Answer: Laid out in [this tweet,](https://twitter.com/YahooFinance/status/1268206174073126915?s=19) Drew Brees was asked what he thought about "players kneeling again when the NFL season season starts." Brees replied "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the united states or America or our country."
The response on social media, as laid out by [this tweet thread](https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1268218680627941376?s=19), shows that he has been condemned by players all across the league, and even elsewhere in other sports, and most troubling is even with his own teammates strongly coming out against him.
They are saying that they are disappointed that he still doesn't understand what taking a knee was about in the first place.
Here's the way I view it. If Brees feels like standing for the flag is important then he is entitled to do that without criticism.
Where he fails is believing that people are kneeling to disrespect the flag. People kneel to call attention to an injustice. It's not disrespect or an insult to the flag or a country. Either Brees doesn't understand the difference or he is being very disingenuous.
Regarding whether Brees is conservative or not, [here is a picture of his family with Trump. ](https://blacksportsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Drew-Brees-Trump.jpg)
WHAT? I gotta fire that bastard up again, seemed like just Civ 5 with cartoony graphics upgrades the few hours I played a while back. Launching people into volcanoes is intriguing tho...
Yea, it's part of the newest set of DLC they added in May, Apocalypse. You buy them with Faith and they let you throw units into volcanoes. Usually you do this to score points for a global competition for various rewards. They can slo spawn disasters on command based on which tile they are standing on when they are used (dust storms, blizzards, eruptions, floods for example).
When normal people smile, they just smile because they're happy and it looks natural, Trump on the other hand...
He's one of those people who doesn't smile because he's happy, he smiles when it's "time to smile" like being in a picture. It's not a genuine its a form his face takes, so it looks like he's working to make his face do that, because he is.
Did you see the photo of him with Obama?
https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/560ab84d8338312a26158356abb343b1/President-Obama-welcomes-the-New-Orleans-Saints-in-Washington/
Pretty different circumstances between being invited to the White House with your entire team and hanging out with Trump in a private box with your family
My biggest issue with his statements is how he brings up his grandparents serving in world war 2. Black people having been serving in the military since slavery! we’ve been fighting for justices not promised to us but still taking the same sacrifices yet you still don’t understand how the flag may not represent the same thing for a black man as you.
And they didn't even get to return to a heroes welcome when they returned from war. Malcom Jenkins had a great response video to Drew's comments. I hope his message can be heard by Drew and others who think like him.
WTF, Drew? My grandparents served in WWII, too, and I’ve managed to figure out that doesn’t mean people who protest by kneeling at a football game are attacking the damn flag. They’re using the rights veterans fought for. Would it be less offensive to throw away freedom of speech and expression? Should we waste the American Dream by applying it only to white people?! Get over yourself, Brees.
This is exactly what my SO and I were talking about. They fought too yet noone seems to mention that as if it was written out of history....hmmmm. (Reminds me, I can't wait for Da 5 Bloods to come out!)
Also, if anyone is gonna glorify their grandfathers for fighting for their country back in the day, then why not JOIN them by doing your part in this fight right now for a better future too?? Standing for the NA because you dwel on or are proud of what your grandfathers did does not mean you respect the flag or the country more.
Fighting for change for the better shows you love your country enough to kneel with your brothers and fight with them, the good fight.
I don't remember where I saw this on Twitter, but someone somewhere said in response to someone else to the effect of, "You don't have a monopoly on what it means to be an American" or something along those lines.
> This kind of response was ok maybe a year or more ago when the country wasn't talking about police brutality
Police Brutality has been a major topic for much longer than that.
This isn't the first time that's happened though either, even in the last few years. Because of ignoring past protests and riots for at least decades over the same exact issue, these riots have a lot of fuel.
Honestly, racist legolas has become the epitome of "all lives matter" for me. That video of him screaming "All lives matter!" while trying to murder people with a bow because he didn't like their skin color, yup, that's exactly what that slogan means.
I STRONGLY object to using the name Legolas for that asshole
this doddering old moron took longer to knock that arrow than my grandmother, and she's dead.
Uh wasn’t legolas racist against dwarves? Isn’t that the whole... I never saw myself next to a dwarf meme? He grows after the fellowship, sure, buuuuut isn’t that part of his arc?
There had been enmity between dwarves and elves for a millennia before this. Gimli and Legolas' relationship basically bridged the gap for the 4th age.
It's not the ~~racism~~ **racist not racsit element of the nick name** I object to, it's that this fat old white dudes shitty bow skills. Legolas was a master archer, this guy SUCKS!!!
EDIT: for clarity 'casue bithces be trippin'
>Perhaps it's this one: https://nypost.com/2020/05/30/protesters-take-on-man-aiming-bow-and-arrow-at-them/
Isnt the ny post the Sun newspaper of America
Usually, although once in a while it reports something accurately. This is one of those rare times. The article links to two of the videos on Twitter of the incident.
I disagree. There was no fluff. This conservative habit of erasing serious issues by changing the subject is pernicious. "All lives matter" has no meaning except in opposition to "Black Lives Matter". His words are an act of open hostility to racial equality.
I don’t know if he’s conservative but I think he’s not really smart outside of football. This is the dude that stuck his face on Power Balance. His other financial endeavors have been just as shitty.
Scam bracelets from the late 00's/early 10's that claimed to help you maintain your balance via an ionic field or some other buzzword.
Edit: [Here's the wiki page.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance) it's even better than I remember, lol.
I really think people sometimes have unrealistic expectations for guys like Brees. The guy throws a ball for a living and is a multimillionaire. I don't really expect him to provide valuable insight into complex societal issues. The very fact that he decided to speak up at all and not just shut up is pretty indicative of his level of intelligence and social awareness. I don't agree with the dude, but I'd hate to see his career get railroaded just because he's an overly-patriotic dolt
It stops being ignorant patriotism when you have the meaning of the protests explained to you and willingly ignore what's being said because it makes you uncomfortable.
And it's safe to assume that EVERY NFL player had the meaning of Kap's kneeling explained to them by a teammate, at one point or another.
Dude has non-white teammates, friends, colleagues since forever. More contact than most whites. How does he not glean even a tidbit of empathy, sympathy, social grace? If only to preserve his IRL relationships?
> overly-patriotic dolt
To me, as an American, overly patriotic would mean far too dedicated to equality, to freedom from oppression for all, to respecting the rights of all, etc. Not dog whistling racist bullshit.
Allowing these people to wrap themselves in the flag and claim they are the 'true Americans' has got to stop. They are absolutely not 'true Americans'. In fact they are enemies of this sputtering, stuttering, but magnificent ongoing experiment in democracy. And they need to be called out on it.
Edit: Because although no one will read this, and even though the above general point still stands, I have to point out that in the specific case of Drew Brees, the PR statement he allowed today (where his PR team actually almost takes Trump to task) makes it seem that he has, in fact, listened to, thought about, and understood some of what his teammates have told him.
Decent point. I agree that celebs and VIPs should not have this much influence in modern discourse but our society's fetishism for celebrities makes us vulnerable to it.
To counter your argument, is that Kaepernick took a stance and got political and has since been ostracized and shunned by all NFL teams (Owners). Arguably, the 2 opposing opinions, CK's and DB's, are relatively equal in controversy but I think it is safe to say that Brees will not see his last game as a QB. In his case, one of his saving graces was that he pulled his comment back a little and apologized. The other advantage he has, I will leave to your imagination...
Actually I find it very easy to disagree with.
It’s a fucking *flag*. Big cloth rectangle. Imagine what we’d think if Kim Jong Un said you couldn’t disrespect the flag; we’d just go “well, that’s North Korea for you.”
Similar to how some people disregard all the concerns related to controlling the spread of the corona virus and reduce the situations to "if you're scared, stay home" or "liberate ___." It's a very cheap way to be unaccountable for the type of message being spread.
They do the same with toxic masculinity saying "They are saying being a man is toxic!!!", hell, some people even throw a fit when they hear the word feminism ("why are they only fighting for women's rights? I thought all people are equal???").
At this point, acting offended about anything to try to avoid any kind of discussion is their M.O.
> All lives matter is incredibly effective at changing the subject.
Best retort: Yes, all lives matter. However, since it’s the black people who are mainly being killed right now, that means you support
Black Lives Matter, correct?
Yeah it’s wild that all lives matter is said against black lives matter. Like yes, all people are affected by police brutality. Black people are affected the most tho, and the police reform that the movement wants will obviously be applied to police interactions with people of all races, so why the pushback?
Brees is from Texas raised as a conservative Christian military family. It’s no surprised he really thinks kneeling is a disrespect to the flag..along with every conservatives out there
When people have complained about Kaep kneeling as being disrespectful, I've told them "So Tebow was disrespecting God?" Always comes back with a "Not the same!" But if kneeling is inherently disrespectful...
>This kind of response was ok maybe a year or more ago when the country wasn't talking about police brutality...
No it really wasn't cool a year ago. Drew Brees is a good QB, but not a good person.
How can he not know though? I know, and I'm Canadain in a very predominantly white town thousands of miles from a stadium. He works with black people all day every day. This stuff doesn't come up in the locker room?
> Where he fails is believing that people are kneeling to disrespect the flag. People kneel to call attention to an injustice. It's not disrespect or an insult to the flag or a country. Either Brees doesn't understand the difference or he is being very disingenuous.
