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The OP is an appeal to emotion -- the leftist contempt for corporatism, the Pentagon, and patriotism.MindWars, the resident Alex Jones nutjob........Wow, you let your emotive bias get the better of you....... Don't worry, you're not alone, unfortunately it's a part of human nature even among highly educated individuals. Never thought I'd see you pull a MimeWhores but like I just pointed out in the previous sentence......... Oh well.Sooooo, you're being forced to sit in your seat and watch it all? Can't take the time to go to the bathroom or the concession stand while that is going on? You've been reading too much of MimeWhores tripe..........
Oh I do, believe me. I've never once played the role of robot for that shit. That's what everybody should do --- just say no.
If we don't they start forcing it, literally.
There's a specific reason I put the Earnest V. Starr link in the OP. This was a man who was confronted by a mob who tried to force him to kiss a flag -- and this was the same year the national Jingo Song was first played at a baseball game. A time of rampant mob mentality when people would actually rip a Dachshund from its owner's arms and stone it to death in the street, for no more rational reason than that the word "Dachshund" is German. The same time the National Security League was getting schools to quit teaching German, the same time German Shepherds were renamed "Police Dogs" so the sensitive ears of the mob mentality butthurt wouldn't be offended. Whelp, Earnest Starr, for refusing to kiss that flag, got hard labor in prison. The mob who coerced him? They got away with it. Because they were doing the State's bidding.
And the next year brought the Palmer Raids where Americans were deported for their political beliefs. And the Red Summer of race riots.
This is where this shit leads. That's also why the North Korean army is marching in the OP. Put yourself in the position of the North Korean citizen who had better be watching and saluting and smiling, or you might be taking a trip to the hinterlands.
GENUINE patriotism isn't forced, isn't scripted, isn't choreographed. It happens spontaneously. It doesn't happen at exactly 7:04 by design. That's not what this is --- this is artificial bullshit, designed to cow the people into a mob who will then start looking around for the next Earnest V. Starr. That isn't Freedom --- it's fascism. And it has no place in Sports, let alone a free republic.
I have no idea what a "MimeWhores" is. But I do know what it means when a mob tries to force mandatory behaviour.
Ever hear the expression "those who ignore their own history....."?
As for your assertions....... That type of activity happens all to frequently all over the political spectrum. In this instance put aside your emotive bias and try to look at it rationally then you won't be playing the left's version of Alex Jones.......
So --- you're saying because mob mentality happens in all kinds of scenarios, it's OK?
I'd just like to see anybody try to defend this shit. Make the case that it's a legitimate thing to take taxpayer funds and use it to pimp fake patriotism at the threat of ejection for those who don't dance. Make the case that it's some kind of "innocent" thing ---- and do it without some rah-rah Appeal to Emotion or Ad Hom crapola like Davey Gunnerhands tried to get away with.
Horseshit. You don't mind authoritarianism at all -- when it's your flavor.Liberalism? Yes, modern Marxist liberalism. Regurgitated Soviet propaganda.This is just recycled anti-corporatism, anti-Pentagon, anti-patriotism leftist bullshit.
This is Liberalism Davey Gunnerhands. You asked for it, you got it.
Must be inconvenient for you that the two Senators who exposed this scandal were both Republicans too. And patriots.
Now cry some more about definitions. No one cares about your petulant foot-stamping.
Apparently they do, they're here aren't they. Including you. I get it that you're flustered because you can't think of a counterpoint but while you're sitting there stunned, Liberalism means power derives from the consent of the governed, and staunchly resists authoritariansim. And that's what I'm doing here. You're welcome. You can join us when you're ready.
Oh my God..... Now you're reading your bias into my statements...... Shall I call you Political Chick?MindWars, the resident Alex Jones nutjob........Wow, you let your emotive bias get the better of you....... Don't worry, you're not alone, unfortunately it's a part of human nature even among highly educated individuals. Never thought I'd see you pull a MimeWhores but like I just pointed out in the previous sentence......... Oh well.Oh I do, believe me. I've never once played the role of robot for that shit. That's what everybody should do --- just say no.
If we don't they start forcing it, literally.
