Let’s review, just for nostalgia, shall we?
I. The First Amendment
The First Amendment reads as follows:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
U.S. Const., Amendment I.
That’s it. Notice that conspicuously absent is any mention of Twitter, the NFL, or the President.
President Trump tweeting is not a legislative enactment- no matter much people in both political parties still like to believe in Kings and Executive Decrees. That dolt is as entitled to screech his stupidity on Twitter as the prior dolt did, or the rest of the Twitterverse is wont to do. (Usually, the President refrains from saying too much publicly because it might puncture the illusion of Presiden-chee-al-i-tee, Aplomb, and Intelligence that most Chief Executives have tried to foist on the public since time immemorial. This is because it’s bad for business for the masses to know that their leader is a dimwit – because they might get the idea they don’t need said dimwit to help them run their lives. This also helps explain why BOTH parties are so pissed at The Donald: he’s ruining the illusion for both of them, and their future, power-hungry, know-nothing dimwits to come down the line.)
II. Why Am I Watching These Millionaires Give Each Other Brain-Damage on TV?
A. The NFL is Rich Because of You.
By way of background, it is important to understand that the National Football League (NFL) was, up until recently, a “non-profit” tax-free enterprise… with a membership of, basically, 30 or so billionaire team/franchise owners – and an associated supporting staff (like the Commissioner’s office and Roger Goodell) of fabulously rich people. For example, Roger Goodell’s pay has been cut every year since 2012… but it’s hard to complain when you were getting $44.1 million per annum and are now, ahem, “down” to merely $31.7 million. That drop occurred over a five year period. That the billionaires and their administrative minions were allowed to operate without paying any taxes at all was the product of…? Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code, sub sections (c). That is passed by the People’s representatives, the U.S. Congress. Athletic endeavors are given tax exempt status, much like churches and other charities are.
B. The NFL is Wicked Rich Because of You.
Those billionaire owners have also gotten extra-super-duper-rich via the NFL from a sweetheart of a giveaway by…? The People’s elected representatives, the U.S. Congress, in 1961! That was the year that Congress waived the antitrust laws for the NFL, after a Pennsylvania judge had ruled significant portions of the NFL’s 1953 television contract in violation of federal antitrust laws. As the linked law review article above points out, the legislature rushed in to grant the NFL’s request for both the “home blackout” and “outside of market blackout” waiver because people were concerned the ruling might affect the broadcasts of their team’s games. (That grant was also applied to all of the other professional sports leagues. This old SI article also gives a great history of how television deals helped fuel the NFL’s rise.)
C. The NFL is F&^%ing Ridiculously Rich Because of You.
One of the other areas of legislative largesse for the League’s billionaire owners is that the People – i.e. the American Tax Donkeys payers – have continued to vote, believe it or not, to voluntarily pay the rent on about 70% of the billionaire owners’ team’s stadium’s, if you include ALL of the financial windfalls, including tax breaks, etc. that accrue to NFL Teams. Here’s just one example:
Cincinnati spent $424 million on the $449 million Paul Brown Stadium in 2000, a cost record that stood for eight years. The sweetheart deal for the stadium didn’t stop at the ridiculous cost — the team’s new lease stated if 14 other NFL teams had a stadium feature — like a mammoth scoreboard — then the Hamilton County must buy the Bengals that item. That lease is all-encompassing too. When a “holographic replay machine” is invented and put in stadiums around the nation, the Bengals have made sure that Cincinnati will get them one.
Id.
III. Enter the Actors on the Stage from the Left.
The current fracas began when Colin Kapernick, a not-very-good QB on a not-very-good NFL team (the Forty-Niners) decided to take a knee during the national anthem that customarily precedes the weekly ritual of millionaires-injected-with-tons-of-hormones trying to cause brain damage to each other in front of screaming masses of alcohol-laden fans dressed in their tribe’s colors, while other people bet their mortgages on the outcomes of point spreads and parlay bets in Vegas, and still other people (and there’s a lot of overlap among these groups) track the results of individual millionaires that they’ve picked in a “fantasy league.”
Kapernick’s symbolic protest was on his employer’s time, during his employer’s negotiated broadcast of the aforementioned brain-trauma contests with a ball, and during the point of the broadcast when the NFL has partnered with the U.S. Department of Defense’s marketing wing to turn the every game into a full-fledged Fourth of July celebration, including fly-overs by military aircraft, parachutists, and usually a salute to some local military veteran… (also on your dime, Taxdonkeys payers!)
IV. There is Nothing to See Here.
This point cannot be overemphasized and appears to be entirely missing from the discussion, by all of the dramatis personae, commenters, and critics. Colin Kapernick is entirely within his rights to do whatever he wants, be it protest, raise awareness, start a foundation, whatever he wants… on his own bleeping time. If the government in any fashion tried to stop him from doing so, that would be a violation of the First Amendment and all of the rights thereunder enumerated, as well as all manner of rights not listed that are embodied in the Ninth Amendment. I would be jumping up and down in support of him, however…
(cue the ship’s whistle)
NOW HEAR THIS!! NOW HEAR THIS!!
