SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Brock and Dave: NFL knee-takers could take a cue from Dori’s protest
Apr 20, 2018, 5:31 PM
Dori Monson built a tent office on a Seattle sidewalk to see if city officials would order him to take it down. (KIRO Radio)
(KIRO Radio)
Dave Wyman and Brock Huard came up with a brainwave while filling in on the Dori Monson Show on Friday.
RELATED: Dori builds tent office to send message to Seattle
Dave suggested that the NFL protesters who take a knee whenever the national anthem is played could take a cue from Dori’s recent tent office protest.
In an unprecedented original move, Dori and a group of his listeners built a tent office on the sidewalk outside of KIRO Radio studios last week to protest Seattle’s allowance of 400 homeless encampments throughout the city.
Both types of protest are bold. However, the difference, Dave said, is not in the message itself, but in the delivery.
“I think [the football players’ message] is a good message – who’s not for equality?” Dave said. “We want fairness in every aspect of our lives … but the way that you’re delivering the message … that’s something that you have to be mindful of.”
Like taking a knee during the national anthem, a fake homeless tent like the one that Dori built could, at first glance, have “a bad look,” Dave said.
“For some people, it’s a bad look, because it looks like you’re insensitive,” he said.
Dave explained that Dori was very communicative and open with his listeners about his message, explaining the fact that he was making fun of the city government rather than laughing at people who are homeless.
Colin Kaepernick, however, mostly stays silent on the reasoning behind his headline-making protest.
“Dori is fed up with the results … and his process of going about it and his statement and his messaging was one that some people were offended by,” Brock observed. And with the NFL, “they are some of the most thoughtful guys, but that message, the result, is lost because their process … so infuriates and so offends and so bothers so many of those veterans.”
Unlike the NFL players, Dave and Brock surmised that Dori would not keep up his protests if it started to affect ratings. If Dori Monson Show ratings dropped like the NFL ratings have, they said, Dori would find a different method to get his message to people.
“[The football players] are going to need to possibly change how they deliver that message … otherwise, the NFL — it may get to a point where ratings slip and revenue goes down,” Dave said. At that point, Dave said, “they may need to do something drastic to get fans back.”
At the end of the day, Dave said, it all comes down to dignity.
“Where is the dignity in this? It has been lost,” Dave said. “When Dori started to approach this, he didn’t want to take away the dignity.”
