Kaepernick’s Choice

P.S. Colin Kaepernick just raised $20k for a group named for a convicted cop killer. Imagine if Trump raised money for a white supremacist guilty of lynching a black man.

Spare me the “he isn’t anti-cop, just anti-dirty cop” lies.

We do so little as a nation. It’s the price for the diversity that has been part of this nation since day one, whether some want to admit that or not. We don’t share a common ethnicity, a common origin, religion or language. With the expansion of civil rights protections to those who were deprived of them for so long have come many great things, but also a dispersal of the cultural objects that once joined (some of) us. It’s not about being against the expansion of freedoms, and if you truly believe protecting the rights of all citizens was on balance a bad thing, there’s the exit. But it’s ignorant to ignore that there are unintended consequences for the breaking up of the center.

In pre-Civil Rights times, there was Mainstream Culture, but it was never the only culture. “Classic Hollywood” is often considered part of a common culture, but it wasn’t. People of color, atheists, Catholics, women, all were ignored or placed in tiny holes. Meanwhile, “race music” and “race movies” were going on Over There, out of sight, still rarely mentioned in our newly expanded mainstream culture today. Oscar Micheaux and Leadbelly, for two examples of many.

Times have changed, and we are seeing the rapid Balkanization of this country, in large part based on fantasies of victimization. The idea that non-whites in America today have it bad is a lie. A lie, period. Look at the rest of the world, look at our past, look at our present. The current trend of calling anyone a racist or white supremacist because they don’t conform to the pressures of the Social Justice Millionaire Society is endangering what should be a time of American unity. The SJMS doesn’t just have millionaire members, of course — they’re just the spokespeople for what some laughably claim is a grassroots movement of those victimized by White Men.

But that’s not what this is about. It’s about unity. “We need a uniter!” say those whose idea of compromise is “We stick to our beliefs, and you dump yours and believe what we tell you is right.” Those calling for unity are the ones who thrive on conflict; those calling for justice are the ones breaking laws they don’t like. (Why should I obey those laws YOU like?)

We have so few things that genuinely unite us, and most of them are ephemeral, symbolic. “Everybody likes Beyonce.” (I find her boring and repetitive.) “Everybody likes superhero movies.” (I find them childish and a waste of time.) “Everybody thinks _____ is awesome.”

One thing people used to do was stand for the national anthem. I know it’s hard to believe for those who think they’re hip and their parents were always square, but when people got to their feet in years past, they weren’t all teary-eyed about America. They were fully aware of its flaws.

There is no flawless nation, nor will there ever be. But like those who insult their own family members and who will pop you if you dare say a bad word about them because you’re not part of the family, Americans rose for the national anthem and the flag because it was all of us. It wasn’t for just those guys, even when ‘our’ guys were having their rights trampled — it was because it WAS ‘our’ flag, too, even if some didn’t acknowledge that.

It’s not about cops, or soldiers, or the president. It’s about ALL of us, without exception.

The reason someone like me — a non-football fan, who thinks standing for a pledge of allegiance is something communist countries compel, not free ones — wouldn’t give this guy the time of day is because he comes off as insincere, opportunistic, and shallow.

It’s not that he can’t kneel — he can.

It’s that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone else. And he does think he’s better than those who stand, and so do his followers.

Bringing attention to people you want spotlighted is fine. But that’s over. No one sees kneelers and thinks about a single new victim, or considers the victims of police violence, or gang violence.

The same people who say “He’s not dissing service men, he’s not dissing GOOD cops, he’s trying to bring attention to…” etc. are the same people who say “Those who support Trump are bigots, what they say is just lies.”

I don’t wave flags. I don’t think someone who does is better than someone who doesn’t. I wouldn’t stand and salute if it were just about me.

But it’s not. Most things in life are never that simple.

I knew a man who was a veteran of two wars. I knew another who was scarred by the one war he participated in. Their politics were worlds apart. I’ve known veterans who were homeless. I’ve know cops I hated. I’ve known cops I thought misguided. I’ve known cops who were truly heroic.

I’ve never seen a heroic sports player. I’ve never seen a millionaire cop or soldier. I’ve never seen a cop or soldier disrespect those who serve more than their own bank account.

Kaepernick says he doesn’t disrespect soldiers, yet he foolishly wears shirts in support of communist killers. The man comes off as ignorant of the issues he claims to care so much about. That’s his right. ALL of what he’s doing is his right. It doesn’t make him less of an ass, a coward and a disrespectful child.

Kaepernick is the hero for people who want the right to say what they want, in the way they want to, who also know what people who disagree with him REALLY mean. He’s the hero of double standards and hatred for a nation that defends his right to hate it.

Kaepernick is serving himself. He is flipping the bird to everyone who isn’t him.

I don’t think he’s less of an American than any other. I just think he’s a self-centered a-hole pretending to be a hero.