Number 1 – The President tweeting that Kapernick and his pals are d-bags for kneeling to protest police violence against minorities is NOT a First Amendment issue – at all. Not even close. There is no “law” there, nor threat of government action, to inhibit their rights. Go re-read the Amendment again. “Congress shall make no law…”
Number 2 – The NFL and its billionaire owners allowing their millionaire, prima donna, sports-celebrity employees use the Company/Office PA system for political purposes has nothing to do with the 1A either. The NFL is not the government. That’s it.
Just imagine, if you will, that tomorrow you go into the office and right before the Boss starts to talk during the weekly staff meeting, you “take a knee” and casually drop that you are exercising your “First Amendment Rights” – to show solidarity with the NFL’s players’ stance on the issues between police and minorities, etc. Try that every Monday and see how many Mondays you can keep that up. When you are – inevitably, and eventually – fired, you should know that while there may be a few lawyers who will try to see if they can make a buck on it – especially if you work for a big employer – you aren’t going to get anything more than your five minutes of internet fame… maybe. Because, as we say in the legal world, where is the “state action?” There is no “state action” that would trigger the First Amendment in the, uh, first place. You don’t even get passed a 12(b) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
V. The Denouement in Here Is Terrible.
This is the same reason why everyone hates Hollywood celebrities. I love the movies. I think Meryl Streep might be the best actress of my, or any, generation… but I also think she should shut her bleeping mouth when she gets her award. I don’t want to listen to her, or a bunch of other preening millionaires who are really good at pretend and dress-up, lecture me about international politics. I have a law degree, more than twenty years in the Marine Corps as both a combat arms officer and a judge advocate, and I’ve raised four children of my own. I don’t need lectures on moral or political philosophy from people who get chauffeured around, waited on, pampered, and live in multi-million dollar mansions behind gates.
I would just like to watch the Oscars to see who won best supporting actor/actress, or best screenplay, and not have to listen to the smarmy, back-patting, economic, legal, and political illiteracy from people who are (a) perfectly inadequate to offer an opinion by training, education, or experience, and (b) perfectly certain of their own superiority from inside a system paid for by the very people at whom they sneer. It’s why I no longer watch any of these things: not awards shows, not the NFL, not Twitter, not late-night TV hosts, not anywhere that someone gives a microphone to any of these idiots.
The people putting these events on now cater these events exclusively to the players, and not the actual viewers to whom the advertisers are trying to market. This is why you see fans pissed at both of sets of people. It’s for the same reason: sports fans, like Oscar viewers, aren’t in any position to do shit about your protests. For example, you think the American people don’t know that there’s something amiss with police? They’re the ones getting killed by police every year. In other words, Colin Kapernick is protesting and presuming to “start the discussion” with people who likely (a) don’t disagree that there’s a problem, and/or (b) who would really just like to watch a football game and not have political positions foisted on them in the midst of their bread and circuses (for much the same reasons as I noted above regarding the Oscars). Protest on your own, private time. That would really impress me and show me you’re seriousness and serious about the issue. All of this public wailing and gnashing of teeth reminds me of the Biblical injunction about people praying in public:
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matt. 6:5, (KJV).
Additionally, there is a cultural tradition, that the national anthem is played before sporting events as a sign of respect to the nation that can have such largesse and bounty. It is considered a sign of respect – that’s all. For example, I grew up playing ice hockey and my youth included many trips up to the Land of the Great White North. I knew the words to the Canadian National Anthem – in both french and english – not long after I knew the Star Spangled Banner. I can’t even imagine a hockey player doing something disrespectful during another country’s anthem. The few incidents I’m aware of involve fans booing the US national anthem and catching a TON of shit for it (justifiably so, to my mind).
Imagine if we let the Olympics turn into a who’s-protesting-which-country’s-problems-by-kneeling? Holy shit. We might as well just make it a kneeling contest and be done with the whole thing. How do you compare the U.S. athlete’s protest against our own problems with countries where young girls are still married off before they’ve even arrived at an age where we would let them drive a car? Or where young (very young) boys are routinely seen as fodder for sex by older men? If police issues get a knee, what do you do about countries that give their daughters forced clitorectomies?
No, the problem with all of this is that the American TaxDonkey Public is well aware of the problems of our society. They’re the ones most likely to be affected by it, regardless of skin color. So far this year the police have killed 901 Americans. Check the links for each year and see how many are white and how many are black? Is it all about race? No. Kapernick may think he’s doing a good deed by what he’s doing, but to the extent he muddles the issues and makes it all about race, he distracts from a discussion about what the issues really are: the (patently unconstitutional, we-needed-an-amendment-for-booze-last-time) War on Drugs, terrible Supreme Court precedent that allow police near impunity, rather than merely qualified immunity, and the fact that prosecutors have their cases provided to them by the same cops that are ostensibly supposed to hold accountable when they harm the citizens. The answer “‘Cuz RACISTS!!!” is incorrect, or so minimally correct as to be a distraction. Not even partial credit should be awarded for his answer.
To the extent all of this comes across as more millionaires-as-scolds wagging their finger and trying to tell the American people what’s wrong with them, I’d say The Screaming Cheeto might actually turn out to be right in this case, if not for any of the right reasons.
Le Fin