Michael Ejercito
2017-10-02 04:53:25 UTC
What is Behind the Refusal to Stand for the Anthem?
by Jonathan S. Tobin
October 1, 2017 at 4:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11094/anthem-kneeling-nfl
If there is a declining number of Americans who demonstrate patriotism, it
may spring from the fact that few have ever served their nation in any
capacity.
Public education in the post-Vietnam era, as well as textbooks often
developed with the "help" of dubious sources, have also emphasized America's
flaws while undermining the sense that it is a place worth defending.
It is worth wondering if the battles over the anthem are more the natural
outcome of a popular culture that no longer teaches Western values or
requires either a draft or any kind of national service.
The debate about whether football players should stand for the national
anthem moved to the center of the national conversation last month. On
Sunday, September 24, scores of National Football League players, knelt, sat
or stayed in the locker room while the Star-Spangled Banner was played. What
used to be a rote exercise that began all sports events suddenly became seen
as an indicator of sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement or antipathy
for President Donald J. Trump.
The most telling moment in the controversy, however, may have come a day
later, when one NFL player felt compelled to apologize. The contrarian was
not one of those allegedly protesting the nation's perceived shortcomings.
It was, instead, a player who stood at attention and with his hand over his
heart while the anthem was played.
Alejandro Villanueva was in the spotlight because he chose to stand and
salute in sight of the fans -- and the television cameras -- at the entrance
to the field while the rest of his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates stayed in
their locker room. Within 24 hours, his number 78 Steelers jersey became the
league's best-selling merchandise. Villanueva was apparently quickly shamed
by his team into expressing regret.
In the aftermath of his public browbeating, it did not take much deep
analysis for many Americans to see that the factor that separated Villanueva
from his teammates was his military service.
A graduate of West Point and a veteran of three tours of service as an Army
Ranger in Afghanistan, Villanueva is an outlier not only in terms of the
NFL, but also as far as most Americans are concerned.
Alejandro Villanueva of the Pittsburgh Steelers chose to stand and salute in
sight of fans during the playing of the national anthem on September 24 in
Chicago, while the rest of his teammates stayed in their locker room.
Villanueva was apparently quickly shamed by his team into expressing regret.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
According to the Pentagon's Defense Manpower Center, active service members
make up only 0.4 percent of the population of the United States. Even more
telling is that more than 44 years after the Selective Service effectively
ended conscription, the percentage of veterans has plummeted. In 2015, it
was reported that only 7.3% of Americans had served in the military at some
point during their lives. With each passing year, as the last veterans of
World War Two and Korea pass away and with even the youngest Vietnam-era
service members entering their seventies, this percentage will decline. Most
Americans know nothing of what the military's sacrifice entails and are
apparently prone not to value what those who serve in the military are
defending. Ironically, surveys show the military to be the most respected of
contemporary American institutions.
At the same time, opinion surveys continue to show a decline in expressions
of patriotism, such as pride in the values of America or in being American.
That number reached a historic low in April of 2017 when Gallup reported
that only 52% of respondents said they were "extremely proud" to be
Americans.
Gallup's numbers showed Democrats and millennials polled on the question of
how they felt about America were less likely to express pride in their
country than Republicans or older Americans. As college students have been
increasingly shielded from knowing positive values that America has brought
to civilization, the resulting impact on the culture cannot be considered a
surprise.
Of course, to some of those who refuse to stand for the anthem, kneeling is
a public reproach to racism that still exists in the US as well as in many
other societies, as well as a supposed expression of patriotism in accord
with the American tradition of free speech, honoring dissent.
One does not have to be a veteran to love one's country or to embrace its
symbols. Dissent, even in forms that are offensive to many, can also be
declared expressions of democracy.
Moreover, Trump's demand that NFL owners players be fired -- they are not
his to fire -- doubtless caused many players to join the protesters as a way
of demonstrating their antipathy for an unpopular president rather than
resentment toward police forces accused of targeting African-Americans for
death (often without any basis in statistics or the facts of controversial
cases, such as the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri).
The teaching of what used to be called civics or history has declined to the
point where Americans know very little about their roots or how a republican
form of government works. At the same time, public education in the
post-Vietnam era, as well as textbooks often developed with the "help" of
dubious sources (here, here, here and here) have also emphasized America's
flaws while undermining the sense that it is a place worth defending.
As the sports world has gone from being a sector of the culture where
patriotic gestures were transformed from universally accepted time-honored
rituals to the occasion for leftist "virtue signaling," it is worth
wondering if the battles over the anthem are more the natural outcome of a
popular culture that no longer teaches Western values or requires either a
draft or any kind of national service.