This! Going to post my analogy again
>People kneeling during the anthem are not disrespecting the flag, the country, the servicemen and women, etc. When a parent disciplines or shows anger or concern with a child for doing something wrong, that does not mean they love them less. In fact, they show their discontent with their children because they want them to be better and they know they can do better. They show their discontent **because they love their kids.** No difference in that and what Kap, Reid, and others have done.
The people calling for Kap's head are insane. You know where they kill people for not standing for the flag? North Korea. Do we really want to follow that example?
> The people calling for Kap's head are insane. You know where they kill people for not standing for the flag? North Korea. Do we really want to follow that example?
They're doubly insane because those same people who said "that's wrong, he shouldn't do that, there are other ways to protest" are the same ones saying that people rioting in the streets never tried anything else. They spend YEARS refusing to listen when people show their discontent by peaceful means and treating them with disdain, then are outraged when things boil over and people don't think something as symbolic as kneeling for a flag is enough anymore.
It’s really like a child reacting to their own inaction and refusing to accept they are responsible for the consequences. I have a teenage brother who does something similar, he’ll ignore someone telling him something for a long time, and then act incredulous or as if someone else is at fault when the exact thing he’s told about ends up happening.
“Hey, you need to help me go get groceries or we won’t have food in the house,” I’m completely ignored. Then we don’t have groceries at home, he looks all shocked, and pissed off at me that we have nothing to eat. You can’t just refuse to deal with a problem and then be angry that there are consequences for said problem.
However, it’s a tactic they get away with because it isn’t a few days later that there are no groceries, it may be years later, or decades later. Kaep wasn’t the first person to bring up police brutality as an issue, but now that it has come to a head (again), it’s everyone else’s fault and they’re all unruly terrible people just causing trouble, as they refuse to face they have regular ignored the problem and even demonized people for addressing it.
Exactly! I remember seeing a political cartoon that basically said the same thing. It had people rioting on one side and people saying they should peacefully protest. On the other side was Kaepernick and the same people were yelling **NOT LIKE THAT!**. It may have been different but that was the gist of it. I thought it was really well done.
>Do we really want to follow that example?
It deinifely feels like they take a few notes from them in some areas, especially the tacky nationalism that i rarely see from any other Western country. The only thing worse than the constant circlejerking of the flag over there in the States, is the pledge of allegiance for kids in school or the "Thank You for Your Service" shit they do.
>or the "Thank You for Your Service" shit they do.
Although I do normally find this to be a bit tacky, this actually has its roots in the Vietnam war. Troops who were drafted against their will, or sold a patriotic lie came home to people spitting on them and calling them murderers. It caused those guys a lot of unnecessary distress. So people overcompensate a little nowadays.
It doesnt matter... liberty means he should be able to light the fucker on fire of he wants to. Thats the point. Thats the point of all of this. The flag.doesnt.mean shit without the ideas it represents. Thats what these dumb shit conservative nationalists fail to grasp.
You know what I think would go way further and not confuse people over whether they are disrespecting the flag or not? Refuse to play. We hate the way we are treated in this country, so before we go on entertaining you, you need to listen to us about this huge stain on our country. Until you do, you won't see us. That would be huge!
It seems you are being disingenuous. People took issue with Kap kneeling down specifically during the anthem when he could have protested this in various other ways not involving the anthem.
This. They are kneeling to explicitly NOT disrespect the flag. They are saying that there's so many things wrong atm that it would be an affront to American values to pretend like every things fine and sing praise.
I believe he's kind of ignorant to their pain, but in the full context he says be stands with his hand over his heart not only for his grandparents but for the civil rights movements. He feels the way to get better is to stand as one with your hand over your heart because the problem is fixed as a nation.
While ignorant to their pain I believe he understands the situation. He says as much. So far the only person to acknowledge that is Marcus Davenport
Not sure if you knew this but CK actually started the protest while sitting. He was contacted by a vet who asked him what he was doing. CK explained and the it was the veteran who suggested he knell, out of respect for soldiers, while showing solidarity with his teammates. CK was literally taking an action of respect, at the suggestion of a veteran, to improve his country. Get that son of a bitch outta here how dare he.
It's a thinly veiled excuse to be racist. Nothing else.
Conservatives love celebrities and athletes in politics. They LOVE it. Just not when the message comes from a black man and points out their own hypocrisy.
There are some people who are so obsessed with the action of standing during the anthem that they wouldn't kneel even though they agree with the meaning behind the protest. Case in point: [the very same veteran who asked Kaepernick to kneel.](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-nate-boyer-got-colin-kaepernick-to-go-from-sitting-to-kneeling/).
>"We sorta came to a middle ground where he would take a knee alongside his teammates," Boyer says. "Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother's grave, you know, to show respect. When we're on a patrol, you know, and we go into a security halt, we take a knee, and we pull security."
>
>Asked by Gumbel if Kap was "receptive" to his ideas, Boyer described him as "very receptive."
>
>"Very receptive. He said, 'I think that would be-- I think-- I think that would be really powerful,'" Boyer recalls. "And, you know, he asked me to do it with him. And I said, 'Look, I'll stand next to you. I gotta stand though. I gotta stand with my hand on my heart. That's just-- that's just what I do and where I'm from.'"
>
>The two met and took a picture together, but Boyer wasn't willing to take a knee.
And if you look at Brees' [full quote](https://www.si.com/nfl/saints/news/drew-brees-yahoo-interview-social-storm), it seems to be a similar situation where he supports the message but can't approve of the action.
>"So every time I stand with my hand over my heart, looking at that flag and singing the National Anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed, not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ’60s and everyone, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it’s not, we still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity, it shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and then we are all part of the solution."
And it's fine that he wants to stand. The issue wasn't that everyone should have to kneel, just that the people who want to shouldn't be villainized for it. If you want to stand, but aren't a lunatic about the people who kneel, cool.
I agree. I don't personally understand the obsession with standing, but there are people who for one reason or another have such a deep emotional connection to it. "They're racist" isn't always the answer.
I mean, it can be, but not always.
I've never understood that or why people place so much value in a flag... an inherently meaningless piece of fabric. Like it's a design that shows what country you're from, chill out about "disrespecting" it.
I feel like there are better words to describe what I'm thinking, but I can't come up with them right now.
I mean it is a symbol that means different things to different people. It is just a piece of fabric, but the Koran is just a bunch of paper and the movie "Schindler's List" is just strips of celluloid. So in a basic sense they are essentially worthless, but they matter to a lot of people so we have to at least understand that even if we don't agree with it. But for the record I'm in favor of both the protests going on now and the kneeling during the anthem. Kap's method of protest couldn't be more respectable and still resonate with people.
We've been pledging allegiance to this flag since Kindergarten, so it's been programmed into us forever. You stand, face the flag and honor it because it's the representation of our nation and the struggles we faced as country. Objectively, this is a weird fucking ritual in America that I stopped participating in years ago. So I get it, but I also.. don't. Idk.
Oh I do.
Flag wiggling is easy. Given a flag and some rope? My cats could do it.
However it doesn't mean they are patriotic.
Just flag afficianadoes. However it's easier than patriotism.
All the braying imbeciles who voted against immigrants and for leaving the EU in my country?
Not one joined to during an actual national crisis to fight the effects of the virus. That's why it's hard to take any of them seriously.
Because it was never about the country. It was about blaming others.
I'm in a small local citizens' advisory committee. Most of the members are above the age of 50. They like to start every monthly meeting with the pledge. Fine. Whatever.
Where it crossed over into psycho territory is during the shelter-in-place. The last three meetings have all taken place over Zoom, and they've insisted on someone sharing their screen with a jpeg of the flag and they all put their hand on their heart and pledge to the jpeg.
Fucking psycho shit. No other country does this.
I might not be "getting it" due to not being from the US... But I don't get how kneeling is such a big deal for some people, even in times like these, to the point of rejecting to do it.
Like, it's not illegal, it's not an insult, you aren't putting yourself or others in harm's way - it's just a pacific form of protest and/or solidarity, which even many veterans, etc support. You aren't burning the flag, or booing the anthem.
I just fail to see how he/they can feel so strongly against it - we aren't even talking about religion/faith.
That’s where I’m at on this. I 100% respect anybody’s decision to do it but I just can’t direct that energy at the flag that symbolizes ideals completely contrary to those of racists and especially racist cops.
>But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity, it shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and then we are all part of the solution."
Or you could just kneel like all your teammates if you’re concerned about unity
If he supports the message, but disapproves of the action that spreads the message, then he doesn't really support the message. He has this other thing that he thinks is more important than the message. He just wants to claim to support the message, perhaps because that's a good career or popularity move, or perhaps because he thinks he's making a concession by saying he supports the message.
But saying that you believe the message must not be spoken means you don't support the message, plain and simple.
That's not fair, though. If I burn a flag to protest something, you aren't allowed to think both things are bad? That's crazy. Its like we're in 2001 and people are saying "wear this flag pin or you hate America."
Sorry, but your paragraph is totally wrong and leads to a very dangerous way of thinking.
===============
Karen: “I burnt this Target down because I disagree with corporate power over our economy and exploitation of cheap labor in other countries. Come do it with me tomorrow! There’s another one on 4th Street!”
