OMG people, calm down. No veteran was disrespected by a football player sitting through the National Anthem. That anthem is for ALL OF US, not veterans. It isn’t specially about them any more than its specially about farmers, teachers, children, car salesman, politicians, Christians, songwriters, etc. It is an anthem that represents all of us as a collective group. It is our shared narrative.
“A national anthem (also state anthem, national hymn, national song etc.) is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation’s government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.”
The disrespect we show as a collective group to our veterans is ABHORRENT. If you want to get yourself all worked up about disrespect to veterans, take it up with the fools who buy yellow ribbon magnets at the 7-11 and think that’s patriotic. Take it up with your friends and neighbors who don’t want to pay more taxes to fund the VA and make sure vets aren’t homeless. Take it up with every single person voting for Donald Trump even though he insulted former POW John McCain for “getting caught” by enemy troops. Take it up with assholes who are in line for a beer at the stadiums while the National Anthem plays because they could care less. (Yes, please start with those guys b/c they suck.)
Don’t take it up with a man who exercised the freedoms that my ancestors went to war to preserve. You can mock him for being rich, but you are a true fool if you think that does him any good when he’s just another black man driving his car down the street. That’s the part of the narrative you refuse to acknowledge and shame on you for hiding behind veterans to cover up your own sins. Shame on you for dragging them into your own private moral quandary.
An uninformed patriot is a foolish patriot. And that’s the worst form of disrespect you can show any veteran.
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