There's a specific reason I put the Earnest V. Starr link in the OP. This was a man who was confronted by a mob who tried to force him to kiss a flag -- and this was the same year the national Jingo Song was first played at a baseball game. A time of rampant mob mentality when people would actually rip a Dachshund from its owner's arms and stone it to death in the street, for no more rational reason than that the word "Dachshund" is German. The same time the National Security League was getting schools to quit teaching German, the same time German Shepherds were renamed "Police Dogs" so the sensitive ears of the mob mentality butthurt wouldn't be offended. Whelp, Earnest Starr, for refusing to kiss that flag, got hard labor in prison. The mob who coerced him? They got away with it. Because they were doing the State's bidding.
And the next year brought the Palmer Raids where Americans were deported for their political beliefs. And the Red Summer of race riots.
This is where this shit leads. That's also why the North Korean army is marching in the OP. Put yourself in the position of the North Korean citizen who had better be watching and saluting and smiling, or you might be taking a trip to the hinterlands.
GENUINE patriotism isn't forced, isn't scripted, isn't choreographed. It happens spontaneously. It doesn't happen at exactly 7:04 by design. That's not what this is --- this is artificial bullshit, designed to cow the people into a mob who will then start looking around for the next Earnest V. Starr. That isn't Freedom --- it's fascism. And it has no place in Sports, let alone a free republic.
I have no idea what a "MimeWhores" is. But I do know what it means when a mob tries to force mandatory behaviour.
Ever hear the expression "those who ignore their own history....."?
As for your assertions....... That type of activity happens all to frequently all over the political spectrum. In this instance put aside your emotive bias and try to look at it rationally then you won't be playing the left's version of Alex Jones.......
So --- you're saying because mob mentality happens in all kinds of scenarios, it's OK?
Looks like we've found your blind spot. You're reading into what's happening here and associating it with truly unconnected events in other (despotic) countries....... Really? Think and stop reacting.
You have not proven you support individual liberty. Since you made that claim first, it's incumbent on you to prove it first.Horseshit. You don't mind authoritarianism at all -- when it's your flavor.Liberalism? Yes, modern Marxist liberalism. Regurgitated Soviet propaganda.This is just recycled anti-corporatism, anti-Pentagon, anti-patriotism leftist bullshit.
This is Liberalism Davey Gunnerhands. You asked for it, you got it.
Must be inconvenient for you that the two Senators who exposed this scandal were both Republicans too. And patriots.
Now cry some more about definitions. No one cares about your petulant foot-stamping.
Apparently they do, they're here aren't they. Including you. I get it that you're flustered because you can't think of a counterpoint but while you're sitting there stunned, Liberalism means power derives from the consent of the governed, and staunchly resists authoritariansim. And that's what I'm doing here. You're welcome. You can join us when you're ready.
You've run away from this before but here it comes again:
---- Link?
Aaaaaaaand cue crickets. BUH bye now BUH bye.
There's nothing to defend. Your emotional irrationality is not a credible point to be countered.Oh my God..... Now you're reading your bias into my statements...... Shall I call you Political Chick?MindWars, the resident Alex Jones nutjob........Wow, you let your emotive bias get the better of you....... Don't worry, you're not alone, unfortunately it's a part of human nature even among highly educated individuals. Never thought I'd see you pull a MimeWhores but like I just pointed out in the previous sentence......... Oh well.
I have no idea what a "MimeWhores" is. But I do know what it means when a mob tries to force mandatory behaviour.
Ever hear the expression "those who ignore their own history....."?
As for your assertions....... That type of activity happens all to frequently all over the political spectrum. In this instance put aside your emotive bias and try to look at it rationally then you won't be playing the left's version of Alex Jones.......
So --- you're saying because mob mentality happens in all kinds of scenarios, it's OK?
Looks like we've found your blind spot. You're reading into what's happening here and associating it with truly unconnected events in other (despotic) countries....... Really? Think and stop reacting.
If that's not what you mean, please explain what you do mean.
Still haven't seen anyone defending this yet.
I mean it happens, just an acknowledgment of reality, nothing more, nothing less.Oh my God..... Now you're reading your bias into my statements...... Shall I call you Political Chick?MindWars, the resident Alex Jones nutjob........Wow, you let your emotive bias get the better of you....... Don't worry, you're not alone, unfortunately it's a part of human nature even among highly educated individuals. Never thought I'd see you pull a MimeWhores but like I just pointed out in the previous sentence......... Oh well.