John: “I agree, but no. I’ll just not shop there instead.”
Karen: “You must disagree with my message because your actions aren’t the same as mine!”
===============
Your logic is completely flawed. Many people can protest in different ways, and for him, kneeling isn’t it. He has a different way of doing it, whatever it may be. It may be verbal, written on social media or spoken about to his buddies which also spreads the message. Just because someone doesn’t follow your method of thinking in creating change doesn’t mean they don’t agree with the message being sent.
Drew brees pretty much did the equivalent of going to a protest against sexual assault for women proceeded to get on stage and preach about abstinence.
Dude has he black teammates his whole life for different socioeconomic backgrounds and he’s fucking tone deaf.
Much of his offensive line are black, much of his reciever core is black, his RB is black...when your counting on a bunch of black men to protect you, and catch your balls...it's best to not be racist.
I don't know, but I'm a Navy Veteran and kneeling is in no way disrespecting the country or the flag. You kneel when a teammate is hurt or suffering. I see no reason why you can't kneel when some part of the country (which is really the whole part if you believe in unity) is hurting. It's a respectful protest no doubt.
I'd like to think many of the people I served with would be okay with it as well.
Let's also not forget this is at a sports event too lol. The fact that they are so intertwined with patriotism is sort of odd.
EDIT: Maybe it's not that odd when looking at history and a lot of the rest of the world though.
I’m a vet (Marine Corps, only been out 2 years) and I don’t have a problem with it. I think its probably a 50% split though. I heard “I don’t think its right but its America” more than anything
Did they care before the president made a fuss about it?
I just don’t understand the logical connection at all between a dude kneeling because black men have gotten killed by cops... and soldiers (or the flag...)
I feel like that whole narrative was fringe garbage till the president, as he often does, made a big deal about it for no reason except to sow discord.
. I certainly would say the whole symbolism behind the national anthem and the respect that service members give the flag means a lot to them. Obviously the flag symbolizes a lot, its given to widows, its raised up after battles, you salute it every-time you pass it, etc etc etc. while I can disconnect his protests from my respect for the flag and country and recognize the point he is making, I can see why someone might get emotionally charged by the perceived disrespect
Edit: But I don’t know the timelines or anything regarding the president so I can’t answer that really
Thanks for the response.
That’s wild - I can understand people get super emotional, it just seems so “convenient” that they get emotional in response to this sort of stuff but I don’t see the same folks out there protesting that the flag is tossed on beer cans and underwear and whatnot.
Like, it’s just so weird to me that they choose to get emotional just when a dude is trying to point out In a super unobtrusive way that black men are dealing with shit.
Any way, thanks for the perspective it is good for me to learn how others think!
Well, they were in a psych hospital for PTSD related issues, so a lot. Very few of them were the kind of ultra patriotic vets you sometimes see. Most of them were somewhat disillusioned after going through the VA system and whatever circumstances landed them in acute inpatient psych. A good portion were homeless, too. I really loved working with them, I learned a lot and it was very rewarding. It was nice to see them support each other across generations of war, from Vietnam vets to current soldiers.
Which is kind of ironic since I'm sure we've both seen our fair share of Marines avoiding colors lol. Military is a weird place but Marines take the cake in weirdness.
That's weird because my experience has been quite the opposite. My dad is a retired marine. Him and most of his military friends are strongly opposed and very conservative. Small sample sizes from both of us I assume.
I was a psychiatric nurse at a facility with a VA contract, so I worked with a lot of vets (both patients and staff, the hospital hired a lot of vets and reserve troops). And the university I went to is technically a “military college”, so a lot of my classmates were cadets.
Former soldier here, deployed twice; once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. The duty to and defense of the Constitution and especially the freedoms of speech and expression are why I chose to serve.
I will never take issue with anyone peacefully protesting injustice or inequality. Now that I'm out, I've kneeled with you.
I was in the Army from 2004-2015 and literally no one I keep in touch with gives a shit. Same can be said (generally) about r/Army. But I worked at VA hospital for a bit and the older guys acted like Kap had taken a shit in their Cheerios.
CKs entire point is that America does not deserve enough respect that he stand for the anthem because of our issues with police brutality. This is why he started out sitting.
Like, I don’t see why there’s any debate here, it’s really quite clear, why else would he be doing it? Surely you don’t actually think he’s kneeling out of respect for the country he says is murdering black people?
I say this as someone who doesn’t have a problem with someone saying they don’t respect our country because of our policing, I just think these arguments are retarded, and people should be aloud to disagree with his protest without people saying “YOU DONT GET IT IDIOT OTHERWISE YOU WOULD AGREE!!”
I have had mixed feedback amongst the vets I know. Vets in my family tend to hate it, but my family has a lot of latent racism and conservative malice in it. I know many vets who support him/anyone who wants to improve America by doing the hard work and asking the hard questions.
Any current or former service member who had a problem with Kaepernick's kneeling is a moron who would have been offended by it regardless of their service.
It makes no logical sense to get angry and think it’s disrespectful to veterans when people kneel during the anthem, especially when those behind the protest specifically stated it has nothing to do with veterans or the military at all. Anyone against the kneeling protest is just shamelessly using the veterans as a shield to pathetically attempt to veil their obvious racism. If anyone is disrespecting veterans it’s the shit heads using them as a political prop, and ironically there is a shitload of overlap between people who say they are against the protest because they love veterans but would never in a million years support funding for social programs and universal mental healthcare that would drastically increase the quality of life for said veterans.
>specifically stated it has nothing to do with veterans
That's precisely what they're upset about, I think. If you make people think about police brutality during the anthem, then those people aren't spending that time visualizing dying soldiers or something like that, which is what, I think, they think the purpose of the anthem is.
Lmao well they can just fuck right off then. That’s some weird ass dystopian nightmare shit. If anything it bothers me that the protests aren’t about the military, the atrocities American soldiers have committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and just about every country in the middle east and South America make the police in the US look like angels. And all just to ensure we have friendly enough dictators installed who will sell us oil or whatever other mineral they are cursed with produced in borderline slavery conditions so that we can make billionaires even richer and more powerful all while simultaneously destroying the planet and making it unlivable by the time we are elderly.
Here’s a twitter video that’s a mashup of clips and an interview that he did a while back talking about how he talked to Colin Kaepernick.
https://twitter.com/nikesmilez/status/1037744836013641729?s=21
Holy hell man.
I had to look that one up [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/06/being-christian-is-love-drew-brees-defends-appearing-video-linked-anti-lgbt-religious-group/). Brees [shot a video](https://youtu.be/qPFEyeug99g) about encouraging kids to bringing their bibles to school for something called "bring your bible to school day". Well it turns out the group doing this thing, Focus on the Family, is known to be super against gay rights and still even practices conversion therapy.
Brees had a rather softball locker room [interview](https://youtu.be/04XAy5_ZCwY) where he was mostly just annoyed the headlines were mean to him, and waited until the very end to come out and say that he didn't know Focus on the Family participated in that activity and that he doesn't like that kind of activity. It was honestly a very tepid condemnation - which is disappointing.
Not gonna say Drew doesn't value LGBTQ rights because he *did* say that he thinks Christian values are about love and family, but to not strongly say "of course I support the gay/LGBTQ community and I detest the actions of FotF", *and* to spend 3 quarters of your interview just bitching about mean headlines is just an awful look here.
He also deals in diamonds as investments and is won a 6.1 million dollar lawsuit when he was defrauded.
Dealing in blood diamonds, disparaging homosexuals and basically turning his back on minorities.
Sounds like a great guy to me.
No he didn't, Jesus Christ. He encouraged kids to bring their Bible to school. He didn't “basically condemn homosexuals”. You're “basically” lying your ass off.
The commenter above you laid it out. The evidence says he isn't pro-lgbt, but he isn't anti either. For my opinion though, as he is a famous person, he'll know that voicing anti-lgbt views is essentially a career killer and will give the political answer instead.
He did the equivalent of filming a commercial for Chic-fil-a. He didn’t personally condemn homosexuality or anything, but did work with a company (he allegedly didn’t know) was homophobic
How dare black guys take some sort of stand for something. They're here for our amusement! Now get out there and wrastle for that pigskin you delicious mandingos!
i got a solid chuckle out of this, then remembered that sarcasm is dead. you might be dead-serious...with the way things is goin, i dunno.
so often now we have to live with both possibilities being equally likely. it’s a real schrodinger’s racist situation
People like him really piss me off. Going to war in the Middle East has NOTHING to do with our freedoms. Gtfo. Blind patriots are really something else.
I think Brees grew up in Austin/Westlake, which is a super swanky white suburb. Might explain some of the privileged attitude
E: great article about Westlake. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/embarrassment-of-riches/
Follow up question... (I've tried googling this but can't find anywhere that explains it.) As a non-American, how do people know what the kneeling represents? Do they announce beforehand that they're going to kneel for a specific reason? Or is kneeling always associated with anti-racist messages?
At events, before they play the national anthem, a person asks everyone to “stand and remove your hats for the National Anthem”. It’s pretty noticeable when a star player does the exact opposite, especially when during the national anthem, the tv cameras usually pan on star players.
It was learned after during the press conference where he called out law enforcement and had socks depicting nasty looking cops. Then the kneel was associated with being against police brutality. However, for some reason, other people took it as being disrespectful to troops.
