EXACTLY. So you have a choice not to watch. The players get paid less. Everyone has choices to make.
[Reply]

Thing is, given the format the actual message is 'the anthem is playing and they are kneeling' . . . that's it.

The rest is a bunch of ancillary interests from the broadcasters to social media to the 24/7 news cycle advocating THEIR version of what that ambiguous message means and what you must do in response.
[Reply]

Are you open to us judging your every leisure choice and non-choice, or is that reserved for you judging Rainman?
[Reply]

Historically sports has been an important vehicle to bring social issues to a broader audience. Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Ali, Jim Brown, Tommie Smith, UTEP basketball, Arthur Ashe, Bill Walton, Kaep.

Like it or not athletes have outsize influence and are a bridge between minority and white communities. You can bet that if Mahomes takes a stand on an issue a kid in KC is going to take note much more so than if a politician or some protesters do. This week I've learned by listening to athletes talk about their personal and professional experience with these issues. Sermon over.
[Reply]

But...but...I want to watch football. I was raised in a world where the price of watching a game is sitting through a bunch of bad commercials, and I made the decision that it's worth it. If the price of watching a game is now watching commercials and listening to players' political statements, then yeah, that's another factor in my viewing decision. So I agree with you there. I'm just saying that I would rather watch the game without that added cost.

That's not an intent to squelch anyone. If Laremy Tunsil or Britt Colquitt has strong opinions about foreign adoption or GMO grains, great. I'm not averse at all to hearing from them when I'm in the mood to learn about foreign adoptions, and maybe I can learn from their perspective. Laremy can talk to NFL Network about having a "Laremy Tunsil Policy Hour", and if enough people watch it, then they've got a hit on their hands. (And frankly, I'd be more likely to watch the "Laremy Tunsil Policy Hour" than anything about the patriots, but that's another issue.) I just think that the football and politics should be packaged separately.
[Reply]

In the NFL scenario, you still get the Big Mac and can skip the rest. Why did you leave that (fairly important) part out?

Honestly, MCD already does that to some extent with their ever-changing menu boards suggesting salads and other options.
[Reply]

When I was a kid Emmet Thomas moved in down the street, the first black in the neighborhood, and my first exposure to black people. I'll never forget the Saturday morning I timidly went to his house to get his autograph and he brought me upstairs and I got to watch some of the Notre Dame game with him. I'd later get to hang around several of the other black players at his house. Great example of sports bridging a gap that never would have happened otherwise.
[Reply]

This is interesting. I guess I never knew ChiefsPlanet was a non-judgmental safe space. When parents of players who wandered in were attacked, when people on the verge of suicide were told to go for it, when recovering drug addicts were told they'd never amount to anything, that seemed par for the course. "Drink antifreeze" is practically the tour de force retort here.

In all seriousness, he posted about it on a public forum. I was disappointed and disagreed. It's not as if I deliberately sought out his opinion and attacked him for it.

I love Rainman. He's the best poster here next to valipass who apparently has been here since I was sucking my mother's dick.
[Reply]

It may be slightly different than your point, but I really despise being asked if I want something else when I order. I have to bite my tongue to avoid rudeness because I know the person asking is just following the orders of some soulless and sleazy corporate manager, but I really, really dislike it. It wastes my time and it wastes theirs, and I think less of the company every time I'm asked.

I wonder what the ROI is on that. I guess the corporate people view it as something with zero cost and a potential benefit, but it sure degrades my customer experience. I bet it decreases my future visits by a statistically significant 1.8 percent.
[Reply]

Would you like to make that a combo?
[Reply]

I feel as if I inadvertently fomented conflict. I hope everyone shakes hands afterwards (or whatever we can do now in the covid era) and agrees that we're a band of Chiefs brothers regardless of any disagreements. I don't like conflict. It reminds me of the incident on my eighth birthday.
[Reply]

I fear that at some point it may be my undoing. I'll be having a bad day when some sixteen year old kid asks me that, and I'll suddenly be flying over the counter, fists flying in a blind rage. And then I'll get convicted of felony assault on a minor and I won't be able to walk by the neighborhood school any more.
[Reply]

I think it would help if you cleared up one very important thing:

Do the Ermines have an official comment on the kneeling?
[Reply]

In a fortunate coincidence, Ermines don't have knees so it's never been an issue. But we're worried about facing controversy once our support of snapping rabbits' spinal cords with our teeth becomes public.
[Reply]

Would you agree that it actually isn't all that selfish to hope to be entertained by your entertainment.

Or at least if it is selfish, it's a selfish in a universally acceptable manner where everyone is a little selfish in their leisure pursuits?



As an aside, that might clear up the perspective a bit. I try to devote a portion of my leisure or idle time to things I find objectionable or that I'm critical of, . . I seek out controversial pundits, or diverse documentaries, or entertainment from demographics that would otherwise be foreign to me. But that's my choice, just like my choice to watch football. I choose to do that when I do, because I personally find some leisure in keeping my mind active by contronting and critiquing different perspectives and refining and/or reinforcing my own perspective. My choice.

And it does get tiring after a while to have people thinking that, since you're captive to their entertainment offering, and you likely haven't broadened your horizons, and you are in need of education instead of what you bargained for.

It's reminiscent of the omnipresence of Dear Leader in NK, this lovely park brought to you by Dear Leader, don't forget to thank Dear Leader for this bowl of rice, Dear Leader's foresight has endowed these musicians you are listening to with marvelous skill. Sometimes you need a respite from messaging and that should be within your control as a consumer in a free society.
[Reply]