Must we fight over the National Anthem?
Aug 30, 2016, 5:58 AM | Updated: Aug 31, 2016, 7:23 am
KIRO Radio's Dave Ross says why not let Colin Kaepernick sit during the National Anthem? You can find other reasons to hate the 49ers. (AP)
(AP)
Being a Seattle Seahawks partisan, I know there are many reasons to hate on Colin Kaepernick. But now, of course, there’s another reason as he refuses to stand for the National Anthem.
There have been several types of reactions to Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the anthem. Some accepted his freedom to choose not to stand, while others cursed his name.
Related: Donald Trump’s full interview on KIRO Radio
But then there was the reaction of this American, which counts a little more because he might be president.
“Maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try,” Trump told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.
Nobody questions Kaepernick’s right to sit, or the right to criticize him for doing it – even to the point of burning his jersey or never naming their kid Colin.
My only question is: why all this social pressure to be patriotic?
When you turn this into a big deal, two things happen. You create copycats, which is self-defeating. Even worse, you create scaredy cats. By that, I mean the kind of people who are so sacred about social consequences, they stand up more out of fear of punishment than the love for their country.
So, we could shame people into standing and create a culture of phony patriots, or we could be a free country where people who really want to stand up do, and those who don’t, don’t. And where people still hate the 49ers, but for the right reasons.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
