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What is the point of forced patriotism?

Travis

Misanthrope of the Mountains
Travis
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
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So the NFL is going to start punishing players and teams that don't partake in mandatory political messaging before games. On social media conservatives are hailing the decision with comments that seem to best be summarized as "Yes, make them stand!"

"Make them stand?"

What is the point when the key action in that sentence is the word "make"? As in, take away choice.

All through the NFL protest blowup I never was able to figure out why conservatives want forced patriotism. Is it proper to even still call it "patriotism" at that point. After all we don't call rape "forced sex" because we understand that the "forced" part makes it not even a form of sex at all. Similarly shouldn't there be a new term for when someone stands for the anthem but not because they think America is without fault but because they face punishment if they do not.

And, more to the point, why do so many people love the idea of forced patriotism? Is it a power trip? A way to force someone else to do something you want not what they want?
 
They aren't forcing them to be patriots, they gave them a choice of standing or staying in the locker room during the song. To me, it isn't about patriotism, it's about being an employee and doing your job.

If I owned a business I wouldn't want my employees using their time at work (my business) to get political. It isn't smart in an office or most places of employment.

The NFL gave these guys a well paying job. They have no right to use someone else's platform to air their personal grievances to the world. What arrogance for anyone to assume they can!

They are at a job and on the clock. Sorry man, this is not in the job description. The NFL has lost viewers recently. It's very $imple.

ETA:
As if the NFL cares about patriotism. No, it's all about money, nothing more. This is why it took 2 years to do anything about it. They wanted to see which way the wind blew. The wind blew money out of their pockets, so...tada! New rule.
 
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Okay, about being an employee. Suppose I forced my employees to stand every day and sing a song about how America is trash. Could you not understand that, while I am the boss, they might not like it?

Right now forcing them to stand for the anthem is forcing them to agree with the political proposition that America has no racism, has no problems, and is without faults.
 
I think it's mostly a mistake to bring this up again. The controversy had basically died down (mostly because the networks realized that focusing on the protestors was hurting their ratings).
 
Travis said:
So the NFL is going to start punishing players and teams that don't partake in mandatory political messaging before games. On social media conservatives are hailing the decision with comments that seem to best be summarized as "Yes, make them stand!"
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As I understand it, until about a decade ago the players were not even on the field at all for the anthem - not until the Pentagon backed a dumptruck full of money on the NFL's doorstep as part of a recruiting campaign.

I could be wrong, but that is my understanding.
 
Brainster said:
I think it's mostly a mistake to bring this up again. The controversy had basically died down (mostly because the networks realized that focusing on the protestors was hurting their ratings).
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It mostly died down because there the NFL season was over. It will start up again in a few months, and we will have the issue again.
 
Mark F said:
As I understand it, until about a decade ago the players were not even on the field at all for the anthem - not until the Pentagon backed a dumptruck full of money on the NFL's doorstep as part of a recruiting campaign.

I could be wrong, but that is my understanding.
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That is about right.

In the immediate wake of the Iraq debacle recruiting was down for the DOD who thought that entwining themselves with the NFL might help. At that point the NFL started their games with a political message. No one really cared until we got this recent epidemic of police murdering black people and Kaepernick decided to bring attention to the issue.
 
What is the point of forced patriotism?

Well-poisoning aside, three answers come to mind: First, virtue signaling.

Second, the NFL is an entertainment business. The players are first and foremost performers. If they're not entertaining, the NFL goes out of business.

Third, player protests aren't entertaining. "Strong, independent football players", or whatever the notional opposite of Travis's "forced patriotism" is, isn't entertaining. The people that want these things and celebrate these things are not by and large people who like football, and watch football, and buy tickets, and keep the NFL in business.
 
theprestige said:
What is the point of forced patriotism?

Well-poisoning aside, three answers come to mind: First, virtue signaling.

Second, the NFL is an entertainment business. The players are first and foremost performers. If they're not entertaining, the NFL goes out of business.

Third, player protests aren't entertaining. "Strong, independent football players", or whatever the notional opposite of Travis's "forced patriotism" is, isn't entertaining. The people that want these things and celebrate these things are not by and large people who like football, and watch football, and buy tickets, and keep the NFL in business.
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The problem is no matter what the reasons are, it is still forced, public, political speech.
 
On the one hand players are employees of a firm, and must follow any reasonable regulations.

On the other hand, the imposition of 'political' activities such as displays of patriotism, about which *personal* feelings can vary wildly, in the course of one's duties cannot be expected to engender a uniform response.

What other workplaces impose a 'patriotism ceremony'? I say, take the politics out of the workplace.
 
BobTheCoward said:
The problem is no matter what the reasons are, it is still forced, public, political speech.
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Doesn’t look like we’ll ever get rid of people who love this country. It’d be so much easier if the people who don’t even like it would just leave.
 
logger said:
Doesn’t look like we’ll ever get rid of people who love this country. It’d be so much easier if the people who don’t even like it would just leave.
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I served. I'm going to soak up all those tax dollars the government agreed to when I signed the contract. And I'm going to laugh and hate this country to the bank.

Besides, it is an artificial construct. Im not hurting it's feelings.
 
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I cannot think of a single time in my professional career that it was required of me to demonstrate my patriotism.

I'm not a big fan of football. Standing for the National Anthem is part of how you play the game?
 
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