Kneeling

People have been bombarding me with my opinion on NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. My response, expectedly, left both sides of the debate unhappy.

My first issue is that I am being hunted down to be asked at all. I don't know about everyone, but I didn't join the military to be some special class of citizen that needs to be babied constantly. My opinion on this is no more important than any American's opinion. I would beware anyone telling you that this or that is demeaning to veterans. Not that it doesn't happen. One that comes to mind is the woman who pictured herself yelling at Arlington Cemetary. That is disrespecting the military. That woman also paid dearly for that error in judgment. Case closed in my opinion. I wish her no ill will.

But when it is a point of patriotism, that affects me no more than it does any other citizen. "But I had friends who came home under that flag!" says the angry Facebook veterans. "I have sacrificed more!". So have I. But I am not taking their sacrifice to make everything about me. I lost friends, those men were lost to their wives, their children, their parents, and much more. We lost them as a country, not just me or just veterans.

Also, the reasons we were supposed to be out there was to protect those very rights that these NFL players were expressing. If you are going to fight to defend those rights, then use your status as a veteran to suppress them when you get home, I don't know what exactly you were fighting for. Don't think the US is the first country in the world to use our veterans as a means to suppress the rights of their people. This was a critical element that our founding fathers were against.

Now to piss off the other side. I am not a fan of the kneeling. Not because my feelings are hurt, or because I think forced patriotism is a sign of a healthy country. But because I believe in the goal the NFL players are striving toward, and I think this is taking them further and further from it.

To be clear, I do think that our country has serious problems with race relations, and those problems are more serious than just a cab not picking someone up or people crossing the street to walk. It's issues that suppress a large segment of our population, causes them grief and suffering, and can easily lead to their death. Even from a selfish viewpoint, millions upon millions of Americans before trampled upon effects all of us, even if we aren't the ones with boots on our backs.

"So you think cops hate black people and are just looking for excuses to murder them?!?"

No. I think police officers are incredible people with very difficult jobs that many of us could not handle. I think your average officer wakes up every morning wanting to go out, do their job which is keeping us safe, and go home to their family at the end of their shift. I also think they are critical elements of our society.

But, as one of my First Sergeants used to say, there are dirtbags in every group. He called it the rule of 10%s. 10% of the military is dirtbags who need to be found and thrown out, 10% are the heroes that will save the day, and 80% are the average joes that need to be lead. I'm a Marine, and I guarantee if you ask me or any other Marine, we can tell you stories of dirtbags who should have never been in uniform and never put behind a rifle. Marines who were idiots. Marines who were racists. Marines who needed to be thrown out. That realization doesn't mean I hate Marines. Not at all. That's just being honest. I got to be one of the detainee guards who escorted The Pendleton 8 out of Iraq. I sure as hell don't feel bad about that.

That is where I am sitting with police officers. The vast majority of them are awesome people. But there is scum that needs to be thrown out, and it terrifies me when they not only aren't but when wagons get circled for officers who don't deserve the backup. It's because the police are such important and essential parts of our government and our life that we have to hold them to the highest standards. Not low standards because the job is difficult.

Which brings me back to why I am not a fan of the kneeling. When I discuss the issue of US police with people, including people who are completely against my position, the best way I bring them around to understand is changing the issue from a civil rights issue, to a government overreach issue. These are American citizens being killed by government officials, and we need to do something to curb that.

But in brief, I think that kneeling of NFL players isn't the best method to further their goals. But I think it would be wrong of me as a fellow American to ignore my neighbor's plights because they didn't bring it up to me in a manner I felt comfortable with. I also think it's ridiculous that the kneeling is being portrayed as insulting to veterans. I have asked many, many people, and I can't find a single instance in American history where kneeling before something is insulting. Many, many examples of the opposite though. Beyond that, nothing about the flag or National Anthem should mean any more to me as a veteran than any American civilian. I think our founding fathers would be disgusted by the government using veterans as a shield to suppress civilians' speech.

Thank you for opposing the president.

