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 2nd 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.
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