I have no idea what a "MimeWhores" is. But I do know what it means when a mob tries to force mandatory behaviour.
Ever hear the expression "those who ignore their own history....."?
As for your assertions....... That type of activity happens all to frequently all over the political spectrum. In this instance put aside your emotive bias and try to look at it rationally then you won't be playing the left's version of Alex Jones.......
So --- you're saying because mob mentality happens in all kinds of scenarios, it's OK?
Looks like we've found your blind spot. You're reading into what's happening here and associating it with truly unconnected events in other (despotic) countries....... Really? Think and stop reacting.
If that's not what you mean, please explain what you do mean.
Still haven't seen anyone defending this yet.
Wow! Looks like the left has their own conspiracy theorist nutjobs........ Next you'll be believing that Jade Helm is indeed the military's plan to take over the country........ Never expected that from you.This thread is about politics --- not sports. Let's get that clear at the start.
This Paid Patriotism Scandal, starring the US Pentagon in the role of Pimp, is sadly not a new story. It's the same Jingoism song and dance (literally) that brought NFL players out to the field for the national anthem about ten years ago, which, unknown to the general public because it was never part of the telecast, became a fake "issue" when some photographer who obviously wasn't doing the Jingo Dance snapped quarterback Colin Kaepernick's picture, sitting out the song.
>> ...if you’ve been to a baseball game at any time in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed some changes. Military or law enforcement members now perform flag ceremonies before the start of the game. Military recruits are enlisted right on the field. Surprise reunions of deployed men and women and their families play out before an audience of thousands. There’s always the obligatory ovation for wounded warriors. And this year saw a flyover by three F-18 fighter jets during the playing of the national anthem.
The games have morphed into choreographed patriotic events. Who’s paying for all this hoopla? As it turns out, you and I are, through the tax money that we send to the Pentagon.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events. The details are listed in a new Senate report.
The total tally may top $10 million — and even reach $100 million, if you count the military’s marketing deals with NASCAR.
For millions of your tax dollars, the Pentagon is buying things like ceremonial first pitches for recent veterans, club-level seats for vets at football games, and airport greetings for returning service members.
If that sounds crass to you, you’re not alone.
... Patriotism is a good thing. It can be unifying and inspiring. But what we’re seeing at sporting events isn’t patriotism. It’s nationalism — propaganda, even — and it’s potentially dangerous.
The Pentagon even pays for “sponsored” renditions of God Bless America.
Irving Berlin wrote that song in 1918 as a show tune for a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. ...Since then, it’s become an official part of Major League Baseball games. In several stadiums the tune has replaced Take Me Out to the Ballgame in group sing-alongs during the seventh-inning stretch.
In fact, this former show tune has become mandatory in some places.
In 2008, a fan at Yankee Stadium was restrained and then ejected by police officers for attempting to leave his seat for the restroom while the song was playing. The following year, three minor league fans of the now-defunct Newark Bears were ejected from the stadium for refusing to stand during the song.
If it’s freely chosen, standing for the national anthem is patriotic. Forcing people to stand for God Bless America isn’t. This is about more than taxpayer money. The government has no business propagandizing the American people. --- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Your tax dollars at work, fans. And you non-fans, you're paying the same thing for mass Jingo-ball choreography literally forced on a captive audience who came there for a completely different purpose, that being to specifically get away from . Good to know as April 15 approaches, right?
Just in case it didn't sink in:
"God Bless Ameirca" replaces "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" --- the exact event they all came there for.
Now try to imagine being forcibly ejected for refusing to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
Next time you go to a sports event and they try to force you to do the mandatory Jingo Dance, pull out your Earnest V. Starr flag and walk out of your seat. Do it in droves. We won't all fit in the bathroom so go get something to eat or drink. Just walk around until the Jingo Exercise peters out. Flatly refuse to sit in the back of the bus and make them arrest us all until it sinks in to them that they can't coerce people.
Got virtually a whole baseball season in front of us. Do it. Resist Big State.
