Originally Posted by
Captain Silver
Look, I have weighed in on this a lot in the past. I haven't said shit for months. I finally came to the conclusion, life is way too short to keep getting upset by what a handful of extremely well paid athletes do. They want to kneel, fine. 3 guys out of a roster of 53? Kind of puts it in perspective. Basically I was damning the whole team based on what a few did.
Upon reflection, if the NFL, their workplace allows it, then it is their problem not mine. I can appreciate the other 50 guys who did stand. Or entire teams that didn't take a knee, like the Cowboys. The more I reflect, the less impressed I am with my former takes.
Do I really believe this will make a bad cop more likely to not kill a suspect when he thinks his life is in danger? No. Imagine, there is a cop and he thinks in a split second, "I better not, another NFL player might kneel!" Bad cops are like kneeling NFL players, they are a minority. Do I feel this overshadows the good work that good cops do? Yes. Is it a perfect world? No. "Who said life was fair?" ~ Grandpa (Peter Falk) from the Princess Bride.
However you feel on the topic it shouldn't cloud your day. Everyone in the world has an agenda. Me, you, the NFL, Nike, and Colin Capernick. Ah Colin. Regardless of his thoughts, reason, machinations, the guy made 40 Million for losing his job. I don't know about you, but I have to respect the crafty way he went about it. Now he can bask in the glow of all his money and becoming an icon, whatever that is. My desktop is littered with them...
In fact, I think his being the face of Nike, to me at least has turned the whole thing into the biggest joke of my life. Sacrifice everything, uh no, my friend Officer Jamie Roussey did that when he died in the line of duty in Baltimore. But just because Nike says that about Colin, it does not make that so. Easily led people will be easily led, whatever the direction the herd goes in. The joke here is, I seen hundreds of hysterical Nike memes about what is portrayed as a serious topic. It really isn't about bad cops shooting black men, or say the murder rate in Chicago, it is about nothing in the end.
Why should I get upset about nothing? It doesn't pay my bills and I don't pay theirs. Has my desire to watch the NFL and the Ravens waned? Yes. Technically, the Raven's outdid Colin by kneeling in a foreign country, but that is besides the point. I never bought Nike products since I was a kid, in the 80's, when we thought parachute pants were cool. After hiding the pants and growing up and seeing Nike for a marketing monster more than a shoe company, I moved on to other products. Then of course we found out about their sweatshops and I never looked back.
End point here and I apologize if I am long winded on this, but whatever I may think about a kneeler, the NFL, or people on either side of the issue doesn't give me a reason to hate. I am sure there are things kneelers think I do to be disrespectful in some manner, but it is their opinion. As is a lot of these things. Opinion.
Evolve, move on. Enjoy you are above ground, respect what you believe in and understand others aren't always going to stand next to you, they may be kneeling but it is for something they believe in. Even if I think they are wrong. I question myself enough to think I may be wrong.
So laugh more, live more, and look at the lighter side than focusing on the dark so much.
Legendary RSR Poster
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