I was just making the point that everyone was one edge. There would have been extra security in place. The cops were already exhausted working double shifts. Having some million dollar football players acting out didn’t help. That’s basically what the police spokesman was saying in his statement.
I’m glad nothing else happened and hopefully this will all die down. The NFL players can do what their paid to do. I think everyone is sick of hearing about Ferguson and the sooner the country moves on the better.
The thread is really going off track. I was disgusted with what the Rams Players did. But, heck a small fine or even a strong warning from their coaches is all that’s needed. It’s not a huge deal.
Others obviously approve. Fine. I’ll just change the channel the next time they pull that crap.
There was no police spokesman. Jeff Roorda is not a police officer. He was fired as a police officer for being an extremely corrupt, lying police officer. He doesn’t speak for the police. He speaks for a lobbying group which has no affiliation with the police.
The Olympians were making a public gesture like the Football players. A small fine would be in order or maybe a rebuke from their coaches. I’m not sure what disciplinary powers the Olympic committee had back then. That really wasn’t as big of a deal because it was an isolated incident.
The NFL plays every Sunday. I’m hoping this thing with the Rams was just a one time incident too. If it’s repeated over and over again the league will eventually step in and put a stop to it.
The hands up gesture may have started with peaceful protest. But it’s quickly become a symbol of rioting and looting in many people’s minds.
You have to keep in mind dalej42’s somewhat skewed set of priorities. If someone—anyone—does something that in any way interferes with the game of football, that person must be hounded and ridiculed, no matter the facts.
His calling Kenny Britt a criminal here has less to do with Britt’s past than with the fact that this protest in St. Louis provided a tiny interruption to the only thing that matters: the watching of football games.
Similarly, any woman who interferes in any way with the NFL, such as inconsiderately placing her gold-digging whore face in the way of a moving fist, is to be denigrated at every possible opportunity. Same goes for college football…
Yeah, it’s terrible when people disagree with your ill-informed, poorly thought-out and internally inconsistent and incoherent “arguments,” isn’t it?
Though it would IMO be conspicuously brainless to do so in this case, restricting the speech of employees on the job is not an infringement of first amendment rights.
It would make equal sense to suggest that an employer who tells the receptionist she can’t display an assault rifle on her desk is infringing her 2nd amendment rights.
That Olympic moment is now legendary. It’s one of the most iconic moments of the 20th century. And you’re riled up about five football players doing a gesture that probably won’t be remembered in a month?
I have to ask this question, and it’s not a joke: have you ever seen or heard of the 1968 Olympic Black Power salute incident before I linked to the photo? Because calling it “not a big deal” is just totally out of touch with one of the most remarkable protests in the postwar era.
Are you saying the 1968 “Black Power” salute, which I have seen referenced dozens if not hundreds of times over the years, wasn’t as big of a deal as a gesture that will be forgotten by 2015? No way.
Peter Norman, the white Australian silver medalist who simply stood beside John Carlos and Tommie Smith, was himself ostracized by his own country’s Olympic committee as late as 2000…
Sure, I’ve seen the photo. I guess it was maybe in the early 80’s in college. One of my English classes read books on King and the Civil Rights movement. We wrote a couple papers based on our research. I was very impressed at how well planned and peaceful the marches were. That was no accident. King’s group, the SCLC held training sessions. Teaching the marchers to ignore slurs and other attacks. King understood how important it was to keep the marches orderly and peaceful. King only had one march veer out of control and that was the labor march in Memphis. I don’t think the SCLC had the time to organize that march.
By the time I saw the Olympics photo it was just another image of the Civil Rights movement. I’d seen dozens and dozen researching my papers. It didn’t have the same effect on me as someone living through that time. I was much more moved by the images of dogs attacking marchers in Birmingham and the images of Dr King’s death.
Are you fucking kidding me? This thread is a master class in how NOT to open a Pit thread. It should be made into a sticky as an object lesson for future OPs.
And that (if you can convince a few million of your fellow believers) would do it. The NFL would stop it. Quickly. Problem is that it’s a lot easier to come here and bitch about it then to actually, ya know, DO anything about it.
I think you’re missing the boat on this. My problem with this is that it was, ultimately, a fairly meaningless, risk-free gesture on the players’ part. They knew they either weren’t going to get fined or, if they did, it would be a pittance. How much have they given to causes related to the Ferguson issue? How much time have they spent? Are they actually sacrificing to make things better for that community or are they just grandstanding on tv?
Really? You did all that research on the Civil Rights Movement (for an English class??) and aren’t familiar with the '68 Olympics beyond “just another image” from the era?
It may have been pretty meaningless, in potential-consequence terms, for the players, but I wouldn’t be too quick to discount the value it might have had for some folks in the area.
Fraid not. That was another generation. Not mine. I barely was in the 2nd grade. I wasn’t exactly following the news then. I did play a fine game of marbles in the playground.
I’m glad we studied the Civil Rights Movement. It’s an important time in US history. We owe a lot to Dr. King and the SCLC for preventing a race war. Just like Mandela prevented one in S Africa. But for me it is history of a very troubled time in the US.
Do you understand that the people involved in the civil rights movement did lots and lots of things that self-appointed spokesmen for law and order found distasteful?
Actually, he did quite a bit more than that, even more than the pin he wore on the medal stand; he actively aided and abetted Carlos and Smith. At least one of the gloves they wore was his (maybe both; note how they’re worn on opposite hands).
ETA: Oops, according to his Wikipedia page, I misremembered; only one of them had their gloves at the time, and it was Norman who suggested they each wear one from the pair they did have.
There’s a reason why Carlos and Smith went all the way to Australia to be pallbearers at his funeral.