Jonathan S. Tobin is opinion editor of JNS.org a contributing writer for
National Review Online. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
by Jonathan S. Tobin
October 1, 2017 at 4:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11094/anthem-kneeling-nfl
If there is a declining number of Americans who demonstrate patriotism, it
may spring from the fact that few have ever served their nation in any
capacity.
Public education in the post-Vietnam era, as well as textbooks often
developed with the "help" of dubious sources, have also emphasized America's
flaws while undermining the sense that it is a place worth defending.
It is worth wondering if the battles over the anthem are more the natural
outcome of a popular culture that no longer teaches Western values or
requires either a draft or any kind of national service.
The debate about whether football players should stand for the national
anthem moved to the center of the national conversation last month. On
Sunday, September 24, scores of National Football League players, knelt, sat
or stayed in the locker room while the Star-Spangled Banner was played. What
used to be a rote exercise that began all sports events suddenly became seen
as an indicator of sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement or antipathy
for President Donald J. Trump.
The most telling moment in the controversy, however, may have come a day
later, when one NFL player felt compelled to apologize. The contrarian was
not one of those allegedly protesting the nation's perceived shortcomings.
It was, instead, a player who stood at attention and with his hand over his
heart while the anthem was played.
Alejandro Villanueva was in the spotlight because he chose to stand and
salute in sight of the fans -- and the television cameras -- at the entrance
to the field while the rest of his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates stayed in
their locker room. Within 24 hours, his number 78 Steelers jersey became the
league's best-selling merchandise. Villanueva was apparently quickly shamed
by his team into expressing regret.
In the aftermath of his public browbeating, it did not take much deep
analysis for many Americans to see that the factor that separated Villanueva
from his teammates was his military service.
A graduate of West Point and a veteran of three tours of service as an Army
Ranger in Afghanistan, Villanueva is an outlier not only in terms of the
NFL, but also as far as most Americans are concerned.
Alejandro Villanueva of the Pittsburgh Steelers chose to stand and salute in
sight of fans during the playing of the national anthem on September 24 in
Chicago, while the rest of his teammates stayed in their locker room.
Villanueva was apparently quickly shamed by his team into expressing regret.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
According to the Pentagon's Defense Manpower Center, active service members
make up only 0.4 percent of the population of the United States. Even more
telling is that more than 44 years after the Selective Service effectively
ended conscription, the percentage of veterans has plummeted. In 2015, it
was reported that only 7.3% of Americans had served in the military at some
point during their lives. With each passing year, as the last veterans of
World War Two and Korea pass away and with even the youngest Vietnam-era
service members entering their seventies, this percentage will decline. Most
Americans know nothing of what the military's sacrifice entails and are
apparently prone not to value what those who serve in the military are
defending. Ironically, surveys show the military to be the most respected of
contemporary American institutions.
At the same time, opinion surveys continue to show a decline in expressions
of patriotism, such as pride in the values of America or in being American.
That number reached a historic low in April of 2017 when Gallup reported
that only 52% of respondents said they were "extremely proud" to be
Americans.
Gallup's numbers showed Democrats and millennials polled on the question of
how they felt about America were less likely to express pride in their
country than Republicans or older Americans. As college students have been
increasingly shielded from knowing positive values that America has brought
to civilization, the resulting impact on the culture cannot be considered a
surprise.
Of course, to some of those who refuse to stand for the anthem, kneeling is
a public reproach to racism that still exists in the US as well as in many
other societies, as well as a supposed expression of patriotism in accord
with the American tradition of free speech, honoring dissent.
One does not have to be a veteran to love one's country or to embrace its
symbols. Dissent, even in forms that are offensive to many, can also be
declared expressions of democracy.
Moreover, Trump's demand that NFL owners players be fired -- they are not
his to fire -- doubtless caused many players to join the protesters as a way
of demonstrating their antipathy for an unpopular president rather than
resentment toward police forces accused of targeting African-Americans for
death (often without any basis in statistics or the facts of controversial
cases, such as the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri).
The teaching of what used to be called civics or history has declined to the
point where Americans know very little about their roots or how a republican
form of government works. At the same time, public education in the
post-Vietnam era, as well as textbooks often developed with the "help" of
dubious sources (here, here, here and here) have also emphasized America's
flaws while undermining the sense that it is a place worth defending.
As the sports world has gone from being a sector of the culture where
patriotic gestures were transformed from universally accepted time-honored
rituals to the occasion for leftist "virtue signaling," it is worth
wondering if the battles over the anthem are more the natural outcome of a
popular culture that no longer teaches Western values or requires either a
draft or any kind of national service.
Jonathan S. Tobin is opinion editor of JNS.org a contributing writer for
National Review Online. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.