I'll be working for the US Senate starting in January. I'm a political science major. I discuss politics basically 95% of the time I'm not on here.
Totally agree and also I think the reason the kneeling thing is so disliked by many. Protest and perform acts of activism outside the sports venue. People come and watch to be entertained. For most it’s not about disagreeing with anyone’s view of the issue.
I tend to disregard comments like that from any side of the aisle. People are just insane and it's the culmination of the bubble mentality @52520Andrew referred to earlier. Someone has a crazy idea and in the real world they get knocked over the head and told to pull their head in, but in a homogenous community that crazy idea gets met with full agreement and even some crazier ideas until they spiral to some pretty emotional levels. That's by no means unique to politics though - even this forum's an example of how communities tend to self-select these days with the internet and I guess you take the good with the bad.
Good luck with the senate job. What are you doing over there? My partner's a senior civil servant and she dragged me to a foreign policy conference a couple of months ago and it was really interesting - I'd never rubbed shoulders with political types before so that was a whole new world. I was picking some officials' minds over lunch about the issues facing Japan and Europe and their futures and the whole thing was fascinating to me but probably wouldn't have been to a lot of other people. Though Jon Stewart recently gave some advice to people getting into politics, which was to not let the stink get on you.
(I think the debacle with the Zadroga Act made him REALLY cynical of the whole process though)
The same argument can be used to stop playing the anthem before each game in what is an American, not international competition.
Okay. So CU Boulder has an area called the "free speech fountain", where you can legally support whichever political agenda you may desire and have a reasonable discussion. I would know, I'm there quite often. It's a thing I like, I like differing opinions. Usually. Assholes do take advantage of it, namely the religious extremists similar to the Westboro Baptist Church(the "God Hates Fags" people... yes, they're out here. I one time got chastised of for wearing shorts. I'm going to hell for that. Well I can't help these sexy calves). So today there was a group of young African American transgender women chanting some bullshit progressive rhetoric. "The rise is coming. black trans-women, CU Boulder. Down with white people, watch your privilege"). So they started straight up harassing some poor white girl. "You've had your life handed to you on a silver platter. You're going to be the first to go". Now, all of us here are reasonable people and we can agree that, well that's just not right at all. So I basically told them to leave her alone. And boom. "You support her agenda of facism." And then the name dropped. Not sure where the [profanity deleted] came from but I'm a person who takes pride in the way he dresses(Thanks Europe). I do like my Jeans and a T-shirt, but one can usually find me in a nice pair of chinos and a polo shirt(button down during winter months. I personally think that it's important to look impressionable whenever at school. You never know who you're going to meet and you don't want to give the impression that you're a slob. If that makes me "gay" then so be it. I don't care). I just rolled my eyes and I walked away. I've learned in life that there's no reasoning with these kind of people.
I personally think that in any political discourse, an unbiased moderation is necessary to keep the discussion reasonable and Civil. My big problem with Congress right now is how polarized it has become and how extreme both parties have become. I'm all for a difference of opinion, but when you resort to name calling, nothing is going to get done. Now they won't even talk to each other. Is part of that from people not willing to discuss things? Yes, but there has to be another place where people can discuss this stuff. That could be it's own forum with it's own set of rules. This is a sports community that's trying to expand to being more than just a Ravens site(at least those are my intentions with the place). Politics shouldn't be intermingled. I come on here to forget my problems in the real world.
Thank you good sir. I'll be interning(though it's paid which is really hard to come by). The main parts of my job description are that I'll be giving tours of the capitol building, and helping out with his constituents. I have 0 intentions of going into the field but who knows? Maybe I like the political game and/or at least I can get a good looking internship on my resume. I only applied to senators that I thought were reasonable(both parties too). The best way to not get the stink on you, is to keep your damn mouth shut and listen to your boss lol. But still, I digress.Good luck with the senate job. What are you doing over there? My partner's a senior civil servant and she dragged me to a foreign policy conference a couple of months ago and it was really interesting - I'd never rubbed shoulders with political types before so that was a whole new world. I was picking some officials' minds over lunch about the issues facing Japan and Europe and their futures and the whole thing was fascinating to me but probably wouldn't have been to a lot of other people. Though Jon Stewart recently gave some advice to people getting into politics, which was to not let the stink get on you.
To address your very first point, here's a video from Project Veritas that exposed Twitter employees admitting to this kind of thing:
Not the same. The playing of the Star Spangled Banner is not a political statement to most Americans, rather it’s a symbol of national pride and patriotism. It’s not meant as a representation of anyone’s political view or a protest. And while it may be peculiar to domestic US sporting events it doesn’t make it wrong or some sort of political symbol no matter how it’s viewed by non citizens.
I'm sorry but from outside it seems weird having such an urge to prove to yourselves week after week how patriotic you are.
lol......that's fine whatever you want to think, but it has nothing to do with any need to "prove" anything. The SSB is played at many gatherings and sporting events and has been for decades, even sometimes at little league and pop warner games. Whether you think it's weird or not it's an American institution that's not going anywhere. I'm sure there's a multitude of customs and institutions around the world that may seem weird to us as well.