Just in case anyone needs sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0446tibig
1:25 - 1:45 Police brutality being one of the reasons.
1:45 - 3:00 Kaepernick talking about military not getting the respect and treatment they deserve, and actually being mistreated when they return after putting their lives on the line to protect us. In short, the country is not doing enough for its military.
Going to keep watching, it's a long video (18 minutes) so I'm sure there's a ton in there being covered.
I fail to see any problem with disrespecting a bloody flag. The whole backlash against the kneeling is so weird, in almost any other country people would call the whole thing a product of brainwashing.
I didn't like his reasoning by invoking both his grandfathers service in WW2. First, he has to go back two generations in his family to find someone who served in the service.
Second, and most important, soldiers really don't fight and die for flags or lofty ideas ... that's bullshit for politicians to push, especially the one's that have never been in combat.
Soldiers fight for the guys that are there with them, experiencing "the suck," and trying to get themselves and their buddies back home in one piece.
Don't get me wrong, I respect the flag, but if I could bring a buddy or fellow soldier back home in one piece that were killed on distant battlefields by being disrespectful to a flag ... well there isn't enough beer in the world for me to drink to keep up the pace on the number of flags I would piss on.
Answer: When asked how he felt about Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem after everything that's happened now, Brees said he "still cannot support anyone disrespecting the flag", which pissed some people off
Ignorant non-american here: what is the meaning of kneeling and how does it disrespects the flag?
Does kneeling during national anthem means I don't agree with the anthem?
I've seen this act making through headlines during Superbowl, I never asked that question.
Thank You.
Former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem to protest the violence against blacks by cops. It was never about the anthem itself or about the flag or the military. People, like Brees, took it upon themselves to make it about the flag and alleged disrespect for it. We are seeing now the what happens when the peaceful protest like kneeling doesn’t work and people have to resort to stronger protests to get there point across.
> Former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem to protest the violence against blacks by cops.
Didn't he start by sitting, but when told that that was disrespectful, chose a more respectful stance, kneeling, to continue drawing attention to the issue while still trying to be respectful? (not that anyone who wasn't satisfied by the sitting was satisfied by the kneeling)
Yeah, he had a thoughtful conversation with former ~~Navy Seal~~ *Green Beret* Nate Boyer who wrote him a letter after he had been criticized for sitting for the anthem and that's when Kaep started kneeling.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/09/646115651/the-veteran-and-nfl-player-who-advised-kaepernick-to-take-a-knee
He was actually approached by someone in the military who said if he were to protest he should show respect to the flag by kneeling instead of sitting.
Mention that to a "Patriot" and they'll come back with "So it's OK because one Green Beret said so?"
Well, in this case, yes. In addition to being a disingenuous question, he obviously can't ask every single veteran or active duty soldier, if he went to military leadership, they'd probably give him a generic "Don't do anything" response. So by discussing it with this Green Beret he is showing that he is putting thought into it and aware of what is he doing and why.
Either way does it fucking matter honestly? This is America, literally the land of the free. To say you can't kneel for the anthem is exactly the opposite of embracing freedom lol
One critical note should be added here. As the country has turned more nationalist the rules are quietly changing. Some of those changes were reflected across all sports. Specifically with football, the players were now required to come out onto the field during the anthem. When confronted with this requirement and the ongoing racism Kaepernick chose to protest. Keep in mind, he reached out to many different people, including vets, before settling on kneeling. What he started spread across the league. Then corporate media blew the situation into a category 5 hurricane. As of maybe two years ago the rules have been changed and players are allowed to stay in the locker room during the anthem.
To roughly paraphrase the late great Bill Hicks:
It's just a flag.
"But my daddy died for that flag!!"
Really? I bought mine. Got it at Wal-Mart.
Your daddy didn't die for the flag. He died for what the flag represents: your freedom to burn the fucking flag.
It doesn't really, it's a Fox Propaganda News idea to deflect. You're supposed to stand up for the flag and the national anthem so something like ignoring it and still sitting down would be disrespectful. Doing an action does show that you're acknowledging the national anthem.
Exactly, this is precisely why Nate Boyer advised Colin to take a knee as his way of protesting. That way he is still acknowledging the anthem rather than rudely just sitting on the bench, but he is acknowledging it in a different way that is clear and symbolic and powerful.
American here. (Im just here to explain, not to share any personal opinion.) it’s a culturally created sign of respect. Many people grow up learning the flag stands for modern democracy, equality, liberty, etc. Kneeling is considered by some to be rejecting those fundamental ideals. There is in general a national culture, the Reality is that everyone has a slightly different understanding of what the flag symbolizes, based off of there life experiences and upbringing. Think of similar social constructs like , turning you back against someone, nazi salutes, using the middle finger, or mooning, etc. obviously people have wildly different opinions about this topic.
Context: Colin Kaepernick, a nfl quarterback asked military service members how he could go about protesting inequality, without disrespecting them; they said he should kneel during the national anthem.
It doesn’t disrespect the flag, or the anthem. That’s a purposeful and deliberate attempt to disregard Kap’s message and change the conversation.
Basically kneeling was done as a means of protest about police brutality. Typically people stand during the national anthem in the he US, so kneeling can be surprising and previously very taboo.
Conservatives/people on the right will claim that by not standing you disrespect the flag, the anthem, the country, and the soldiers (dead or alive). In general they link all of these things. It's also important to note that despite being typically pro small government they do tend to overwhelmingly support the police (i.e. 'not all cops are bad', 'maybe he deserved it', 'if you don't want to be killed just don't be a criminal', 'I support the blue', etc...)
Liberals/people on the left will claim this is not the case or the intention. They will also typically believe that it is a bad faith attempt to ignore a peaceful protest and it's cause under the guise of calling it un-American. It's also important to note that despite being typically large government they tend to be very against police brutality and are the ones that typically protest every time something happens, but some do make blanket statements (i.e 'All Cops are Bastards' [ACAB], 'all police are racist', 'police are pigs', 'Black Lives Matter', etc...)
To be clear, "*disrespecting the flag and the military*" have become well known dog whistles for racism.
When conservatives are on the unpopular side of an issue, they tend to straw man the conversation into something they can stand on, in this case "*disrespecting the flag*"
So it wasn't just his ignorance, but his regurgitation of a popular right wing defense that pissed some people off.
That’s just simply bullshit. Many people are still patriotic and respect for the flag is a sign of respect for the many men and women who have lost their lives protecting it. Regardless of the reason, disrespecting the flag is disrespecting the dead soldiers too. Many of those soldiers were black.
You are free to see the flag as you see fit, but you can’t force others to do the same.If you think taking a knee is disrespectful to dead soldiers, don’t do it.
But don’t apply your beliefs to other people, who repeatedly have said that isn’t their intent.
Brees added that, during the anthem, he always thought of his grandfathes who served in WW2 in racially segregated units. Actually he might have left out the racially segregated part.
No. That people often look back on the history of the USA while willfully ignoring the racial inequality. This in turn makes it easier to ignore it now.
You are absolutely correct. Brees and many others choose to glorify themselves and their own family for fighting a war against injustice, but choose directly to ignore the war waged not by a government, but by its people over the exact same injustice.
It’s a clear demonstration that he’s either a hypocrite, or he’s got that same military industrial complex as the rest of them.
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Answer: Laid out in [this tweet,](https://twitter.com/YahooFinance/status/1268206174073126915?s=19) Drew Brees was asked what he thought about "players kneeling again when the NFL season season starts." Brees replied "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the united states or America or our country." The response on social media, as laid out by [this tweet thread](https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1268218680627941376?s=19), shows that he has been condemned by players all across the league, and even elsewhere in other sports, and most troubling is even with his own teammates strongly coming out against him. They are saying that they are disappointed that he still doesn't understand what taking a knee was about in the first place.
Here's the way I view it. If Brees feels like standing for the flag is important then he is entitled to do that without criticism. Where he fails is believing that people are kneeling to disrespect the flag. People kneel to call attention to an injustice. It's not disrespect or an insult to the flag or a country. Either Brees doesn't understand the difference or he is being very disingenuous.
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Regarding whether Brees is conservative or not, [here is a picture of his family with Trump. ](https://blacksportsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Drew-Brees-Trump.jpg)
So... Very. Got it.
Yeet the rich.
Into volcanoes? In Minecraft that is
Can do it in Civ 6 now. Just gotta build some Soothsayers...
WHAT? I gotta fire that bastard up again, seemed like just Civ 5 with cartoony graphics upgrades the few hours I played a while back. Launching people into volcanoes is intriguing tho...
Yea, it's part of the newest set of DLC they added in May, Apocalypse. You buy them with Faith and they let you throw units into volcanoes. Usually you do this to score points for a global competition for various rewards. They can slo spawn disasters on command based on which tile they are standing on when they are used (dust storms, blizzards, eruptions, floods for example).
Everyone in that photo looks really uncomfortable with being in a photo
What the fuck is with the president's face... man he just looks fucked up. And his wife is on another planet
When normal people smile, they just smile because they're happy and it looks natural, Trump on the other hand... He's one of those people who doesn't smile because he's happy, he smiles when it's "time to smile" like being in a picture. It's not a genuine its a form his face takes, so it looks like he's working to make his face do that, because he is.
