Posted on 08/10/2016 7:15:43 AM PDT by simpson96
Gabby Douglas may have just helped her team win gold at the Olympics but that hasn't stopped some fans criticizing her for not putting her hand on her heart during the U.S. national anthem.
The American gymnast was the only member of her squad who was photographed with her hands by her sides as The Star-Spangled Banner played in Rio on Tuesday.
The Olympic veteran took gold alongside Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles and Aly Raisman in the Women's Team All-Around gymnastics ompetition.
Twitter user Angela complained: 'There is no excuse as to why you could not salute the flag of the country that gave you the opportunity to compete.'
'Gabby Douglas just standing there and not placing her hand over her heart while our anthem played was UN-Olympic,' Dawn Wisdom wrote.
'As a military kid Gabby Douglas knows the proper way to respect the anthem,' another social media user said.
And Brittany Hargrave added: 'On the one hand, so proud of the Final Five gold win. On the other, so disappointed Gabby Douglas didn't salute the flag.'
Douglas explained why she didn't raise her hand to her heart during the national anthem after spotting the complaints on social media.
'First I want to say thank you everyone for all your support! It's a huge honor for me to be able to represent Team USA,' she said.
'In response to a few tweets I saw tonight, I always stand at attention out of respect for our country whenever the national anthem is played.
'I never meant any disrespect and apologize if I offended anyone. I'm so overwhelmed at what our team accomplished today and overjoyed that we were able to bring home another gold for our country.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
May the Lord bless you and the Glorious Flag cover your last caisson trip.
Give the kid a pass as it could have been many things. If she comes out verbally militant then smack her up the didevof her ego. So far she has not disavowed her country.
Should read side of her ego....
Gabby Douglas, 20
Gymnastics (previously competed in 2012 London)
After reading thru the sludge-like comments from FR posters... CodeToad; dforest; newfreep; exnewsexspook; bgill; ac86ut89; organic panic; laweeks; TADSLOS; HomerBohn; Hulka; Sagar; Leaning Right; The ErnFormerlyKnownasBig; ladyjane; GBA; Jane Long; Senator_Blutarski; Rooster Redux; Varon; Mr. Mojo; tomkat; nutmeg; nikos1121 ...
...I'd say 80-90% of you are either simply off-base (hey, that happens; me, too on other occasions) or worse, are seriously spiritually/socially sick.
Most of you would fit into well to the MsM with the way they try to turn very minute points about Trump into major character narratives. As such, many of these posts (certainly not all of you whom I'm pinging) are...
...a true embarrassment to FR,
...to the conservative movement as well,
...& are in need of repentance re: these specific comments before God.
I'm sure Gabby Douglas is far from perfect; I'll take her public witness of her Christian faith any day before your attempted judgmental take-downs based upon the thinnest of observations.
For those of you who claim Christ as your Lord, you've unnecessarily maligned a sister in Christ minus further investigation. [I saw two posters cite some gossip of her as the closest thing to "researching" who she is]
Bottom-line: Upgrade your public comments:
...a few of you need to knock off your racist comments...
...& the rest of you need to stop tolerating racist comments...
...overall, most of these comments are so shallow they don't even make a splash!
It is a shame that Freepers can’t enjoy these young women for the amazing feat they accomplished. Yes, Gabby didn’t put her hand on her heart. But she put her heart into gymnastics and is a wonderful athlete. Her mother single handily raised four children. One of them became a Gold Medalist in the Olympics. Yet, Freepers don’t have the humanity to enjoy the moment. Very sad. Very embarrassing.
2012 is not now.
Good Lord (see, I am a Christian), calm down, people disagree with you (and me) all the time, doesn’t mean they are picking a fight or awful people.
I was quite willing to read your thoughts about Gabby Douglas until I hit the term “sludge-like”. Then you kind of lost me. But you really lost me when you implied that anyone who disagreed with you might be some sort of racist.
That’s no way to make friends and influence people.
And by the way, I still stand by my post #9. Douglas smeared a lot of good people. Did you read the link I provided there?
