What if the point is to get people protesting, not to protest something in particular? Of course, "taking a knee" isn't going to change anything in American society, but if enough people are doing it, it creates an atmosphere of unrest and upheaval that some people want. Look at many wars and most revolutions. People aren't all fighting for the same thing or trying to achieve the same result, but they are all fighting, and if you think you can redirect all that energy to your own ends, that's a win for you.
•I really can't fault Roger Goodell and NFL owners for all the public statements they issued in the aftermath of President Trump's epic rant at the Alabama political rally last Friday night, even if these public statements were botched, uniformly pathetic, and delivered the absolute wrong message for the occasion. You can't fault them for their desperation in these circumstances, since it's not often that the President of the United States tells your customers that: (1) it would be great for some of your employees ("sons of bitches" that they are) to be fired; and (2) they should just get up and leave your place of business until you and your employees get your act together. What President Trump did last Friday was the equivalent of telling the world that McDonalds hamburgers taste like garbage.
Last sentence is going too far, but Goodell and the owners aren't "cultural Marxists" or revolutionaries. They're business people and their acting like business people do. There's a little bit of a progressive veneer in business circles. I think that's what the conspiracy theorists are picking up on. Top business people want to be "cool" and urban and cosmopolitan and put some distance between themselves and small town Main Street. But it's mostly about business and profit, not ideology.
Good post. I agree that Goodell and the owners are just acting like business people do, but I also think their business has gotten so complicated that they don’t know how to deal with what they’ve got on their hands. The biggest problem they face is that they have too many different kinds of “customers” (fans, TV networks and sponsors), and they may not be able to keep all three of them happy at the same time.
I’ve yet to see a GOOD business model taught that teaches disrespecting the American flag or anthem or putting the obvious customer last.
These business owners have sullied their brand beyond repair.
Ideology is the primary behavioral driver here. The kneeling would never have caught on like it did without decades of propagandizing by schools and media.