All this proves is that you can't look beyond your own nose. You want everyone to care about what you care about, yet you look these people in the face and call them stupid, fools, uneducated rubes...deplorable.
The people who are stupid, fools, rubes, and deplorable are the ones who have allowed themselves to get riled up over a complete non-issue. They're being played for suckers by a politician who specializes in playing suckers.
Patriotism may be a joke to you, I know it's phoney and a joke to lefties who take freedom and the western way of life for granted, but for many people it's deadly serious.
I don't think patriotism is phony, but the NFL's on-field displays sure are. As already discussed, the Department of Defense and branches of the US Armed Forces have paid the NFL millions of dollars to put on patriotic displays and showcase members of the military in ceremonies at games. To boost recruitment. How is that not phony?
"We're honoring our military today, because our military paid us to." YAAAAY! Doesn't that make you feel all patriotic inside?
Many of the causes that the left want to promote get lost when you/they start burning, stomping on, spitting on...or otherwise disrespecting the flag.
Oh. Ok. Which football players are burning, stomping on, or spitting on the flag? Because those guys are definitely jerks! Have you got pictures of this happening?
On the other hand, if you're going to tell me that kneeling during the anthem is the same as burning, stomping on, or spitting on the flag, then no. You're wrong. That's silly.
I read a news article last week about a young kid in school who got roughed up by his teacher by not standing and saluting during the Pledge of Allegiance. So what was the kid's problem. Was he a Muslim? A commie? Some kind of America-hating leftist? As it turns out the kid was a fundamentalist Christian, whose religious beliefs dictate that he can't pledge allegiance to the flag because his religious beliefs only allow him to pledge allegiance to God.
Declining to participate in a ceremony honoring the flag is not the same as destroying or defacing the flag.
Consider: every year at our office Christmas party, my boss leads a prayer and saying grace before dinner. And I don't pray along because I'm not religious, so I bow my head and sit quietly.
Now, if my boss were to react like Donald Trump has reacted to this anthem topic, he'd say something like "GOD DAMN YOU WHY ARE YOU DISRESPECTING JESUS WHY DO YOU HATE JESUS GOD DAMN YOU ARE GOD DAMNED FIRED!!!"
But because my boss is a normal person, he's capable of accepting that I don't share his beliefs and accepts that I sit quietly during the prayer without taking it as an offense to either himself or his religion. Because that's how normal people react in situations like that.
If you refuse to understand why veterans and families of veterans are patriotic, how can you expect them to see your point of view? If you/they want to a serious discussion, showing contempt for the flag is not really a good starting point.
I understand that veterans and non-veterans and all kinds of other people are patriotic. I don't have any issue with it.
The issue here isn't that people are intolerant of patriotism. The issue here is that some self-styled patriots are intolerant of those who don't share their patriotism.
-k