Three days after the events of the Charlottesville Nazi rally and I was numb.  I was not shocked or surprised or confused.  Just numb, which is weird because I knew all of this was quite likely.  It makes everything make sense.  Why Trump would support a country that actively halts the rights of its minority groups and has an authoritarian leader.  Why he could not immediately disavow David Duke on the campaign trail.  Why he was so comfortable attacking a Muslim family of a fallen military veteran.  Why he pushes for a trans ban, Muslim ban, and policies that are constantly regressive in all aspects:  Trump's ideology lines up with that of the white supremacy movement.

Now some might notice I did not call him a Nazi.  I won't because despite everything he has said and done he still gets the benefit of the doubt.  He is still an American and the American president.  He still get's the respect of being elected.  It is at a time when punching Nazis and getting them fired would be the easiest to do that we must resist these urges.  Due process does not hold as an ideology if at our lowest it does not hold.

That being understood, what we can do is assess the event that has already transpired and make sense of what got us here.  From there, we do what our enemy can't and won't do.  We strive to be better. So let us examine the actions of our president when his first major national crisis arose.

On Saturday, August 12th of 2017, when a Nazi rally attended by people with shields, body armor and weapons held under the conservative banner went awry the president did not condemn Nazism by name.  This was so apparent prominent sources of white supremacy media repeatedly said it was good he did not do so.  In fact, after 2 days of continued pressure from politicians and the media, when he finally came around to condemning it he was pressured by CNN reporters to respond as to why the delay and his response was to condemn them right then and there.  This is not a confusing or ambiguous moment.  We are all adults here.  The president was uncomfortable.

And we know we cannot take his word.  This is a man who literally lied about getting a call from the Boy Scouts.  There is a rhythm of poetic justice here.  He lied about the size of his inauguration crowd.  He lied about Mexico paying for the wall.  He still won't show his taxes.  There is an investigation currently dogging him and his entire campaign.  A campaign which was constantly criticized for its dubious morality.  The trail is so obvious I already feel silly for putting these thoughts in this order this late in the game.  But I had to be absolutely certain.  These are not accusations that should be made lightly.  It should be very hard and definite to say a man might side with any kind of supremacy.  We are now at that point because of all these proof line up.  President Donald Trump appears to side with white supremacy.

So before we start the long, difficult and brutal road ahead we must pause like all the wise must.  We must gather our will and courage for the people we will clash with.  The president, unknowingly or knowingly, shot the blatant first volley in the war against American principles.  Presidents are men whose power and past require us to value their omissions just as seriously as their inclusions and admissions and all of his now clearly lean pro-white supremacy.  We know that Fox News will continue to carry his banner with very few criticisms.  We know some conservatives who are not racist will side with him just because they still believe the Democrats would be worst, despite all evidence to the clear contrary.  Some will even know all this to be true but have too much of their pride wrapped up in supporting the wrong side of history, unable to suppress their ego enough to do the right thing.  This is quite normal in historical context.  That is how you get a group of people to intentionally put an entire group of people into gas chambers and ovens and still walk away feeling morally superior.

Before we do this a lot of gratitude is in order.  To Americans that are still peacefully fighting for unity.  To Americans going against their better, selfish interests for the greater ideal of compassion and community.  To conservatives who see the wrong and condemn their own brothers and sisters for this immoral stance.  For people engaging their neighbors and friends in the incredibly important daily conversation to reinforce why we hold American ideals high.  To those that challenge pathos with logos and ethos.  Thank you.  None of this would be possible if not for you holding true and strong in your local community.  We are doing very well.  We still have a long way to go but I have nothing but faith in the system the forefathers implemented.  Even at this low end, we have managed to stave off violence and bloodshed on a grander scale.  Many have done much worst for much less.  But we do not hold ourselves to basic standards.  We hold ourselves to the ideal of freedom, equality, liberty, and justice for all.  As long as we fight for those ideals then we are the best Americans we can be.  Failure is a possibility but never an option.  Oorah.

To Pledge or Not To Pledge

Colin Kaepernick is making headlines by refusing to stand up for the national anthem recently. Not going to lie. When I heard something an NFL player did was making waves, I was bracing myself for something terrible. Did he beat his wife? Did he rape a woman? Did he torture and abuse animals? Did he beat his son in the testicles with a switch? Did he kill some people and get away with it? I shudder to think what could have the nation more embroiled than all of the above incidents did.

