I'm Taking a Knee on Journalism

Thanks to NFL players, our national anthem is getting more attention than ever.  Keep in mind that many of us could not recite its words without error, and fewer of us have the range to sing it.  Even fewer can cite the historical event being described.  This is the latest, but not the last, example of a solvable issue that is being exploited to divide us.  I lament that so many of controversial issues ricocheting in the public square are similarly solvable, and yet remain combustible.

The media stokes these conflicts, in my view.  Listen critically to how CNN and other networks package and deliver the news.   Not only is the reportage suffused with editorial content and slant, but it sows overt division and partisanship by design.  

Consider the following two hypothetical questions from a TV reporter.  Which one would the network be likely to air?

“Senator, what is your plan for tax reform?”

“Senator, the leader of the opposing party attacked your tax policy as a cruel attack on working families.  Is he right?”

The 2^nd example, in my opinion, improves television ratings at the expense of journalistic professionalism.   

Many cable ‘news’ broadcasts have become extended panel discussions where folks along the political spectrum talk over one another spewing forth predictable drivel in a rhetorical food fight.   Again, these performances may be spirited and entertaining, but they are actually a demonstration by the networks that conflict sells. 

Knees in the News!

The ‘take a knee’ issue has been morphed from its original intent to protest against racial injustice in the criminal justice system to venerating the anthem and the flag.  Of course, there was a pathway forward had calmer minds and listening ears prevailed.  Why solve a problem when conflict can advance your agenda?   Peoples’ positions can harden despite that they have lost sight of the actual issue before them.

Are NFL players who are ‘on the clock’ in uniform permitted to protest on the sidelines?  Although I am not an attorney, I am not certain that sideline player protesting is constitutionally protected, as would speech be in the public square.   Would owners be entitled to issue a restraining directive if the players' actions were driving away fans and profits?  Would a racist player be permitted to engage in a hateful gesture while in uniform on the sidelines?  Lawyers reading this post can enlighten us if an owner can lawfully require that all players stand respectfully during the anthem. 

 In our medical practice, if our staff all wore shirts with a message that stated, ‘I SUPPORT EUTHANASIA’, would the physician owners have a right to limit this speech?

Regardless of one’s view on the legality or propriety of taking a knee, this issue did not have to have sliced the country apart.   I am not hopeful in the short run. As long as our leaders profit from our divisions, and with the public’s insatiable appetite for conflict,  the end zone will remain far out of reach.