There isn't a consistent message and it's a big problem with the protest. It's pretty easy to see this as disrespecting the country when the person who started this said:
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,"
It' become different people protesting different things and that's fine because, again, that's their right. It's not a good recipe for achieving anything with your protest though. If you don't have a consistent message and a plan for change, you are just protesting to protest and I think that is basically where we are now.
We enable bad behavior (and crime) when we make excuses for it. That is evident in news events happening all over this nation every day now.
Good old Memorial Gym
Exactly. I can excuse him not saying things exactly the right way because he is young and we all misspeak at times. Maybe he wore the (was it Castro or Che Guevara) shirt because of ignorance or as another form of protest. Either way at some point you have to evaluate if your message is still being conveyed.
To steal and twist an example from the CUSA board:
If I decide to protest the treatment of the North Korean people at the hands of Kim Jong Un by protesting outside the local Tae Kwon Do tournament in a KKK uniform I'm probably not going to get the reaction I want. Even though a lot of people might agree with me (many in that TKD tournament even) my choice of protest is going to overshadow my message. Doesn't really matter if I tell people the KKK garb isn't meant to offend anyone. The fact is that it does by it's very nature. Let alone the fact that the TKD tournament doesn't have any power to help my cause.
Probably something like 99% of Americans would agree with my cause, but if I choose something that will definitely offend people in an effort to get attention, I shouldn't be shocked when I offend people.
By choosing to protest the way that he did, he alienated people on both sides of the isle who may otherwise have supported him and listened to him. They can say it's not about the military or the country until they are blue in the face, but the fact is that many people see it that way and probably will continue to see it that way.
My name is Jerry Jones and I believe police officers are shooting innocent black people just for the hell of it. BUT, I am patriotic so I'm going to stand up now . . .
I don't think French ever says that losing respect for the first amendment is the same as violating it...only that he it is a troubling trend. I also believe that there is a difference between individuals and government officials. None of the football players can sign executive orders or command military units. Thus, free speech from the President can often feel like intimidation.
Do you find our trends troubling? Do you buy his argument that both sides of the isle only seem to value the first amendment when it is used to express opinions we agree with? In my opinion, we have far less tolerance for differing opinions. We can't hear and disagree, we want to silence. I believe the dems set the table for this and the gop doubled down. Victory for "our" tribe seems to have eclipsed our desire for a truly great America for all of her citizens.
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle
In the work place you basically have NO first amendment rights without consequences based on your employer's rules/procedures in their handbook and guidelines -
You do outside of the workplace...
''Don't be a bad dagh..."