[Maru]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It say it's got nothing to do with the right wing is utterly ridiculous. It's the Fox News', the Donald Trumps, the Breitbarts and other Right Wing people that are upset that certain people don't do things the way they want them to. These are the kinds of people that use the term 'snowflakes' without realising they are the biggest snowflakes around. Forcing people to react to the national anthem the way how you want them to react is as unpatriotic as it gets and the NFL has given in to right wing pressure. It's an attempt through intimidation by the Right Wing to silence issues that offend them.

If anyone finds someone silently kneeling to be too much, toxic or preaching, then they need to toughen up. As long as these players do their jobs on the field it should be up to them how they position themselves during the national anthem.

I don't agree with that really. I think that people who are for the large part fairly apolitical are starting to vote for their feet and I don't think it's a sudden thing. We're assuming that the US has a high population of hyper-partisanship. I think that's far too kind. Maybe it seems that way because the left dominates so much of media (and social media in many cases) and it can seem like it's always reciprocal effect, but there are still many people who are quite apathetic towards politics and are turned off when it comes up in conversations. It's not something people like to talk about for that reason, because it's always been an emotionally toxic topic and it is even more-so given the 2016 election(s)...

Anyway, I don't think it's as simple as shutting off out of outrage. I think it happens overtime as people are turned off by shifts in advertising, sports coverage and other "notable" figures using that airtime to get up on the pulpit. It has a negative effect on sports in general is my opinion.

There is also a trend that can be seen with polling, primary numbers (already way too low) and the presidential vote having a very low turn-out, where people really just feel the whole thing is rigged ...if I were running the NFL, it's not something I would want to be associated with the sport (that feeling of something being "rigged")... but politics has saturated all media and it knows no boundaries atm. So the more it gets injected into the sport and nothing to mitigate this, I think it turns some people off from the game. We're only accounting for the Republicans/Trump voters when we are talking about gauging the reaction of people who watch... I think it is seriously affecting apolitical folk as well... and I don't think that people boycott so much as news coverage likes to make it seem based on politics... there are a lot of people who love the game enough they will watch and gripe, but I imagine it's probably a combination of all other things plus the fact politics has saturated all media. I don't think the NFL is the only one who has witnessed this effect. That's why I don't really see it as just this or that. I think add it all together, people don't personally appreciate being "advertised to" when they're ready to relax in front of their favorite show... and a lot of the advertisements as well have gone that direction (that's why Superbowl it became less political this year as well).

The other pet peeve I hear from folk here, the NFL has always done things a certain way in some respects and to see the sport change and for it to buckle in this way and allow demonstrations ruins the spirit of the game for some. But honestly I think it's more of a saturation problem than a knee-jerk response... people are too fickle when it comes to boycotts for it to be just that.