Statist-enforced mob mentality ---- where it leads:
Authoritarians LOVE this shit. And they rouse the unwashed to do their authoritarian bidding with phrases like "get that sumbitch off the field, he's fired".
PLAY BALL.
Remember, all volunteer military which means more monies have to be earmarked for recruitment and retention of qualified individuals not to mention finding ways to appeal to those individuals.
Military Leaders Highlight Efforts, Challenges in Recruiting, Retention > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Article
us military retention problems - Google Search
Oooookaaaay... what's any of this got to do with the topic?
When I go to a baseball game, I go FOR a baseball game. Not for a fucking jingo commercial and for DAMN sure not for a frickin' mandatory one.
Flag ceremony bad.
Kneeling in protest?
Fabulous!
You have not proven you support individual liberty. Since you made that claim first, it's incumbent on you to prove it first.Horseshit. You don't mind authoritarianism at all -- when it's your flavor.Liberalism? Yes, modern Marxist liberalism. Regurgitated Soviet propaganda.This is Liberalism Davey Gunnerhands. You asked for it, you got it.
Must be inconvenient for you that the two Senators who exposed this scandal were both Republicans too. And patriots.
Now cry some more about definitions. No one cares about your petulant foot-stamping.
Apparently they do, they're here aren't they. Including you. I get it that you're flustered because you can't think of a counterpoint but while you're sitting there stunned, Liberalism means power derives from the consent of the governed, and staunchly resists authoritariansim. And that's what I'm doing here. You're welcome. You can join us when you're ready.
You've run away from this before but here it comes again:
---- Link?
Aaaaaaaand cue crickets. BUH bye now BUH bye.
NOTE: Your say-so is not credible proof. I know you have trouble with that simple concept. Narcissists usually can't understand why people don't just immediately and unquestioningly believe them.
Compelled patriotism – with those who refuse to conform accused of being ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘un-American.’This thread is about politics --- not sports. Let's get that clear at the start.
This Paid Patriotism Scandal, starring the US Pentagon in the role of Pimp, is sadly not a new story. It's the same Jingoism song and dance (literally) that brought NFL players out to the field for the national anthem about ten years ago, which, unknown to the general public because it was never part of the telecast, became a fake "issue" when some photographer who obviously wasn't doing the Jingo Dance snapped quarterback Colin Kaepernick's picture, sitting out the song.
>> ...if you’ve been to a baseball game at any time in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed some changes. Military or law enforcement members now perform flag ceremonies before the start of the game. Military recruits are enlisted right on the field. Surprise reunions of deployed men and women and their families play out before an audience of thousands. There’s always the obligatory ovation for wounded warriors. And this year saw a flyover by three F-18 fighter jets during the playing of the national anthem.
The games have morphed into choreographed patriotic events. Who’s paying for all this hoopla? As it turns out, you and I are, through the tax money that we send to the Pentagon.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events. The details are listed in a new Senate report.
The total tally may top $10 million — and even reach $100 million, if you count the military’s marketing deals with NASCAR.
For millions of your tax dollars, the Pentagon is buying things like ceremonial first pitches for recent veterans, club-level seats for vets at football games, and airport greetings for returning service members.
If that sounds crass to you, you’re not alone.
... Patriotism is a good thing. It can be unifying and inspiring. But what we’re seeing at sporting events isn’t patriotism. It’s nationalism — propaganda, even — and it’s potentially dangerous.
The Pentagon even pays for “sponsored” renditions of God Bless America.
Irving Berlin wrote that song in 1918 as a show tune for a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. ...Since then, it’s become an official part of Major League Baseball games. In several stadiums the tune has replaced Take Me Out to the Ballgame in group sing-alongs during the seventh-inning stretch.
In fact, this former show tune has become mandatory in some places.
In 2008, a fan at Yankee Stadium was restrained and then ejected by police officers for attempting to leave his seat for the restroom while the song was playing. The following year, three minor league fans of the now-defunct Newark Bears were ejected from the stadium for refusing to stand during the song.
If it’s freely chosen, standing for the national anthem is patriotic. Forcing people to stand for God Bless America isn’t. This is about more than taxpayer money. The government has no business propagandizing the American people. --- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Your tax dollars at work, fans. And you non-fans, you're paying the same thing for mass Jingo-ball choreography literally forced on a captive audience who came there for a completely different purpose, that being to specifically get away from . Good to know as April 15 approaches, right?
