is what Mike Pence posted today:
I left today’s Colts game because President Donald J. Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem. At a time when so many Americans are inspiring our nation with their courage, resolve, and resilience, now, more than ever, we should rally around our Flag and everything that unites us. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem. I stand with President Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem.
According to a staffer, Pence had planned on leaving the game early all along. It turns out he had diverted his west coast swing just to attend the game and leave early. Trump admits he told Pence to do just that. The whole thing, including the picture above, was a publicity stunt.
So much for our government, the reality show.
Now my take on this NFL protest and all the fuss about it:
I agree, we should rally around our country and unify it. That starts with leadership. Our leaders should show us how it is done. We’re getting the opposite of such leadership with this administration.
When an NFL player kneels for the National Anthem, he is openly showing his protest and making a statement — free speech.
I do not believe for a minute that those players actually “disrespect the flag or the anthem.” The flag and the anthem are symbols of our nation, just like kneeling is a symbol of protest. The players are protesting exactly BECAUSE they feel there is something wrong with the unity in our nation. Trump and Pence have it backwards.
And then, let me rant about disrespecting the flag. This is disrespecting the flag:
- Wearing a flag bikini
- Wearing any flag clothing
- Wrapping yourself in the flag at any public event
- Flying the flag on a pickup truck next to the Confederate Flag
- Using the flag as a costume of any type
- Flying the Confederate Flag
The showmen running our country are using cheap propaganda techniques to distract us from their self-enrichment schemes by vilifying sports figures and appealing to our sense of patriotism using twisted messages and outright lies.
That, my friends, is the disgrace here.
I ask our so-called leaders to show us what it means to respect our country, its laws, its citizens, their rights, and the country’s symbols.
You nailed it Mr. Haupt. Trump and Pences Opinion of what they think they were witnessing, was just that (merely a skewed opinion). They twisted the protest posture of the players to be something it was not at all intended to be. The intended form of disrespect was toward what is perceived by most as unfair and racist treatment by officers of the law. Trump and Pence and anyone else that doesn’t get it, respond (unwittingly) in a blindly racist way (they don’t know the pervasive of nuances of racism) by not see or acknowledging the protest in the manner in which it is intended, and make the protest not about police brutality toward blacks at all. Narcissists, white Supremacists and Racists all have common some over lapping traits, one is the assumption and delusion that they as individuals are better than just about everyone else. It’s easy for them, because they have skipped or slighted an activity that balanced people rend to to: the process of self analysis and assessment, which would have helped to comprehend that they possess inconsistencies and blind spots in their character and perception. Through their introspection Liberals (and compassionate Conservatives) have a higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity and greater openness. The Flag ceremony protests are just too oblique for those that need very clear messages. Kapernak and anyone else that wishes to broadcast their views need to take into consideration that clarity in the message to all is imperative.