tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post5340202906177958059..comments2024-01-14T08:03:17.880-08:00Comments on Truth and Beauty: Colin Kaepernick is rightDan Benbowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258556216655283390noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-29180651678604798972018-01-16T15:04:00.337-08:002018-01-16T15:04:00.337-08:00It's fascinating to see how hard right wing fo...It's fascinating to see how hard right wing forces are working to avoid dealing with the issue of police violence that Kaepernick is trying to draw attention to. They simply will not address that issue. So, they demonize him instead. If anyone is unpatriotic, it is those working so hard to shut him down.northierthanthouhttps://northierthanthou.com/2016/07/04/the-eagles-of-metlakatla/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-87375912744680886092016-09-14T12:49:40.226-07:002016-09-14T12:49:40.226-07:00Hi Douglas,
I didn't condemn ALL elderly or m...Hi Douglas,<br /><br />I didn't condemn ALL elderly or middle-aged whites. As a first born, I have always related well to older people. I know many, many Baby Boomers and elderly Americans who are exemplary human beings, and in some cases, role models for how I want to conduct my life. I condemned elderly and middle-aged whites with "fossilized racial attitudes" because they are holding us back as a country and contributing to human suffering (whether they realize it or not).<br /><br />Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King lived in a time when there was far less media and their individual acts of protest were guaranteed to get coverage seen by many more Americans than is the case now, when there are so many options and so many people are tuned out and/or distracted by bullshit enter- or infotainment. You have to break eggs to make omelettes, and in my opinion, Kaepernick's real world message is infinitely more important in human terms than the purely symbolic importance some people attach to the flag, the national anthem, or other such (to my mind) empty rituals.Dan Benbowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02258556216655283390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-38420390835112953392016-09-14T08:42:02.624-07:002016-09-14T08:42:02.624-07:00Good point. Media is incredibly diversified now, a...Good point. Media is incredibly diversified now, and many people do agree with Kaepernick...I just feel that those who support his stance--within the greater media/online universe--are relatively marginalized, to blogs, alt-left publications, and places where the audience already understands these issues. <br /><br />I hope in my lifetime to witness an honest dialogue about race in the mainstream media organs that can get the discussion out to tens of millions of Americans; the tolerance and diversity of Millennials makes me cautiously optimistic that it will happen.Dan Benbowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02258556216655283390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-8467610072107040102016-09-14T08:34:58.798-07:002016-09-14T08:34:58.798-07:00Thank you for the kind words, and yes, the GOP'...Thank you for the kind words, and yes, the GOP's contribution to all of these problems needs to be more out in the open. There are a lot of factors involved, as the intersection of race and poverty and law are so complicated, but it's a fact that beginning with Reagan's first budget and continuing into the present, Republicans at the national level have consistently undermined the anti-poverty agenda and used coded rhetoric to drive white resentment. It is no accident that the GOP can't crack double digits among black voters. Dan Benbowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02258556216655283390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-18804463583927390322016-09-14T08:22:16.098-07:002016-09-14T08:22:16.098-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Dan Benbowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02258556216655283390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-69225226649609092222016-09-14T08:21:22.018-07:002016-09-14T08:21:22.018-07:00Let me add one note of hope, though: A lot of us d...Let me add one note of hope, though: A lot of us do applaud Kaepernick's courage and tenacity. More and more people every day in fact. Today's America is a weird place with the media you so rightly point the finger at pretending to be "the voice of the American people." Everyone knows that's bullshit, even though most people don't know what to do about it. <br /><br />We are only strong when we stand up for what we believe in and demonstrate our dissent intelligently and with a belief that things can be better. Colin Kaepernick has done something truly great and truly American. Good job with this piece, my friend.David Biddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345556742542739160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-37256622412841780052016-09-14T08:16:02.057-07:002016-09-14T08:16:02.057-07:00So much to commend in this essay, Dan. A breath of...So much to commend in this essay, Dan. A breath of fire, for sure, and fresh air too. More than anything in this endless circling we're all doing around the need to have a conversation that may not come until we again have true leadership in this country, I think your point about the Republican Party and its obvious antipathy towards Johnson's War on Poverty (and all it implies for so many of us here at the beginning of the 21st century) is essential to acknowledge. None of the shit we've been witnessing over the last 15 years is an accident. David Biddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345556742542739160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3869308843623818842.post-30229241180246515682016-09-14T07:58:41.824-07:002016-09-14T07:58:41.824-07:00I am one of the elderly you refer to. However, I a...I am one of the elderly you refer to. However, I agree that additional change is necessary in connection with discrimination, but can you explain how disrespect of the flag and national anthem is a way to accomplish this. Rosa Park and Martin Luther King made great impacts without disrespecting anything.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042978094169240392noreply@blogger.com