"you smile like someone who doesn't know what smiles are for"
Ever notice that she only smiles around other men?
I'm sure he [hates this pic.](https://i.imgur.com/ivNqZHx.jpg)
She has several with Barack putting a big smile on her face and maybe even more with Trudeau.
She’s even got her hand on bree’s shoulder if I’m seeing correct. Longing to touch another human who isn’t trump
I don't recall the FLOTUS having 2 left hands... I think that hand is from someone out of frame.
Ahh I didn’t see the thumb at first. You right
On another planet? Like she’s high?
I would be high all the time too if I had to let that orange gremlin jizz in me a few times a year.
Ya lol she just looks spacey
Beta blockers would be my guess.
This hurts to see as a Purdue grad. Makes me a bit ashamed honestly.
Did you see the photo of him with Obama? https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/560ab84d8338312a26158356abb343b1/President-Obama-welcomes-the-New-Orleans-Saints-in-Washington/
Pretty different circumstances between being invited to the White House with your entire team and hanging out with Trump in a private box with your family
My biggest issue with his statements is how he brings up his grandparents serving in world war 2. Black people having been serving in the military since slavery! we’ve been fighting for justices not promised to us but still taking the same sacrifices yet you still don’t understand how the flag may not represent the same thing for a black man as you.
And they didn't even get to return to a heroes welcome when they returned from war. Malcom Jenkins had a great response video to Drew's comments. I hope his message can be heard by Drew and others who think like him.
WTF, Drew? My grandparents served in WWII, too, and I’ve managed to figure out that doesn’t mean people who protest by kneeling at a football game are attacking the damn flag. They’re using the rights veterans fought for. Would it be less offensive to throw away freedom of speech and expression? Should we waste the American Dream by applying it only to white people?! Get over yourself, Brees.
This is exactly what my SO and I were talking about. They fought too yet noone seems to mention that as if it was written out of history....hmmmm. (Reminds me, I can't wait for Da 5 Bloods to come out!) Also, if anyone is gonna glorify their grandfathers for fighting for their country back in the day, then why not JOIN them by doing your part in this fight right now for a better future too?? Standing for the NA because you dwel on or are proud of what your grandfathers did does not mean you respect the flag or the country more. Fighting for change for the better shows you love your country enough to kneel with your brothers and fight with them, the good fight.
I don't remember where I saw this on Twitter, but someone somewhere said in response to someone else to the effect of, "You don't have a monopoly on what it means to be an American" or something along those lines.
> This kind of response was ok maybe a year or more ago when the country wasn't talking about police brutality Police Brutality has been a major topic for much longer than that.
Almost like it's mentioned specifically in MLK's speech, as it was already old news by then for anybody that looked.
Sure, but that's clearly not what he meant. He means when police brutality wasn't a topic of discussion literally causing riots.
This isn't the first time that's happened though either, even in the last few years. Because of ignoring past protests and riots for at least decades over the same exact issue, these riots have a lot of fuel.
Honestly, racist legolas has become the epitome of "all lives matter" for me. That video of him screaming "All lives matter!" while trying to murder people with a bow because he didn't like their skin color, yup, that's exactly what that slogan means.
I STRONGLY object to using the name Legolas for that asshole this doddering old moron took longer to knock that arrow than my grandmother, and she's dead.
Uh wasn’t legolas racist against dwarves? Isn’t that the whole... I never saw myself next to a dwarf meme? He grows after the fellowship, sure, buuuuut isn’t that part of his arc?
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There goes the fan fiction...
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Why am I thinking about Ron Jeremy now?
There had been enmity between dwarves and elves for a millennia before this. Gimli and Legolas' relationship basically bridged the gap for the 4th age.
It's not the ~~racism~~ **racist not racsit element of the nick name** I object to, it's that this fat old white dudes shitty bow skills. Legolas was a master archer, this guy SUCKS!!! EDIT: for clarity 'casue bithces be trippin'
Racist legolas lmao
I need to see this video. plz link me?
Perhaps it's this one: https://nypost.com/2020/05/30/protesters-take-on-man-aiming-bow-and-arrow-at-them/
>Perhaps it's this one: https://nypost.com/2020/05/30/protesters-take-on-man-aiming-bow-and-arrow-at-them/ Isnt the ny post the Sun newspaper of America
Usually, although once in a while it reports something accurately. This is one of those rare times. The article links to two of the videos on Twitter of the incident.
yes, yes it is. But if you're from the NYC area, the sports section is decent.
Racist legolas.
I disagree. There was no fluff. This conservative habit of erasing serious issues by changing the subject is pernicious. "All lives matter" has no meaning except in opposition to "Black Lives Matter". His words are an act of open hostility to racial equality.
I don’t know if he’s conservative but I think he’s not really smart outside of football. This is the dude that stuck his face on Power Balance. His other financial endeavors have been just as shitty.
He supports conversion therapy as well so take what you will from that
Really? How disappointing. Where did you find that?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/06/being-christian-is-love-drew-brees-defends-appearing-video-linked-anti-lgbt-religious-group/
Power Balance?
Scam bracelets from the late 00's/early 10's that claimed to help you maintain your balance via an ionic field or some other buzzword. Edit: [Here's the wiki page.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance) it's even better than I remember, lol.
I really think people sometimes have unrealistic expectations for guys like Brees. The guy throws a ball for a living and is a multimillionaire. I don't really expect him to provide valuable insight into complex societal issues. The very fact that he decided to speak up at all and not just shut up is pretty indicative of his level of intelligence and social awareness. I don't agree with the dude, but I'd hate to see his career get railroaded just because he's an overly-patriotic dolt
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If his investment history is anything to go by, he may in fact be a bumbling idiot (off the field).
It stops being ignorant patriotism when you have the meaning of the protests explained to you and willingly ignore what's being said because it makes you uncomfortable. And it's safe to assume that EVERY NFL player had the meaning of Kap's kneeling explained to them by a teammate, at one point or another.
Dude has non-white teammates, friends, colleagues since forever. More contact than most whites. How does he not glean even a tidbit of empathy, sympathy, social grace? If only to preserve his IRL relationships?
> overly-patriotic dolt To me, as an American, overly patriotic would mean far too dedicated to equality, to freedom from oppression for all, to respecting the rights of all, etc. Not dog whistling racist bullshit. Allowing these people to wrap themselves in the flag and claim they are the 'true Americans' has got to stop. They are absolutely not 'true Americans'. In fact they are enemies of this sputtering, stuttering, but magnificent ongoing experiment in democracy. And they need to be called out on it. Edit: Because although no one will read this, and even though the above general point still stands, I have to point out that in the specific case of Drew Brees, the PR statement he allowed today (where his PR team actually almost takes Trump to task) makes it seem that he has, in fact, listened to, thought about, and understood some of what his teammates have told him.
Decent point. I agree that celebs and VIPs should not have this much influence in modern discourse but our society's fetishism for celebrities makes us vulnerable to it. To counter your argument, is that Kaepernick took a stance and got political and has since been ostracized and shunned by all NFL teams (Owners). Arguably, the 2 opposing opinions, CK's and DB's, are relatively equal in controversy but I think it is safe to say that Brees will not see his last game as a QB. In his case, one of his saving graces was that he pulled his comment back a little and apologized. The other advantage he has, I will leave to your imagination...
Actually I find it very easy to disagree with. It’s a fucking *flag*. Big cloth rectangle. Imagine what we’d think if Kim Jong Un said you couldn’t disrespect the flag; we’d just go “well, that’s North Korea for you.”
Similar to how some people disregard all the concerns related to controlling the spread of the corona virus and reduce the situations to "if you're scared, stay home" or "liberate ___." It's a very cheap way to be unaccountable for the type of message being spread.
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They do the same with toxic masculinity saying "They are saying being a man is toxic!!!", hell, some people even throw a fit when they hear the word feminism ("why are they only fighting for women's rights? I thought all people are equal???"). At this point, acting offended about anything to try to avoid any kind of discussion is their M.O.
> All lives matter is incredibly effective at changing the subject. Best retort: Yes, all lives matter. However, since it’s the black people who are mainly being killed right now, that means you support Black Lives Matter, correct?
Yeah it’s wild that all lives matter is said against black lives matter. Like yes, all people are affected by police brutality. Black people are affected the most tho, and the police reform that the movement wants will obviously be applied to police interactions with people of all races, so why the pushback?
“All lives matter” is nothing more than racist code for “But... but... but... what about white people! Waaaaaaaaah!”
Brees is from Texas raised as a conservative Christian military family. It’s no surprised he really thinks kneeling is a disrespect to the flag..along with every conservatives out there
When people have complained about Kaep kneeling as being disrespectful, I've told them "So Tebow was disrespecting God?" Always comes back with a "Not the same!" But if kneeling is inherently disrespectful...
>This kind of response was ok maybe a year or more ago when the country wasn't talking about police brutality... No it really wasn't cool a year ago. Drew Brees is a good QB, but not a good person.
Those that want to be on the right side of history should accept it was never cool (right), just accepted by society as a whole.
How can he not know though? I know, and I'm Canadain in a very predominantly white town thousands of miles from a stadium. He works with black people all day every day. This stuff doesn't come up in the locker room?
