One would think that the backlash of public outrage and declining revenues of the National Football League following the antics of quarterback Colin Kaepernick (who, during the 2016 season, took up the practice of kneeling for the national anthem to highlight alleged racial injustice) would not only have tempered his misplaced and inappropriate protest, but would have encouraged other players, the NFL and sports-related organizations to take a more respectful and cautious stance on the issue. This has obviously not been the case.
While America’s pro football fans do not consist solely of fire-breathing conservatives, the character of the sport – team spirit, fair play and a will to win – is closely tied to traditional American values. These values of course are antithetical to the values of those on the left, who are lauding Kaepernick’s exploits as though he were a nascent Mahatma Gandhi.
Recently, I listened to a reasonably friendly radio debate, moderated by the talk show’s host, between a Kaepernick advocate and one of his detractors. The athlete was described as “thoughtful” and “principled” by his defender, which I found laughable on at least a couple of levels.
I’ve mentioned on many occasions that successful people of color who decry racial inequality with the vigor of those who might justifiably have done so in 1955 are either ignorant of the real causes and conditions surrounding some ethnic minorities’ current pain, attention-seekers, or outright ideologues. This is underscored by the fact that there is an entire pantheon of prominent black multimillionaires in America who are widely loved and respected by people across the continuum of ethnicity, which was most definitely not the case in 1955.
Finally, there’s the fact that these ignoramuses are typically aligned with the far left, whose objectives have universally served to decrease rather than increase opportunities for people of color.
At this point in our history, there’s no reason whatsoever that a successful person of color who perceives racial inequality in America should find it necessary to express himself through abjectly disrespectful displays such as refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. This nation and the opportunities made available to Colin Kaepernick through the extensive sacrifices of Americans of all ethnic persuasions have provided him with an enviable living. Such facts put the lie to Kaepernick being thoughtful or principled.
On Sept. 3, the website Politico featured a commentary called “The Martyring of Colin Kaepernick,” which was even more laughable. Citing recent race-related events in Charlottesville, Virginia, it painted a picture of a circumspect young black man who was being scapegoated for his stand on institutional racism, rather than one who was dedicatedly making himself a pariah for his insistence upon framing his protest in a belligerent and disrespectful manner.
Unfortunately, rather than giving like-minded individuals in sports pause, it appears that Kaepernick’s idiocy is communicable and has infected some of his NFL colleagues, despite the fact that his ongoing protest has damaged his ability to get signed to a team. Recently, police and emergency services unions were compelled to decline an invitation from the Cleveland Browns to hold an American flag for the team’s season opener after some Browns players emulated Kaepernick and knelt for the national anthem during a preseason game.
In a slightly different but related vein: Since the political left, which controls the public school system and most universities in this country, has ensured that such fundamental concepts as basic economics are not understood by millions of adult Americans, individuals who blindly get on board to continually raise the minimum wage are largely ignorant of the detrimental effects this inevitably has on the economy. Some of these have signed on with Fight for 15, the activist group whose goal is to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.
As reported on the Fox Business website on Sept. 2, one of Fight for 15’s more recent stated objectives is the ousting of Republican governors in 2018. This is highly indicative of the fact that this movement is being fueled by the far left, which has ever sought to stultify our economy.
The most sinister aspects of all this, whether we’re talking about black football players who’ve bought into the lie of institutional racism, Fight for 15, Latinos upbraiding the president for his decision to reverse Barack Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal immigrants (DACA), or bubbleheaded actresses bragging on their string of abortions, are the attempt of the far left to appropriate the moral high ground on issues upon which they’ve decided to focus, and the newfound vigor with which it is advancing its overall agenda through blatantly deceptive news coverage and orchestrated protests. As we know, the latter are quite often shot through with thousands of bought-and-paid-for participants.
Many of us have been encouraged by the fact that increasing numbers of Americans are waking up to the left’s treachery, and by the election of Donald Trump as president. In light of the determination demonstrated by those on the far left, however, we should remember that they did manage to successfully co-opt the civil rights agenda in America after their political opponents did all the heavy lifting and that their doing likewise with regard to any of these contentious issues is a very real possibility.
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