Just in case it didn't sink in:
"God Bless Ameirca" replaces "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" --- the exact event they all came there for.
Now try to imagine being forcibly ejected for refusing to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
Next time you go to a sports event and they try to force you to do the mandatory Jingo Dance, pull out your Earnest V. Starr flag and walk out of your seat. Do it in droves. We won't all fit in the bathroom so go get something to eat or drink. Just walk around until the Jingo Exercise peters out. Flatly refuse to sit in the back of the bus and make them arrest us all until it sinks in to them that they can't coerce people.
Got virtually a whole baseball season in front of us. Do it. Resist Big State.
Statist-enforced mob mentality ---- where it leads:
Authoritarians LOVE this shit. And they rouse the unwashed to do their authoritarian bidding with phrases like "get that sumbitch off the field, he's fired".
PLAY BALL.
Pity Americans can’t enjoy sporting events absent the jingoistic bombast.
Compelled patriotism – with those who refuse to conform accused of being ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘un-American.’This thread is about politics --- not sports. Let's get that clear at the start.
This Paid Patriotism Scandal, starring the US Pentagon in the role of Pimp, is sadly not a new story. It's the same Jingoism song and dance (literally) that brought NFL players out to the field for the national anthem about ten years ago, which, unknown to the general public because it was never part of the telecast, became a fake "issue" when some photographer who obviously wasn't doing the Jingo Dance snapped quarterback Colin Kaepernick's picture, sitting out the song.
>> ...if you’ve been to a baseball game at any time in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed some changes. Military or law enforcement members now perform flag ceremonies before the start of the game. Military recruits are enlisted right on the field. Surprise reunions of deployed men and women and their families play out before an audience of thousands. There’s always the obligatory ovation for wounded warriors. And this year saw a flyover by three F-18 fighter jets during the playing of the national anthem.
The games have morphed into choreographed patriotic events. Who’s paying for all this hoopla? As it turns out, you and I are, through the tax money that we send to the Pentagon.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events. The details are listed in a new Senate report.
The total tally may top $10 million — and even reach $100 million, if you count the military’s marketing deals with NASCAR.
For millions of your tax dollars, the Pentagon is buying things like ceremonial first pitches for recent veterans, club-level seats for vets at football games, and airport greetings for returning service members.
If that sounds crass to you, you’re not alone.
... Patriotism is a good thing. It can be unifying and inspiring. But what we’re seeing at sporting events isn’t patriotism. It’s nationalism — propaganda, even — and it’s potentially dangerous.
The Pentagon even pays for “sponsored” renditions of God Bless America.
Irving Berlin wrote that song in 1918 as a show tune for a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. ...Since then, it’s become an official part of Major League Baseball games. In several stadiums the tune has replaced Take Me Out to the Ballgame in group sing-alongs during the seventh-inning stretch.
In fact, this former show tune has become mandatory in some places.
In 2008, a fan at Yankee Stadium was restrained and then ejected by police officers for attempting to leave his seat for the restroom while the song was playing. The following year, three minor league fans of the now-defunct Newark Bears were ejected from the stadium for refusing to stand during the song.
If it’s freely chosen, standing for the national anthem is patriotic. Forcing people to stand for God Bless America isn’t. This is about more than taxpayer money. The government has no business propagandizing the American people. --- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Your tax dollars at work, fans. And you non-fans, you're paying the same thing for mass Jingo-ball choreography literally forced on a captive audience who came there for a completely different purpose, that being to specifically get away from . Good to know as April 15 approaches, right?
Just in case it didn't sink in:
"God Bless Ameirca" replaces "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" --- the exact event they all came there for.
Now try to imagine being forcibly ejected for refusing to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
Next time you go to a sports event and they try to force you to do the mandatory Jingo Dance, pull out your Earnest V. Starr flag and walk out of your seat. Do it in droves. We won't all fit in the bathroom so go get something to eat or drink. Just walk around until the Jingo Exercise peters out. Flatly refuse to sit in the back of the bus and make them arrest us all until it sinks in to them that they can't coerce people.
