{"id":488,"date":"2020-08-18T21:59:02","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T21:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=488"},"modified":"2020-08-18T22:10:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T22:10:26","slug":"it-was-still-his-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/08\/18\/it-was-still-his-country\/","title":{"rendered":"It Was Still HIS Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There we are. We finally have sports. Something to take our\nthoughts away from the everyday turmoil of our nation. I was SO ready for\nsports that I even agreed to watch baseball. That’s kind of a big deal for me.\nBut then they did it… putting political messages all over everything and two\nteams kneeling during the anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I won’t discuss the fact that they got where they are because they were good at throwing and hitting a ball, not because of their woke enlightenment. Not because of their superior intellect. Because they were born with and perfected a superior ability of hand-eye coordination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won’t discuss whether or not they even know why they’re\nkneeling. What the message is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won’t discuss police brutality and whether or not you think it’s an epidemic or not. That’s for another day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I’m only talking about the vehicle chosen to protest.\nDo they have the right? Yes. And the consumer has the right to cease spending\nmoney on tickets too. Picking the right moment for the right audience is\nparamount for getting a message out that you believe is important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So we pick the national anthem. There can only be one of\ntwo reasons why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason #1- you hate America. To those, I’m sure there\nare great real estate agents that can get them top dollar for their homes and\nthey can move to another country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason #2- it’s a huge platform that can get the attention\nof a large audience. But again, is this the audience you want to appeal to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all remember the story of Natalie Maines from the Dixie\nChicks (now referred to as three persons of non-specific gender or region) and\nher decision to tell people in London how bad she hated our president (W at the\ntime). On the surface, that doesn’t sound like a big deal. I happen to\npersonally know a musician that was on that stage with her that night standing\nright behind her and it didn’t strike him or any other band members as a big\ndeal. Just Natalie being Natalie. The problem was that the people who bought\ntheir albums and bought tickets to their shows were huge fans of\n“God-fearing Republicans”, which W was just that. It caused their\ncareer to implode overnight. And it seems here recently a certain group of\npeople forgot that story and seem destined to repeat it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And here we are, watching people protest during a song. But\nwhat do they know about that song? Obviously not much. A close friend of mine discussed\nthe lyrics a few years back. I\u2019m going to discuss the resolve of the writer and\nthe audience of the protesters. Quick history…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British ships were intercepting American ships that were on\ntheir way to France\nto provide supplies. Britain\nstill had this superiority complex that they could just do whatever they wanted\nto Americans. President James Madison has people in his ear that basically say,\n“Are you going to stand for this or do something about it?” Could he\nhave chosen a diplomatic route? Possibly. But just 30 years earlier the\nAmericans learned that diplomacy wasn’t something Britain was used to. The British\nlike to do what they wanted when they wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there’s this lawyer who has a knack for excellent poetic writing. He is outraged when he learns that President Madison has declared war on the British. He felt it could have and should have been handled diplomatically. The vote to go to war was the closest ever, proving that the country was very divided on this issue. Francis Scott Key began using his national platform, expressing his disgust of Madison and his outright protest of this “unjust war”. He. Was. Angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Britain\nobliges. They bring the fight to Ft.\nMcHenry. Key was given permission from the President to negotiate the release\nof a prisoner. He boards a British ship and while they are negotiating, the\nfight intensifies. Key is not allowed to leave the boat for a couple of reasons.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he was relegated to sit back and watch from a distance.\nThe next morning, he began asking questions, (paraphrased) “Can you\nsee?… at dawn?… is it the same flag we proudly posted last night? … the\none with stripes and stars… it made it through the fight? but I watched our\nland get hit with a flurry of shells?… but I saw that British red powder\nflying through the air behind all of those bombs? Somehow through all of that\nour flag was still there? WHAT?! … Well I’ll be damned! It’s still waving\nover the land of the free and the home of the brave.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Key saw that night was shell after shell being hurled\n(approximately 1 per minute, which was a lot back then) at his country. The\nsame country he was PROTESTING. The same country he was angry with for even\nbeing in this conflict. He watched in horror thinking the worst. It completely\nshocked him to find the flag still standing there.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, in the midst of his anger and protest, this was still HIS country<\/em><\/strong>. He still loved America. He was just angry at President Madison and those that voted to enter the conflict. If the story of this song tells us anything, it\u2019s that even in the midst of disagreement, we\u2019re still Americans. This is still OUR country. \u00a0So protesting this tune, written by this guy, who was protesting America, makes ZERO sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s that issue of audience. Most sports lovers really don’t care what their favorite athlete thinks about law enforcement. They want to cheer on their team and enjoy sports. If you feel the need to protest something, there’s nothing wrong with that. But make sure you at least consider what you’re protesting and who it will alienate in the process. The latest antics by the woke sports mob will only hurt. It will only continue to divide. The NFL and NBA TV ratings were at an all-time low prior to covid. We look to sports as an escape… not more political rhetoric. If we want that, we’ll just hop on Facebook\u2026 followed by lots of prayer and anti-depressants! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grainger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There we are. We finally have sports. Something to take our thoughts away from the everyday turmoil of our nation. I was SO ready for sports that I even agreed to watch baseball. That’s kind of a big deal for me. But then they did it… putting political messages all over everything and two teams … <\/p>\n

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