Well, it turns out this is seriously the bigger issue than the formers. How dare he? Doesn't he know that the country made him a millionaire? If it wasn't for people fighting for his freedoms, he'd be speaking German! Or is it Chinese now? Russian? Hard to keep up with who is the threat lurking right outside of the US anymore.

But this Kaepernick debate has been going on for longer than him. It has been recurring in our classrooms too. Should students be forced to stand for the pledge? Are the children who don't awful? Are their parents awful? What's the most creative way we should punish or intimidate children into doing the pledge? Does it count if they don't say "under god"? How can I use the image of wounded veterans to make my point?!?!

Nailed it!

One of the most underrated benefits of being a veteran is getting used as cannon fodder (again) for other people's debates. It's seriously the best thing ever, please everyone keep it up. 

Now, for me, I absolutely do stand for the national anthem, and intend to do so for the rest of my days. But do I do it because I feel obligated to, or because I think I owe my country? I don't make millions like Kaepernick, but whatever money I do have is thanks to my country right? It has nothing to do with the work I put in personally.

The weird thing is when Obama made his infamous "You didn't build that" quote, the same people who said he was taking away from hard working business owners are the same ones implying that Kaepernick owes his fortune to the country. He didn't make that money due to his talent and hard work, but every business owner owes practically nothing to the country? How do these two thoughts coexist?

Now, I think there is an element of truth to both Obama's quote and the people saying the same about Kaepernick. He is making millions because we are a country that made his talents valuable, and gave him the opportunity to work his way up. If he was born in North Korea, he'd be the fastest running laborer a task master ever had. But he'd be far from a millionaire.

But something that is important to me is that these symbols have their own meaning for people. What "country" means can mean something totally different to me than it does to you. To me, the flag is a representation to the hard work of Americans past and present. A representation to the mythology of the US. That we support democracy. We support the downtrodden and the weak. That every person is equal and should have equal opportunities. But do we live up to those myths as a country? Whenever the CIA knocks over another democracy, When we ally with totalitarian governments like Saudi Arabia and enable them to torture their citizens? When our own citizens get treated unfairly and abused by the system?

But if I am unhappy about these issues, why do I still stand for the flag? Because for me, the flag doesn't represent our government, it represents you and I. Personally, I think those ideals were very separate not too long ago. When we talked about the flag and the US it didn't represent the government or politicians. It represented us as citizens. Our ideals, our visions, our beliefs. I believe that during the Cold War the government did it's best to tie itself to the flag, to use it as a shield. Any complaints about the government means you are complaining about America and thus you are a traitor. That didn't just end with the Cold War. Who remembers just after 9/11 and anyone calling out Bush Jr. for being the crap we all know he is now were called unAmerican or traitors? "If you don't respect the man at least respect the position".

That's why even though I am not ignorant to the many issues plaguing the US, I still will rise for the flag and salute it. I am proud of Americans, not of our government for the most part. I do believe we have lost a lot of control of our government, and we need to correct that. But giving them the flag isn't my way to fix it. That flag is ours, not theirs.

So does that mean I hate Kaepernick for not standing? No. His idea of what the flag represents can be different from mine. He could have bought into that Cold War rhetoric that government = America, and his opinion is just as valid as mine. While I disagree with him singling out the flag rather than directing his protest more accurately, I do respect any man for taking a strong stand like that. Even if it isn't something I totally agree with, our country was born from strong Americans making difficult and controversial stands. Often to quite a bit of disagreement from other Americans. They estimate that 20% of Americans were loyalists during our revolution. Another large percentage didn't want Britain, but weren't willing to fight a war over it. Where would we be without those Americans who made a stand?

Beyond Kaepernick, I see the battleground over our schools and the Pledge of Allegiance. Again, I intend to talk to my kids about what my idea is of the symbols of America. I hope they will stand for the pledge as I did as a child, and as I do now as an adult. But if any school tries to force it, or harass the children that don't stand, I would be furious. What good is it to recite some empty words to a piece of cloth if when we are tested, we are so excited about taking away rights from other Americans? Save your breath, it means nothing.

Us Americans have gotten too divided. We're getting too involved with how other Americans decide to live their lives. Our business should not be to make cookie cutters out of everyone, but defend their rights to live as they want to, and hopefully they'll defend our rights to live as we want to.