Forced "Patriotism"?

Now that we're back up north enjoying ... well, summer & whatever, I had planned to post on the trip experiences. (Good). Instead it's time for another rant.

In case you can't tell from the title, this regards the ruling by the NFL on taking a knee. I put "patriotism" in quotes because the taking a knee protest was never about that. It was about the deaths of young (mostly) black men by police under circumstances where, were the victim white, that extreme of a reaction would never be tolerated by the police or the public.

It wasn't about police as a whole, either, nor is this post an effort to criticize them. It's about the few who keep getting away without repercussions for killing over minor actions when skin color alone seems to be the ruling factor determining their response level.

If I were capable, I'd take a knee too. I know however, even with my new improved knees, that would be a monumental effort requiring assistance, particularly the getting up part. Just being on my knees is a uniquely unpleasant experience anyway.

The knee-jerk reaction to this form of protest is disturbing. Shades of Fascism, anybody? When that anthem plays at the start of an athletic event, it never means vendors stop selling, hot dogs aren't being eaten by spectators so they couldn't sing along anyway, toilets stop flushing, side conversations stop happening. Shots of the crowds show very few with their hands over their hearts facing the flag, and many fewer even attempting to sing along or at least pretend they have a clue what the words are. That was noted even at the US gold medal ceremonies at the recent Olympics in the winners on the podium. And how many at home watching even consider standing for the Anthem?

For the NFL, the protest ruling is about one thing and one only: $$$$$. Their revenues are going down and they find the player protests a convenient place to place the blame. The never consider that all TV viewership is decreasing, that fewer kids are growing up playing football because their parents don't want to risk their getting TBIs, that electronic media, games and toys are taking up more of everybody's time and attention. They conveniently forget that players weren't even on the field during the anthem until about 2009 and their so-called patriotism wasn't called into question back then: after all, there was a GAME to prepare for.

If the Anthem is so sacred, why is it such an ugly, impossible-to-sing song anyway? All it does is glorify war and test the voice range of its singers. If it were so sacred, why does the Supreme Court continue to support our right to protest, up to and including the burning of a flag?  Surely the taking of a knee during a song in an effort to call attention to something that needs to be changed in order to make this the great nation that it claims to be is a much less offensive act.

Why do so-called patriotic people defame the flag by turning it into clothing, plaster it on their cars to get filthy and tattered, hang it outside in all weather even after nothing remains but a faded shredded rag? This is honoring it? Really? Ever read the guide on how to properly treat, and not treat, the flag? Do you even know that burning the flag is the only proper way to retire it?

On a similar note, let's put in two cents on the Pledge of Allegiance. It would make so much more sense, to me anyway, to omit the part about the piece of cloth and go straight to the pledging of allegiance to the Republic that is this country. I find less and less appeal to the idea of honoring a bit of cloth and more and more to upholding the Constitution and the principles upon which it is based. Of course, that includes the upgrades we have added about things like making women and non-white Americans full and equal citizens. We have demonstrated we are capable of growing up a bit as a nation and as a people.

Well, at least until recently. But that's another post or twenty.

I have other issues with the Pledge as well. It's that "under God" part. I'm so old that I grew up before it was added. I manage to pause at that part and come back in at the "indivisible" bit, hoping it's still true. Whose God? Why is it necessary? Your faith, any of you, is not what rules whether I honor my country. I honor the part where you can each chose your own, but what in that mandates that this whole country is "under God"? It's about a human as can be, and sometimes as inhuman as well. That's kinda why we need a constitution, eh?

I have been conflicted enough about these shows of public patriotism, why they are necessary, and what they mean or whether they have any actual meaning at all, that I took another, silent and unannounced, stand concerning the Pledge a number of years ago. For 8 years I was the Mayor of the town I'm summering in. One of my duties was to set the agenda. There was a flag on a pole in the corner. Fine. But the agenda never included the Pledge as part of the meeting. Yes, we were a unit of government, under, ultimately, the Federal Government. Each of us, at the start of each term, swore an oath that included upholding the Constitution. I took that seriously. I didn't need a monthly or bi-monthly pledge to a piece of cloth. I trusted my fellows on the council to take their oaths seriously as well. Even after being asked by a fellow council member to put it on the agenda, I managed to never get around to it.

You will never convince me that any ritual outward professing of patriotism means a single thing about how the person saying or singing or otherwise declaring their patriotism actually feels, thinks, or acts. I do see precious little meaning for too many people in what they have just said or sung, or concern about whether they have even bothered to participate, to equate any of it with actual patriotism.

I find it outrageous that the NFL puts on the face of equating taking a knee during the Anthem with lack of patriotism and making it a fireable offense. That is one of the most patriotic acts a player can perform, and in no way affects their job performance on the field. It'll be interesting to see how the player's union responds, but even if the monopoly ownership "wins", in no way will it be a moral victory.

Another Rant: Just More Stupidity And Entitlement

Anybody with two seconds to spare these days is aware of the latest volcanic activity in Hawaii. I'd feel sorry for all those folks whose homes and possessions are in danger of destruction ... if they'd not actually realized there were in a development in the volcano's potential path of destruction and they were not supposed to build there in the first place. That's just the first level of stupidity.