Got virtually a whole baseball season in front of us. Do it. Resist Big State.
Statist-enforced mob mentality ---- where it leads:
Authoritarians LOVE this shit. And they rouse the unwashed to do their authoritarian bidding with phrases like "get that sumbitch off the field, he's fired".
PLAY BALL.
Pity Americans can’t enjoy sporting events absent the jingoistic bombast.
Pity so many americans these days are anti american bedwetters who dont have a patriotic bone in their body.
Compelled patriotism – with those who refuse to conform accused of being ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘un-American.’This thread is about politics --- not sports. Let's get that clear at the start.
This Paid Patriotism Scandal, starring the US Pentagon in the role of Pimp, is sadly not a new story. It's the same Jingoism song and dance (literally) that brought NFL players out to the field for the national anthem about ten years ago, which, unknown to the general public because it was never part of the telecast, became a fake "issue" when some photographer who obviously wasn't doing the Jingo Dance snapped quarterback Colin Kaepernick's picture, sitting out the song.
>> ...if you’ve been to a baseball game at any time in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed some changes. Military or law enforcement members now perform flag ceremonies before the start of the game. Military recruits are enlisted right on the field. Surprise reunions of deployed men and women and their families play out before an audience of thousands. There’s always the obligatory ovation for wounded warriors. And this year saw a flyover by three F-18 fighter jets during the playing of the national anthem.
The games have morphed into choreographed patriotic events. Who’s paying for all this hoopla? As it turns out, you and I are, through the tax money that we send to the Pentagon.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events. The details are listed in a new Senate report.
The total tally may top $10 million — and even reach $100 million, if you count the military’s marketing deals with NASCAR.
For millions of your tax dollars, the Pentagon is buying things like ceremonial first pitches for recent veterans, club-level seats for vets at football games, and airport greetings for returning service members.
If that sounds crass to you, you’re not alone.
... Patriotism is a good thing. It can be unifying and inspiring. But what we’re seeing at sporting events isn’t patriotism. It’s nationalism — propaganda, even — and it’s potentially dangerous.
The Pentagon even pays for “sponsored” renditions of God Bless America.
Irving Berlin wrote that song in 1918 as a show tune for a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. ...Since then, it’s become an official part of Major League Baseball games. In several stadiums the tune has replaced Take Me Out to the Ballgame in group sing-alongs during the seventh-inning stretch.
In fact, this former show tune has become mandatory in some places.
In 2008, a fan at Yankee Stadium was restrained and then ejected by police officers for attempting to leave his seat for the restroom while the song was playing. The following year, three minor league fans of the now-defunct Newark Bears were ejected from the stadium for refusing to stand during the song.
If it’s freely chosen, standing for the national anthem is patriotic. Forcing people to stand for God Bless America isn’t. This is about more than taxpayer money. The government has no business propagandizing the American people. --- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Your tax dollars at work, fans. And you non-fans, you're paying the same thing for mass Jingo-ball choreography literally forced on a captive audience who came there for a completely different purpose, that being to specifically get away from . Good to know as April 15 approaches, right?
Just in case it didn't sink in:
"God Bless Ameirca" replaces "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" --- the exact event they all came there for.
Now try to imagine being forcibly ejected for refusing to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
Next time you go to a sports event and they try to force you to do the mandatory Jingo Dance, pull out your Earnest V. Starr flag and walk out of your seat. Do it in droves. We won't all fit in the bathroom so go get something to eat or drink. Just walk around until the Jingo Exercise peters out. Flatly refuse to sit in the back of the bus and make them arrest us all until it sinks in to them that they can't coerce people.
Got virtually a whole baseball season in front of us. Do it. Resist Big State.
Statist-enforced mob mentality ---- where it leads:
Authoritarians LOVE this shit. And they rouse the unwashed to do their authoritarian bidding with phrases like "get that sumbitch off the field, he's fired".
PLAY BALL.
Pity Americans can’t enjoy sporting events absent the jingoistic bombast.
Pity so many americans these days are anti american bedwetters who dont have a patriotic bone in their body.
Not to worry. We'll just force them. And if they don't do it we kick them out. Right?