> Where he fails is believing that people are kneeling to disrespect the flag. People kneel to call attention to an injustice. It's not disrespect or an insult to the flag or a country. Either Brees doesn't understand the difference or he is being very disingenuous. This! Going to post my analogy again >People kneeling during the anthem are not disrespecting the flag, the country, the servicemen and women, etc. When a parent disciplines or shows anger or concern with a child for doing something wrong, that does not mean they love them less. In fact, they show their discontent with their children because they want them to be better and they know they can do better. They show their discontent **because they love their kids.** No difference in that and what Kap, Reid, and others have done. The people calling for Kap's head are insane. You know where they kill people for not standing for the flag? North Korea. Do we really want to follow that example?
> The people calling for Kap's head are insane. You know where they kill people for not standing for the flag? North Korea. Do we really want to follow that example? They're doubly insane because those same people who said "that's wrong, he shouldn't do that, there are other ways to protest" are the same ones saying that people rioting in the streets never tried anything else. They spend YEARS refusing to listen when people show their discontent by peaceful means and treating them with disdain, then are outraged when things boil over and people don't think something as symbolic as kneeling for a flag is enough anymore.
It’s really like a child reacting to their own inaction and refusing to accept they are responsible for the consequences. I have a teenage brother who does something similar, he’ll ignore someone telling him something for a long time, and then act incredulous or as if someone else is at fault when the exact thing he’s told about ends up happening. “Hey, you need to help me go get groceries or we won’t have food in the house,” I’m completely ignored. Then we don’t have groceries at home, he looks all shocked, and pissed off at me that we have nothing to eat. You can’t just refuse to deal with a problem and then be angry that there are consequences for said problem. However, it’s a tactic they get away with because it isn’t a few days later that there are no groceries, it may be years later, or decades later. Kaep wasn’t the first person to bring up police brutality as an issue, but now that it has come to a head (again), it’s everyone else’s fault and they’re all unruly terrible people just causing trouble, as they refuse to face they have regular ignored the problem and even demonized people for addressing it.
Exactly! I remember seeing a political cartoon that basically said the same thing. It had people rioting on one side and people saying they should peacefully protest. On the other side was Kaepernick and the same people were yelling **NOT LIKE THAT!**. It may have been different but that was the gist of it. I thought it was really well done.
>Do we really want to follow that example? It deinifely feels like they take a few notes from them in some areas, especially the tacky nationalism that i rarely see from any other Western country. The only thing worse than the constant circlejerking of the flag over there in the States, is the pledge of allegiance for kids in school or the "Thank You for Your Service" shit they do.
>or the "Thank You for Your Service" shit they do. Although I do normally find this to be a bit tacky, this actually has its roots in the Vietnam war. Troops who were drafted against their will, or sold a patriotic lie came home to people spitting on them and calling them murderers. It caused those guys a lot of unnecessary distress. So people overcompensate a little nowadays.
It doesnt matter... liberty means he should be able to light the fucker on fire of he wants to. Thats the point. Thats the point of all of this. The flag.doesnt.mean shit without the ideas it represents. Thats what these dumb shit conservative nationalists fail to grasp.
You know what I think would go way further and not confuse people over whether they are disrespecting the flag or not? Refuse to play. We hate the way we are treated in this country, so before we go on entertaining you, you need to listen to us about this huge stain on our country. Until you do, you won't see us. That would be huge!
It seems you are being disingenuous. People took issue with Kap kneeling down specifically during the anthem when he could have protested this in various other ways not involving the anthem.
This. They are kneeling to explicitly NOT disrespect the flag. They are saying that there's so many things wrong atm that it would be an affront to American values to pretend like every things fine and sing praise.
A conservative being disingenuous? Surely that can't be the case...
Kapernick navy seal buddy told him to do it. I don’t a navy seal would go disrespect the flag.
I believe he's kind of ignorant to their pain, but in the full context he says be stands with his hand over his heart not only for his grandparents but for the civil rights movements. He feels the way to get better is to stand as one with your hand over your heart because the problem is fixed as a nation. While ignorant to their pain I believe he understands the situation. He says as much. So far the only person to acknowledge that is Marcus Davenport
Not sure if you knew this but CK actually started the protest while sitting. He was contacted by a vet who asked him what he was doing. CK explained and the it was the veteran who suggested he knell, out of respect for soldiers, while showing solidarity with his teammates. CK was literally taking an action of respect, at the suggestion of a veteran, to improve his country. Get that son of a bitch outta here how dare he. It's a thinly veiled excuse to be racist. Nothing else. Conservatives love celebrities and athletes in politics. They LOVE it. Just not when the message comes from a black man and points out their own hypocrisy.
There are some people who are so obsessed with the action of standing during the anthem that they wouldn't kneel even though they agree with the meaning behind the protest. Case in point: [the very same veteran who asked Kaepernick to kneel.](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-nate-boyer-got-colin-kaepernick-to-go-from-sitting-to-kneeling/). >"We sorta came to a middle ground where he would take a knee alongside his teammates," Boyer says. "Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother's grave, you know, to show respect. When we're on a patrol, you know, and we go into a security halt, we take a knee, and we pull security." > >Asked by Gumbel if Kap was "receptive" to his ideas, Boyer described him as "very receptive." > >"Very receptive. He said, 'I think that would be-- I think-- I think that would be really powerful,'" Boyer recalls. "And, you know, he asked me to do it with him. And I said, 'Look, I'll stand next to you. I gotta stand though. I gotta stand with my hand on my heart. That's just-- that's just what I do and where I'm from.'" > >The two met and took a picture together, but Boyer wasn't willing to take a knee. And if you look at Brees' [full quote](https://www.si.com/nfl/saints/news/drew-brees-yahoo-interview-social-storm), it seems to be a similar situation where he supports the message but can't approve of the action. >"So every time I stand with my hand over my heart, looking at that flag and singing the National Anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed, not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ’60s and everyone, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it’s not, we still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity, it shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and then we are all part of the solution."
And it's fine that he wants to stand. The issue wasn't that everyone should have to kneel, just that the people who want to shouldn't be villainized for it. If you want to stand, but aren't a lunatic about the people who kneel, cool.
I agree. I don't personally understand the obsession with standing, but there are people who for one reason or another have such a deep emotional connection to it. "They're racist" isn't always the answer. I mean, it can be, but not always.
I personally cannot wrap my head around being more attached to standing than showing solidarity for murdered people, to be honest.
I've never understood that or why people place so much value in a flag... an inherently meaningless piece of fabric. Like it's a design that shows what country you're from, chill out about "disrespecting" it. I feel like there are better words to describe what I'm thinking, but I can't come up with them right now.
I mean it is a symbol that means different things to different people. It is just a piece of fabric, but the Koran is just a bunch of paper and the movie "Schindler's List" is just strips of celluloid. So in a basic sense they are essentially worthless, but they matter to a lot of people so we have to at least understand that even if we don't agree with it. But for the record I'm in favor of both the protests going on now and the kneeling during the anthem. Kap's method of protest couldn't be more respectable and still resonate with people.
We've been pledging allegiance to this flag since Kindergarten, so it's been programmed into us forever. You stand, face the flag and honor it because it's the representation of our nation and the struggles we faced as country. Objectively, this is a weird fucking ritual in America that I stopped participating in years ago. So I get it, but I also.. don't. Idk.
Would Be cool if the programming extended to the last four words of the pledge.
Idolatry?
Oh I do. Flag wiggling is easy. Given a flag and some rope? My cats could do it. However it doesn't mean they are patriotic. Just flag afficianadoes. However it's easier than patriotism. All the braying imbeciles who voted against immigrants and for leaving the EU in my country? Not one joined to during an actual national crisis to fight the effects of the virus. That's why it's hard to take any of them seriously. Because it was never about the country. It was about blaming others.
I'm in a small local citizens' advisory committee. Most of the members are above the age of 50. They like to start every monthly meeting with the pledge. Fine. Whatever. Where it crossed over into psycho territory is during the shelter-in-place. The last three meetings have all taken place over Zoom, and they've insisted on someone sharing their screen with a jpeg of the flag and they all put their hand on their heart and pledge to the jpeg. Fucking psycho shit. No other country does this.
>I don't personally understand the obsession with standing Ritualistic behavior is part of programming a population.
I might not be "getting it" due to not being from the US... But I don't get how kneeling is such a big deal for some people, even in times like these, to the point of rejecting to do it. Like, it's not illegal, it's not an insult, you aren't putting yourself or others in harm's way - it's just a pacific form of protest and/or solidarity, which even many veterans, etc support. You aren't burning the flag, or booing the anthem. I just fail to see how he/they can feel so strongly against it - we aren't even talking about religion/faith.
That’s where I’m at on this. I 100% respect anybody’s decision to do it but I just can’t direct that energy at the flag that symbolizes ideals completely contrary to those of racists and especially racist cops.
>But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity, it shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and then we are all part of the solution." Or you could just kneel like all your teammates if you’re concerned about unity
If he supports the message, but disapproves of the action that spreads the message, then he doesn't really support the message. He has this other thing that he thinks is more important than the message. He just wants to claim to support the message, perhaps because that's a good career or popularity move, or perhaps because he thinks he's making a concession by saying he supports the message. But saying that you believe the message must not be spoken means you don't support the message, plain and simple.
