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The most bizarre, but typical, aspect of this whole mess has the been the media’s disingenuous water-carrying for the players.

We are told repeatedly - by the media, not the players - that the players are protesting police brutality. Several questions spring to mind immediately:

1) What brutality? Shootings? Beatings? An uncomfortable armlock? Cuffs too tight?

2) How much brutality? Has anyone else noticed that the ‘epidemic’ of police shootings of so-called unarmed black men has disappeared along with the police-hating Obama? In a nation of 340 million persons a dozen incidents of police brutality are regrettable but they are a statistical flyspeck in the ocean. As usual, lefty virtue-signaling outrage is wildly disproportionate to the problem they cite.

3) Where is the brutality? Why is every situation, problem, incident, dispute, news story etc. nationalized? Why do people in SC feel entitled to pass judgment on life in OR and vice versa? If 31 NFL teams’ cities have no problem then why are they protesting issues in the 32nd city?

Specifics aside, the point remains: few, if any, media outlets are actually interviewing these players to find out what they object to and why. Instead, the media presume to explain the players’ cause for them ie it’s strictly a PR exercise.

Could it be that most of these players haven’t the first clue what they’re talking about? Could it be that asking them for specifics, details, statistics, trends, etc. would expose their near-total ignorance on the subject? Could it be that apart from kneeling during the anthem these players spend their scant 349 non-game days per year doing what they always do: working out, lazing around, playing video games, playing golf, listening to music, drinking and getting high?

Even the Typhoid Mary of the kneeling craze, Colin Kaepernick, isn’t talking much about police brutality, the so-called crux of the issue. Instead, he’s like a fire-sale Bernie Sanders, mumbling inanities about ‘some people in this country don’t have the opportunities others have.’ Yes, Colin, it’s called freedom and it occasionally involves difficult circumstances or the plain old luck of the draw. If you want uniformity, try North Korea.

The media are also trumpeting the protest (usually preceded by ‘peaceful’ as if that’s an achievement) line and the First Amendment line. They then contradict themselves by claiming that the NFL’s response is ‘for business reasons.’ Apparently the media are surprised that the entity which the media have paid billions of dollars to air games is acting in its own best interests vis-a-vis business. Yes, it’s a business as in a private enterprise (with public spectators) - which means the First Amendment blather is just that. They claim some players are sacrificing earnings and contracts but they never seem to mention that a dozen other players would give their eyeteeth to fill the vacated roster spots.

One person used to litter every single Disqus comment thread with this post: ‘The issue isn’t the issue. The issue is control.’ The repetition of the post was annoying but it was undeniable that he was correct, especially under Obama. Now we see it in the NFL dispute. The media are no longer trumpeting the cause - they are trumpeting who can say what to whom and why ie it’s the usual attempt to impose thought and speech control under the rubric of social justice.

I haven’t mentioned Trump yet because, while he may be vocal on the topic, he isn’t the real issue despite the media’s usual attempt to make it so. I have heard one radio talker after another claim that the owners are afraid of Trump. No, the owners are afraid of empty seats, a wipeout at the concession stands and parking lots (revenue they don’t have to share equally with the other owners) and another dive in TV ratings. Trump may reflect public sentiment but the public make their own choices with regard to viewing habits and subscriptions to cable/satellite.

In sum, the players can’t admit it was a dumb idea. They can’t admit it has failed miserably. They can’t admit they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. They can’t admit that they alone are responsible for a potential short- and long-term decrease in their own earning power. The media can’t admit that it’s not 1968 anymore and that their precious racial heroes pulled their stunts 50 years ago and nobody is interested in reliving it.

Everyone is trying to save face in the wake of a PR disaster and it’s only leading to more disaster due to their egos and plain old fashioned hatred directed, bizarrely, at the paying customer.