As we all are aware, there are very few stupid things that our President* can't make more stupid. He's proclaimed it a disaster zone. We can start with, "Well, duh!" because our compassion bones are tweaked for all those folks and what the consequences are to them for thinking they can outwit a force of nature.  (Oh, if only I believed Trump had a compassion bone!) But the point of a disaster declaration is making available low cost loans for rebuilding homes and infrastructure. The hubris of such an ambition in this location leaves me stunned. What do they think they can do? Dig up the cooled lava because they have some magic way of knowing the volcano is through with its cycle of activity, when every geologist knows it's a permanent part of the island creation cycle, so somehow there's a point to repairing the roads and digging new sewers? Or because they magically know the flow won't change course again and spread into new territory? You know, so all of that magic makes a low cost loan actually useful for something?

It makes just as much sense as leaving offerings next to the lava flows for Pele. Heck, even the people who go through those motions understand that Pele will do whatever Pele will do. Or as one of them said on TV: "Welcome to Paradise!"

The only things I've heard that make any sense at all have been ordering evacuations with the warning there will be no rescues, closing the National Park, and clearing out tanker-loads of flamable liquids from the nearby power plant. In other words, admit the mistakes and move somewhere else.

If you follow this blog, you have read similar sentiments about people building their expensive dream homes right along the seacoast, then whine when the next storm and the following storm remove the beach sand and destroy part or all of their homes. But somehow they are "entitled" to have the government, aka your taxes, enable their repetitions of the same stupidity. And of course, insurance companies continue to insure them and raise premiums for the rest of us to make up their inevitable losses.

Hey guys, everything changes but change. We don't get to stop it. And I am rapidly losing my idealistic faith in my fellow humans to learn and adapt, or stop holding their hands out after the predictable occurs. Sea levels are rising. Glaciers are melting. Species are disappearing. Earthquakes keep happening, rivers keep flooding, droughts keep happening, forest fires keep burning, mudslides keep following, storms are being fed more energy. It's not a question of whether,  just where, when, and how extreme.

Anybody remember that archaic term, "thousand-year event"? Some newscasters now have actually stopped using it every 5 or 6 years. Apparently some few of us are capable of adapting.

"Something Legal and Ordinary"

I have become increasingly ashamed of my "fellow" Americans. Every day or two another one of them makes the national news for calling the police on some brown-skinned person or people. It's not, "That person robbed a store," but, "There's a brown person in the store". It's not, "I saw someone commit a crime" but "I saw somebody brown." All they need to to do is simply be there, doing something legal and ordinary were they identified "white", but somebody feels justified in calling the police because, oooh, brown, scary! 

You can't play a bit too slowly on a golf course where you're a member, where any other group of golfers would be politely asked if the trailing group might please play through. Having a business meeting in a Starbucks is cause for arrest when you're brown, but common, even expected, if you're white. After all, hey, if the meeting drags on, you might order another round of  the overpriced slop.

Yeah, you, Starbucks: overpriced slop.

Don't even think of using the "wrong" B&B, or moving into the "wrong" neighborhood. Don't take a nap in the middle of a long session of studying on your own campus. And for heaven's sake, don't head home from the store armed with tea and Skittles because not only will somebody call the police, they will attack and kill you when they get too impatient that you're not arrested yet. Even worse, they'll not only get away with it because you're finally scared enough to defend yourself, they'll be hailed as a hero by their neighbors.

To all of you, all of you, I am disgusted by and ashamed of your behavior. I am ashamed of all the ignorant, stupid, frightened callers who think a skin color is by itself a danger, or worse, those of you who just find yourselves superior and use the police to punish not only the presence but the very existence of darker skinned people. And to you police forces around the country, I am both ashamed and disgusted by your frequent willingness to kill first and attempt to justify later.  Judges and juries, same to all of you who enable and reward such assumptions and brutality.

I think it's way past time for the cops to start arresting those folks who get them involved in such incidents for falsely reporting a crime. That false report is an actual crime, you know. Our police forces have more than enough real criminal activity to deal with, especially with more and more politicians cutting their staffing budgets in the name of lowering taxes. Not only should police be better staffed, they need to be better trained. DWB should never be an excuse to pull somebody over, and simply being black - or brown - should never be justification to pull your weapon before approaching. Anybody on the force who has that as their first, go-to response, with no actual cause beyond their own fear, has no business even being on the force.

Sure, if that make, model, and color of car is fleeing a scene, have at it. Carefully. But remember, even the whitest of us can't simultaneously obey "Hands on the wheel!", "Roll  down your window!",  "Show us your license!", "Don't move!" and "Step out of the car!" With six guns pointed at us, you understand where the terror comes from? And that's before adding skin color into the mix.

We've already heard of too many cases where officers unload their weapons into black people reaching for a cell phone, or into somebody running away from them, because, I guess, their shoes might kick up a pebble and you get a boo-boo? They might let loose a fart in your face from 30 paces? Or maybe the cop was just to fat and out of shape to chase them down so they drew their gun instead? And were exonerated!

Beyond just the attitude, what everybody - everybody! - should be scared silly about is a little piece of news from the recent NRA convention. Somebody has invented a pistol that, until you open it, looks exactly like a smart phone! Exactly! It's bad enough guns get made in pretty colors so young kids think they're toys to play with.  After all, who could possibly imagine one kid picking up a pretty toy gun and going Bang! Bang! at their sibling or playmate? What could possibly go wrong there?

But in a world where practically everybody has their own smart phone either in their hand or pocket, why on earth would a company disguise a gun so it's indistinguishable from one? Hey teacher, teacher, I bet I know, my hand's up, call on me? Could it possibly be so all those scary dark-skinned folks look even scarier when they're just doing something legal and ordinary and there's even more justification for violence against them?

And to think, some folks believe there's no evil in the world!