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[smjjames]

The death threats are kind of expected, there are plenty of people who would be passionate over it and think it’s okay to do death threats and think they can get away with it.

[martinuzz]

A federal judge ruled that Trump is no longer allowed to block users on his Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump), because that violates the 1st amendment.

[smjjames]

I’d like to see someone actually make him do that since it’s his personal account that they’re talking about, not the official POTUS account. It’s just complicated be the fact that he uses it as the official POTUS account and he’s the President.

[NullForceOmega]

I said "credible" death threats.  Not mindless posturing buffoonery.  As in, the police have been contacted, the FBI has been informed and carried out (or are carrying out) investigations.  No arrests that I've heard of, but it is very easy for news like that to be drowned out in the current media landscape.

This matter is very much pushing very wrong buttons in several segments of the population and I wish to hell they'd just let it lie and approach the issue from a more intelligent angle.  One that doesn't offend untold numbers of people to the point that an organization as massive as the NFL has to actually do something about it.

[martinuzz]

I’d like to see someone actually make him do that since it’s his personal account that they’re talking about, not the official POTUS account. It’s just complicated be the fact that he uses it as the official POTUS account and he’s the President.

No it's not. The judge ruled that it is indeed a presidential account, and not a personal account.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

This matter is very much pushing very wrong buttons in several segments of the population and I wish to hell they'd just let it lie and approach the issue from a more intelligent angle.  One that doesn't offend untold numbers of people to the point that an organization as massive as the NFL has to actually do something about it.

You're not gonna get a more "respectable" protest than celebrities replacing one gesture of respect with a different gesture of respect to silently call attention to a massive spate of injustice up to and including murders of people for such horrid crimes as selling bootleg cigarettes or existing while black.

It's one thing to be able to say "don't bring these DIVISIVE POLITICS into the NFL", but if your name and word carried weight for the pubic at large, you might not feel so great towards choosing not to speak out.

[smjjames]

I’d like to see someone actually make him do that since it’s his personal account that they’re talking about, not the official POTUS account. It’s just complicated be the fact that he uses it as the official POTUS account and he’s the President.

No it's not. The judge ruled that it is indeed a presidential account, and not a personal account.

It was his personal account, hence the complication, which obviously isn’t a complication in the law since it already explains what he’s supposed to do.

I said "credible" death threats.  Not mindless posturing buffoonery.  As in, the police have been contacted, the FBI has been informed and carried out (or are carrying out) investigations.  No arrests that I've heard of, but it is very easy for news like that to be drowned out in the current media landscape.

This matter is very much pushing very wrong buttons in several segments of the population and I wish to hell they'd just let it lie and approach the issue from a more intelligent angle.  One that doesn't offend untold numbers of people to the point that an organization as massive as the NFL has to actually do something about it.

Trump is the one who has to let it lie as he’s the one who fanned the flames and kept it going.

Edit: MSH has a point, they’re just going to use a different gesture.

[NullForceOmega]

They are on the clock when on that field.  They are employees there to play the game and entertain people.  If you can be fired, fined, or otherwise punished for exercising your freedom of speech in any other work environment then you can certainly expect the same from the NFL.  I have no objection to their message, I really just think it would be much smarter to keep it off the field.

I don't watch sports, most of my friends and associates don't watch sports, but there are literally tens of millions of people who do, and they don't appear to be particularly tolerant of this protest during their mindless entertainment time.

[JoshuaFH]

This situation is as stupid as when Pepe the Frog became an official hate symbol.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The work environment is not truly a politics-free zone to begin with. We perceive it that way, but the reason for that is the totalitarian nature of the business power structure, particularly now that labor rights in the US have eroded to the level of "some hypercapitalist overlords realize we might turn on them if they take anything more away, and so fight the hypercapitalist overlords who want to take everything left away". The work environment is drenched in the propaganda and politics of capitalism and business interest. It's a daily experience, and we have become the fish who fail to see the water they swim in.

To be silent, particularly for someone like an NFL player who is a public figure, is as much a political choice. It is the choice to perceive injustice and not do anything about it, even on the simple level of letting the millions out there know that there is someone who gives a shit, and is willing to do more than nothing.

It's never, ever "smart" to be politically involved in anything. As long as there are people to fight over politics, this will remain true. But to make the "smart" choice is to look at people like neo-nazis and admit you'd rather let them take the field, because then you might be safer. For a little while, at least.

