Bad News Every Day Now

Every day lately, I feel there is bad news in the newspaper. It can be hard to know what to make of what action we should even take.

This week in the news, we see the return of Roy Moore, a Christian theocrat if there ever was one. RightWingWatch.org and Friendly Atheist have some good pieces on his career if you are new to his name. RightWingWatch also has a piece about how Christian social conservatives want one more justice on the Supreme Court so they can overturn Roe v. Wade. It makes me wonder how much freedom we will have left.

On the subject of freedom, another issue floating throughout the media is professional football players who are "taking a knee" during the national anthem, which the current president inflamed by calling them out and claiming they should be taken off the field and even off the team.

Many of the (very white) people I've heard commenting on it - in comments on articles or as a call in on the radio - talk about how our country is supposed to be joyful and we're supposed to be proud and respectful to the flag. This attitude is similar to the Christians who want their religion imposed on everyone. "I have a good life, I'm proud of this country, everyone should be like me and those who don't upset me," they say, and they want everyone to be like them. Never mind that minorities do have a different experience of the US and may not have a reason to be joyful or proud when they see the unequal treatment.

Full disclosure: I don't really watch football or care about it. Still, I can't see getting upset about people exercising their right. The football players are not government employees representing constituents. Did these same people get upset when that one player put "John 3:16" on his cheeks? I bet not.

Really what a lot of these people are upset about is that there are others who don't share their opinions. They share with theocrats the idea that others need to conform to behaviors they approve of. There is no real interest in exploring morality - they think their Bible provides right and wrong and they do not want to look at the contours, what really impacts others, what is a personal matter. If it makes their deity sad, that's good enough for them.

This is similar to these supposed "patriots" who think that "showing respect" to the flag is required need to really check on their notions of free speech and protest. Granted, they can have their opinion that it's better or whatever, but what should be the repercussions? Should these players lose their jobs? Should they face death threats?

For me, if they are not really hurting anyone (and your ideas about how the world works don't count), they should be able to go about exercising their rights.