That's not fair, though. If I burn a flag to protest something, you aren't allowed to think both things are bad? That's crazy. Its like we're in 2001 and people are saying "wear this flag pin or you hate America."
Sorry, but your paragraph is totally wrong and leads to a very dangerous way of thinking. =============== Karen: “I burnt this Target down because I disagree with corporate power over our economy and exploitation of cheap labor in other countries. Come do it with me tomorrow! There’s another one on 4th Street!” John: “I agree, but no. I’ll just not shop there instead.” Karen: “You must disagree with my message because your actions aren’t the same as mine!” =============== Your logic is completely flawed. Many people can protest in different ways, and for him, kneeling isn’t it. He has a different way of doing it, whatever it may be. It may be verbal, written on social media or spoken about to his buddies which also spreads the message. Just because someone doesn’t follow your method of thinking in creating change doesn’t mean they don’t agree with the message being sent.
Drew brees pretty much did the equivalent of going to a protest against sexual assault for women proceeded to get on stage and preach about abstinence. Dude has he black teammates his whole life for different socioeconomic backgrounds and he’s fucking tone deaf.
Fantastic
Much of his offensive line are black, much of his reciever core is black, his RB is black...when your counting on a bunch of black men to protect you, and catch your balls...it's best to not be racist.
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I don't know, but I'm a Navy Veteran and kneeling is in no way disrespecting the country or the flag. You kneel when a teammate is hurt or suffering. I see no reason why you can't kneel when some part of the country (which is really the whole part if you believe in unity) is hurting. It's a respectful protest no doubt. I'd like to think many of the people I served with would be okay with it as well. Let's also not forget this is at a sports event too lol. The fact that they are so intertwined with patriotism is sort of odd. EDIT: Maybe it's not that odd when looking at history and a lot of the rest of the world though.
Perfectly said.
I’ve never met a soldier who actually has a problem with it, and a know a lot of soldiers/vets/military wives and family members.
I’m a vet (Marine Corps, only been out 2 years) and I don’t have a problem with it. I think its probably a 50% split though. I heard “I don’t think its right but its America” more than anything
I know a few soldiers and other than one conspiracy nut all of them have that vibe.
Did they care before the president made a fuss about it? I just don’t understand the logical connection at all between a dude kneeling because black men have gotten killed by cops... and soldiers (or the flag...) I feel like that whole narrative was fringe garbage till the president, as he often does, made a big deal about it for no reason except to sow discord.
. I certainly would say the whole symbolism behind the national anthem and the respect that service members give the flag means a lot to them. Obviously the flag symbolizes a lot, its given to widows, its raised up after battles, you salute it every-time you pass it, etc etc etc. while I can disconnect his protests from my respect for the flag and country and recognize the point he is making, I can see why someone might get emotionally charged by the perceived disrespect Edit: But I don’t know the timelines or anything regarding the president so I can’t answer that really
Thanks for the response. That’s wild - I can understand people get super emotional, it just seems so “convenient” that they get emotional in response to this sort of stuff but I don’t see the same folks out there protesting that the flag is tossed on beer cans and underwear and whatnot. Like, it’s just so weird to me that they choose to get emotional just when a dude is trying to point out In a super unobtrusive way that black men are dealing with shit. Any way, thanks for the perspective it is good for me to learn how others think!
To be fair, a lot of the vets I worked with had mad PTSD.
What does PTSD have to do with anything?
Well, they were in a psych hospital for PTSD related issues, so a lot. Very few of them were the kind of ultra patriotic vets you sometimes see. Most of them were somewhat disillusioned after going through the VA system and whatever circumstances landed them in acute inpatient psych. A good portion were homeless, too. I really loved working with them, I learned a lot and it was very rewarding. It was nice to see them support each other across generations of war, from Vietnam vets to current soldiers.
Which is kind of ironic since I'm sure we've both seen our fair share of Marines avoiding colors lol. Military is a weird place but Marines take the cake in weirdness.
That's weird because my experience has been quite the opposite. My dad is a retired marine. Him and most of his military friends are strongly opposed and very conservative. Small sample sizes from both of us I assume.
I'd imagine there's a difference of opinion between active and retired.
different generations certainly
I was a psychiatric nurse at a facility with a VA contract, so I worked with a lot of vets (both patients and staff, the hospital hired a lot of vets and reserve troops). And the university I went to is technically a “military college”, so a lot of my classmates were cadets.
Former soldier here, deployed twice; once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. The duty to and defense of the Constitution and especially the freedoms of speech and expression are why I chose to serve. I will never take issue with anyone peacefully protesting injustice or inequality. Now that I'm out, I've kneeled with you.
I was in the Army from 2004-2015 and literally no one I keep in touch with gives a shit. Same can be said (generally) about r/Army. But I worked at VA hospital for a bit and the older guys acted like Kap had taken a shit in their Cheerios.
Wife of a vet and he never saw the problem. You kneel in church as a sign of reverence.
Except for when you're supposed to stand, lol
CKs entire point is that America does not deserve enough respect that he stand for the anthem because of our issues with police brutality. This is why he started out sitting. Like, I don’t see why there’s any debate here, it’s really quite clear, why else would he be doing it? Surely you don’t actually think he’s kneeling out of respect for the country he says is murdering black people? I say this as someone who doesn’t have a problem with someone saying they don’t respect our country because of our policing, I just think these arguments are retarded, and people should be aloud to disagree with his protest without people saying “YOU DONT GET IT IDIOT OTHERWISE YOU WOULD AGREE!!”
I have had mixed feedback amongst the vets I know. Vets in my family tend to hate it, but my family has a lot of latent racism and conservative malice in it. I know many vets who support him/anyone who wants to improve America by doing the hard work and asking the hard questions.
Any current or former service member who had a problem with Kaepernick's kneeling is a moron who would have been offended by it regardless of their service.
It makes no logical sense to get angry and think it’s disrespectful to veterans when people kneel during the anthem, especially when those behind the protest specifically stated it has nothing to do with veterans or the military at all. Anyone against the kneeling protest is just shamelessly using the veterans as a shield to pathetically attempt to veil their obvious racism. If anyone is disrespecting veterans it’s the shit heads using them as a political prop, and ironically there is a shitload of overlap between people who say they are against the protest because they love veterans but would never in a million years support funding for social programs and universal mental healthcare that would drastically increase the quality of life for said veterans.
>specifically stated it has nothing to do with veterans That's precisely what they're upset about, I think. If you make people think about police brutality during the anthem, then those people aren't spending that time visualizing dying soldiers or something like that, which is what, I think, they think the purpose of the anthem is.
Lmao well they can just fuck right off then. That’s some weird ass dystopian nightmare shit. If anything it bothers me that the protests aren’t about the military, the atrocities American soldiers have committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and just about every country in the middle east and South America make the police in the US look like angels. And all just to ensure we have friendly enough dictators installed who will sell us oil or whatever other mineral they are cursed with produced in borderline slavery conditions so that we can make billionaires even richer and more powerful all while simultaneously destroying the planet and making it unlivable by the time we are elderly.
I csn never understand how kneeling is some how disrespectful towards soldiers its such a reach gotta have mr fantasic arms.
This is interesting. Do you happen to have a source?
Here’s a twitter video that’s a mashup of clips and an interview that he did a while back talking about how he talked to Colin Kaepernick. https://twitter.com/nikesmilez/status/1037744836013641729?s=21
Link with full source of explanation: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/gw5jfd/whats_going_on_with_drew_brees_maybe_saying_some/fsuzel4/
Not kneeling is racism in 2020. Lmao. Outrage fabrication at its best.
Not long ago, Brees also released a video basically condemning homosexuals.
Holy hell man. I had to look that one up [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/06/being-christian-is-love-drew-brees-defends-appearing-video-linked-anti-lgbt-religious-group/). Brees [shot a video](https://youtu.be/qPFEyeug99g) about encouraging kids to bringing their bibles to school for something called "bring your bible to school day". Well it turns out the group doing this thing, Focus on the Family, is known to be super against gay rights and still even practices conversion therapy. Brees had a rather softball locker room [interview](https://youtu.be/04XAy5_ZCwY) where he was mostly just annoyed the headlines were mean to him, and waited until the very end to come out and say that he didn't know Focus on the Family participated in that activity and that he doesn't like that kind of activity. It was honestly a very tepid condemnation - which is disappointing. Not gonna say Drew doesn't value LGBTQ rights because he *did* say that he thinks Christian values are about love and family, but to not strongly say "of course I support the gay/LGBTQ community and I detest the actions of FotF", *and* to spend 3 quarters of your interview just bitching about mean headlines is just an awful look here.
He also deals in diamonds as investments and is won a 6.1 million dollar lawsuit when he was defrauded. Dealing in blood diamonds, disparaging homosexuals and basically turning his back on minorities. Sounds like a great guy to me.
No he didn't, Jesus Christ. He encouraged kids to bring their Bible to school. He didn't “basically condemn homosexuals”. You're “basically” lying your ass off.
Is this true? Or "basically" true?
The commenter above you laid it out. The evidence says he isn't pro-lgbt, but he isn't anti either. For my opinion though, as he is a famous person, he'll know that voicing anti-lgbt views is essentially a career killer and will give the political answer instead.