Calm down, Hulka. People disagree with me all the time. (This doesn't automatically mean I'm picking I fight with you...)
On the other hand, perhaps you post #100 was provocative? For the rest of you:
I was thinking it was a muslime thing. Did she go the Rev Wright’s church with obummer? [post #100]
So, if I slimed YOU as wondering if you had an Islamic bent, or adhered to a flavor of churchianity a la "Rev. Wright" style, I'd guess if that somehow provoked you...I'd have to advise you that I wasn't "picking a fight" & hey, better "calm down," eh?
- - -
If memory serves, you're some kind of zealot/loon from waaay back, and as such the balance of your hyper-formatted screed is of neither interest nor consequence to me.
IOW, p!ss off.
Being Christian has nothing to do with loving country.
Many of these racist blacks claim to be Christian while hating America. Hell, Obama is one of them!
Fwiw, I generally regret something about virtually all of my posts, including this one, most likely, but also the one that made you include me in your reply.
In light of what you said, she committed an unforced error by failing to note where she was in that moment and be in that moment as a representative of the nation who sent her, in addition to being a representative of the Holy Trinity.
Due perhaps to her unforced error, obviously the commentary and pictures that others and I responded to told us a different story, a story that made your post quite a surprise for me.
Thanks for that and for the rest.
Oh, I didn’t go for the non-apology apology (”sorry you are offended” is not an apology for for the action, but “apologizes” for YOU being offended).
Re you point out Post 100: I have a “;-0” in that post.
the “;-)” means a grin, not serious.
So, your sole reason for including me was your knee-jerk bent to insult.
The rest of my posts were a remarkably nice civil discussion on how to render honors when in service while out of uniform, and vets.
So, clearly, I was included in your rant reply was because you were unable to recognize the common ;-) symbol.
Again, insults and name-calling is not how you win support for your position. In fact, it has the opposite effect.
May you find peace in your heart.
Oh, and “ALL” doesn’t ping “all.”
Thank you, sir. And to you, as well.
Of course you STILL stand by it! ('Cause you're nothin' but a self-confessed gossip-monger!)
I mean, do you actually read the ENTIRETY of what you post?
For starters, check the URL you posted & FR_Addict & Leep posted: What comes after NYDailyNews.com within the very URL source post?
AND...not only does the VERY SOURCE proudly present your supposed "insight" as "gossip"...but it's from the NY Daily News, for ... sake!!!
A liberal rag of rags!!!
Is your memory so short that you forget the DailyNews 9 months ago placing an editorial and pretending it was a front-range headline?
The NY DailyNews blasted Republicans, Christians, conservatives for turning to prayer after the San Bernardino shooting...claiming prayer was worthless!!!
And worse, the NYDailyNews masqueraded a mere leftist opinion as major front-page news!!!
And this is your source? FR_Addict's source? Leep's source?
More pathethicness to you if indeed you "STAND BY" your post!!!
I repeat myself: YOU are an embarrassment to FR & the conservative movement!
CT...I will further 100% ignore ALL of your future comments...and NEVER respond to racist comments like this one (or their source) again! Tossing Gabby Douglas as somehow automatically falling into some "these racist blacks" category minus even any inkling of proof makes you a bigot of the worse sort...No evidence...No attempt to research in order to undergird your accusations. Just over-the-top blanked assertions shotgunned @ a person due to her skin color.
Well, i must admit i am confused..are you posting with multiple handles? Post 9 is a different a different poster.
You didn't repeat the same link in post #19???
I’m really puzzled here. Is your goal to try to change some minds, or is your goal to simply insult fellow Freepers?
I hope I’m wrong, but it seems like it’s the latter. As for me, I do not, and will not, trade insults with another FReeper. So kindly do not ping me again. And I will, of course, extend to you that same courtesy.
No, i didn’t repeat my post in 19 ...unless it was a computer glitch.
Again, i ask you if you are posting as two different POSTERS? I wasn’t commenting on your post.
Otherwise, i don’t know what you are talking about...?
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