[NullForceOmega]

I did not say 'be silent', I said 'keep it off the field'.  Those are two incredibly different things.  I think that if they feel strongly enough about the issues to take an action on the field then they should certainly feel strongly enough to take action outside of it.  They have leverage to impact people with their status just as effectively, if not more so, when on their own time.

I really just think that the entire method of this particular 'protest' is poorly conceived and is doing less to draw attention to the issue and far more to stir up meaningless controversy.

[MrRoboto75]

I’d like to see someone actually make him do that since it’s his personal account that they’re talking about, not the official POTUS account. It’s just complicated be the fact that he uses it as the official POTUS account and he’s the President.

No it's not. The judge ruled that it is indeed a presidential account, and not a personal account.

It was his personal account, hence the complication, which obviously isn’t a complication in the law since it already explains what he’s supposed to do.

The key word is "was"

[Lord Shonus]

I did not say 'be silent', I said 'keep it off the field'.  Those are two incredibly different things.  I think that if they feel strongly enough about the issues to take an action on the field then they should certainly feel strongly enough to take action outside of it.  They have leverage to impact people with their status just as effectively, if not more so, when on their own time.

I really just think that the entire method of this particular 'protest' is poorly conceived and is doing less to draw attention to the issue and far more to stir up meaningless controversy.

The problem is that the controversy was fairly muted until Trump doused it in gasoline. There was some bitching and moaning when Mr. Unspellable started doing it -he'd probably have been pissed if there hadn't been, because that would mean his message was ignored- and he got into unofficial trouble because of it, but the rest of the players who began to act out of solidarity were treated mildly-to-sympathetically in the media. And then came Trump turning it into a distractionary scapegoat.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I did not say 'be silent', I said 'keep it off the field'.  Those are two incredibly different things.  I think that if they feel strongly enough about the issues to take an action on the field then they should certainly feel strongly enough to take action outside of it.  They have leverage to impact people with their status just as effectively, if not more so, when on their own time.

I really just think that the entire method of this particular 'protest' is poorly conceived and is doing less to draw attention to the issue and far more to stir up meaningless controversy.

Say that one is an NFL player, and even say that one is one of THE NFL players. You've got the sponsored clothing line. People who don't know anything about football and live in other countries keep vaguely remembering you from somewhere. If you obliterated your ACL tomorrow and retired you'd still be getting cred and approached on the streets to be told how you inspired someone to start playing 20 years hence.

How much do people care or know about your actions outside of NFL events? Now certainly, if you are an activist purely off the field, some people are going to take notice. Your hardcore fans are going to know and probably even going to care. But the general NFL-watching public? The millions of people who tune in for your team every game? The millions more who will watch the Superbowl just because that's what one does? They do not know or care about your actions outside of getting that pigskin where it needs to go.

Your only leverage of your status that gives you a chance, even a small chance, of putting a dent in public consciousness is to act where people can see. And that means protesting at the game. Controversy follows all successful protests. That this is so controversial is a sign that it is working, because it is upsetting the people who benefit from police brutality and racial discrimination. Their upset isn't just from thoughts that they disagree with. It's because protesting in this way threatens the power the established order provides them. That is the real reason right media are trying to make it about "disrespecting the flag" and why far-right media are assassin-baiting the players involved.

Consider, as an alternative, the actions of Tim Tebow in writing various bible verses into his eye black. The NCAA were not particularly upset by this even though it is certainly a "political message on the field" and Tebow did it with intent, frequently. And so "politics" in reality has little to do with it. It's threatening the establishment that upsets people so deeply. John 3:16 is an establishment message and so is accepted. Kneeling for police brutality is an anti-establishment message and so is a threat that must be eliminated, be that by threatening the lives of the players, bans and fines, or trying to convince them to protest in some other way.

[NullForceOmega]

If Trump hadn't reacted, then I, for the most part, would agree with your assessment.  Trump did react.  An action that could have been a slightly controversial protest then turned into a highly divisive, and to some people flatly offensive, display that at this point is so lacking in self-awareness that is it very nearly comical.

This protest is no longer something that is generating useful buzz, it is, in fact, damn near toxic to its own intended message.  From any intelligent viewpoint the best option is to abandon this tactic and find one that does not carry the same level of negative bias.  It screams of people chasing hype for the sake of hype without consideration of the message they are supposedly trying to convey.