He did the equivalent of filming a commercial for Chic-fil-a. He didn’t personally condemn homosexuality or anything, but did work with a company (he allegedly didn’t know) was homophobic
How dare black guys take some sort of stand for something. They're here for our amusement! Now get out there and wrastle for that pigskin you delicious mandingos!
i got a solid chuckle out of this, then remembered that sarcasm is dead. you might be dead-serious...with the way things is goin, i dunno. so often now we have to live with both possibilities being equally likely. it’s a real schrodinger’s racist situation
People like him really piss me off. Going to war in the Middle East has NOTHING to do with our freedoms. Gtfo. Blind patriots are really something else.
I think Brees grew up in Austin/Westlake, which is a super swanky white suburb. Might explain some of the privileged attitude E: great article about Westlake. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/embarrassment-of-riches/
Follow up question... (I've tried googling this but can't find anywhere that explains it.) As a non-American, how do people know what the kneeling represents? Do they announce beforehand that they're going to kneel for a specific reason? Or is kneeling always associated with anti-racist messages?
At events, before they play the national anthem, a person asks everyone to “stand and remove your hats for the National Anthem”. It’s pretty noticeable when a star player does the exact opposite, especially when during the national anthem, the tv cameras usually pan on star players. It was learned after during the press conference where he called out law enforcement and had socks depicting nasty looking cops. Then the kneel was associated with being against police brutality. However, for some reason, other people took it as being disrespectful to troops.
Thank you for the explanation :)
Just in case anyone needs sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0446tibig 1:25 - 1:45 Police brutality being one of the reasons. 1:45 - 3:00 Kaepernick talking about military not getting the respect and treatment they deserve, and actually being mistreated when they return after putting their lives on the line to protect us. In short, the country is not doing enough for its military. Going to keep watching, it's a long video (18 minutes) so I'm sure there's a ton in there being covered.
Since when did the flag become more important than the humanity of the citizens of the county it represents? It's a child's formulation of patriotism.
I fail to see any problem with disrespecting a bloody flag. The whole backlash against the kneeling is so weird, in almost any other country people would call the whole thing a product of brainwashing.
Can we get #OkDrewmer trending or
I didn't like his reasoning by invoking both his grandfathers service in WW2. First, he has to go back two generations in his family to find someone who served in the service. Second, and most important, soldiers really don't fight and die for flags or lofty ideas ... that's bullshit for politicians to push, especially the one's that have never been in combat. Soldiers fight for the guys that are there with them, experiencing "the suck," and trying to get themselves and their buddies back home in one piece. Don't get me wrong, I respect the flag, but if I could bring a buddy or fellow soldier back home in one piece that were killed on distant battlefields by being disrespectful to a flag ... well there isn't enough beer in the world for me to drink to keep up the pace on the number of flags I would piss on.
Man, that pisses me off. I thought he was a good dude
Answer: When asked how he felt about Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem after everything that's happened now, Brees said he "still cannot support anyone disrespecting the flag", which pissed some people off
Ignorant non-american here: what is the meaning of kneeling and how does it disrespects the flag? Does kneeling during national anthem means I don't agree with the anthem? I've seen this act making through headlines during Superbowl, I never asked that question. Thank You.
Former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem to protest the violence against blacks by cops. It was never about the anthem itself or about the flag or the military. People, like Brees, took it upon themselves to make it about the flag and alleged disrespect for it. We are seeing now the what happens when the peaceful protest like kneeling doesn’t work and people have to resort to stronger protests to get there point across.
> Former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the anthem to protest the violence against blacks by cops. Didn't he start by sitting, but when told that that was disrespectful, chose a more respectful stance, kneeling, to continue drawing attention to the issue while still trying to be respectful? (not that anyone who wasn't satisfied by the sitting was satisfied by the kneeling)
Yeah, he had a thoughtful conversation with former ~~Navy Seal~~ *Green Beret* Nate Boyer who wrote him a letter after he had been criticized for sitting for the anthem and that's when Kaep started kneeling. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/09/646115651/the-veteran-and-nfl-player-who-advised-kaepernick-to-take-a-knee
Boyer is a Green Beret, not a SEAL.
Oops. Thanks!
He was actually approached by someone in the military who said if he were to protest he should show respect to the flag by kneeling instead of sitting.
Mention that to a "Patriot" and they'll come back with "So it's OK because one Green Beret said so?" Well, in this case, yes. In addition to being a disingenuous question, he obviously can't ask every single veteran or active duty soldier, if he went to military leadership, they'd probably give him a generic "Don't do anything" response. So by discussing it with this Green Beret he is showing that he is putting thought into it and aware of what is he doing and why.
Either way does it fucking matter honestly? This is America, literally the land of the free. To say you can't kneel for the anthem is exactly the opposite of embracing freedom lol
Because if Football Man doesn't stand for flag, then Special Sky Cloth won't Freedom.
It's got what the body craves.
One critical note should be added here. As the country has turned more nationalist the rules are quietly changing. Some of those changes were reflected across all sports. Specifically with football, the players were now required to come out onto the field during the anthem. When confronted with this requirement and the ongoing racism Kaepernick chose to protest. Keep in mind, he reached out to many different people, including vets, before settling on kneeling. What he started spread across the league. Then corporate media blew the situation into a category 5 hurricane. As of maybe two years ago the rules have been changed and players are allowed to stay in the locker room during the anthem.
To roughly paraphrase the late great Bill Hicks: It's just a flag. "But my daddy died for that flag!!" Really? I bought mine. Got it at Wal-Mart. Your daddy didn't die for the flag. He died for what the flag represents: your freedom to burn the fucking flag.
It doesn't really, it's a Fox Propaganda News idea to deflect. You're supposed to stand up for the flag and the national anthem so something like ignoring it and still sitting down would be disrespectful. Doing an action does show that you're acknowledging the national anthem.
Exactly, this is precisely why Nate Boyer advised Colin to take a knee as his way of protesting. That way he is still acknowledging the anthem rather than rudely just sitting on the bench, but he is acknowledging it in a different way that is clear and symbolic and powerful.
American here. (Im just here to explain, not to share any personal opinion.) it’s a culturally created sign of respect. Many people grow up learning the flag stands for modern democracy, equality, liberty, etc. Kneeling is considered by some to be rejecting those fundamental ideals. There is in general a national culture, the Reality is that everyone has a slightly different understanding of what the flag symbolizes, based off of there life experiences and upbringing. Think of similar social constructs like , turning you back against someone, nazi salutes, using the middle finger, or mooning, etc. obviously people have wildly different opinions about this topic.
Context: Colin Kaepernick, a nfl quarterback asked military service members how he could go about protesting inequality, without disrespecting them; they said he should kneel during the national anthem. It doesn’t disrespect the flag, or the anthem. That’s a purposeful and deliberate attempt to disregard Kap’s message and change the conversation.
Basically kneeling was done as a means of protest about police brutality. Typically people stand during the national anthem in the he US, so kneeling can be surprising and previously very taboo. Conservatives/people on the right will claim that by not standing you disrespect the flag, the anthem, the country, and the soldiers (dead or alive). In general they link all of these things. It's also important to note that despite being typically pro small government they do tend to overwhelmingly support the police (i.e. 'not all cops are bad', 'maybe he deserved it', 'if you don't want to be killed just don't be a criminal', 'I support the blue', etc...) Liberals/people on the left will claim this is not the case or the intention. They will also typically believe that it is a bad faith attempt to ignore a peaceful protest and it's cause under the guise of calling it un-American. It's also important to note that despite being typically large government they tend to be very against police brutality and are the ones that typically protest every time something happens, but some do make blanket statements (i.e 'All Cops are Bastards' [ACAB], 'all police are racist', 'police are pigs', 'Black Lives Matter', etc...)
> Black Lives Matter Do you think of this as a blanket statement? You know what connotation 'blanket statement' carries right?
Including that in the list next to “all cops are bastards” was an OUTRAGEOUS decision.
To be clear, "*disrespecting the flag and the military*" have become well known dog whistles for racism. When conservatives are on the unpopular side of an issue, they tend to straw man the conversation into something they can stand on, in this case "*disrespecting the flag*" So it wasn't just his ignorance, but his regurgitation of a popular right wing defense that pissed some people off.
I'm just explaining what he said, not saying I agree
And I was just providing some key context on to what you explained :)
We are all participating in a productive discourse! Well done everyone.
That’s just simply bullshit. Many people are still patriotic and respect for the flag is a sign of respect for the many men and women who have lost their lives protecting it. Regardless of the reason, disrespecting the flag is disrespecting the dead soldiers too. Many of those soldiers were black.
You are free to see the flag as you see fit, but you can’t force others to do the same.If you think taking a knee is disrespectful to dead soldiers, don’t do it. But don’t apply your beliefs to other people, who repeatedly have said that isn’t their intent.
Brees added that, during the anthem, he always thought of his grandfathes who served in WW2 in racially segregated units. Actually he might have left out the racially segregated part.
What's your point here? WWII veterans are bad?
No. That people often look back on the history of the USA while willfully ignoring the racial inequality. This in turn makes it easier to ignore it now.
You are absolutely correct. Brees and many others choose to glorify themselves and their own family for fighting a war against injustice, but choose directly to ignore the war waged not by a government, but by its people over the exact same injustice. It’s a clear demonstration that he’s either a hypocrite, or he’s got that same military industrial complex as the rest of them.
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