So you're too chickenshit to remain sitting.Wow! Looks like the left has their own conspiracy theorist nutjobs........ Next you'll be believing that Jade Helm is indeed the military's plan to take over the country........ Never expected that from you.This thread is about politics --- not sports. Let's get that clear at the start.
This Paid Patriotism Scandal, starring the US Pentagon in the role of Pimp, is sadly not a new story. It's the same Jingoism song and dance (literally) that brought NFL players out to the field for the national anthem about ten years ago, which, unknown to the general public because it was never part of the telecast, became a fake "issue" when some photographer who obviously wasn't doing the Jingo Dance snapped quarterback Colin Kaepernick's picture, sitting out the song.
>> ...if you’ve been to a baseball game at any time in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed some changes. Military or law enforcement members now perform flag ceremonies before the start of the game. Military recruits are enlisted right on the field. Surprise reunions of deployed men and women and their families play out before an audience of thousands. There’s always the obligatory ovation for wounded warriors. And this year saw a flyover by three F-18 fighter jets during the playing of the national anthem.
The games have morphed into choreographed patriotic events. Who’s paying for all this hoopla? As it turns out, you and I are, through the tax money that we send to the Pentagon.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events. The details are listed in a new Senate report.
The total tally may top $10 million — and even reach $100 million, if you count the military’s marketing deals with NASCAR.
For millions of your tax dollars, the Pentagon is buying things like ceremonial first pitches for recent veterans, club-level seats for vets at football games, and airport greetings for returning service members.
If that sounds crass to you, you’re not alone.
... Patriotism is a good thing. It can be unifying and inspiring. But what we’re seeing at sporting events isn’t patriotism. It’s nationalism — propaganda, even — and it’s potentially dangerous.
The Pentagon even pays for “sponsored” renditions of God Bless America.
Irving Berlin wrote that song in 1918 as a show tune for a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. ...Since then, it’s become an official part of Major League Baseball games. In several stadiums the tune has replaced Take Me Out to the Ballgame in group sing-alongs during the seventh-inning stretch.
In fact, this former show tune has become mandatory in some places.
In 2008, a fan at Yankee Stadium was restrained and then ejected by police officers for attempting to leave his seat for the restroom while the song was playing. The following year, three minor league fans of the now-defunct Newark Bears were ejected from the stadium for refusing to stand during the song.
If it’s freely chosen, standing for the national anthem is patriotic. Forcing people to stand for God Bless America isn’t. This is about more than taxpayer money. The government has no business propagandizing the American people. --- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Your tax dollars at work, fans. And you non-fans, you're paying the same thing for mass Jingo-ball choreography literally forced on a captive audience who came there for a completely different purpose, that being to specifically get away from . Good to know as April 15 approaches, right?
Just in case it didn't sink in:
"God Bless Ameirca" replaces "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" --- the exact event they all came there for.
Now try to imagine being forcibly ejected for refusing to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
Next time you go to a sports event and they try to force you to do the mandatory Jingo Dance, pull out your Earnest V. Starr flag and walk out of your seat. Do it in droves. We won't all fit in the bathroom so go get something to eat or drink. Just walk around until the Jingo Exercise peters out. Flatly refuse to sit in the back of the bus and make them arrest us all until it sinks in to them that they can't coerce people.
Got virtually a whole baseball season in front of us. Do it. Resist Big State.
Statist-enforced mob mentality ---- where it leads:
Authoritarians LOVE this shit. And they rouse the unwashed to do their authoritarian bidding with phrases like "get that sumbitch off the field, he's fired".
PLAY BALL.
Remember, all volunteer military which means more monies have to be earmarked for recruitment and retention of qualified individuals not to mention finding ways to appeal to those individuals.
Military Leaders Highlight Efforts, Challenges in Recruiting, Retention > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Article
us military retention problems - Google Search
Oooookaaaay... what's any of this got to do with the topic?
When I go to a baseball game, I go FOR a baseball game. Not for a fucking jingo commercial and for DAMN sure not for a frickin' mandatory one.
Flag ceremony bad.
Kneeling in protest?
Fabulous!
I wouldn't limit it to kneeling. Sitting down reading the program, venturing off to the hot dog stand, even dare I say sending a text, anything that declines to robot for the state-prescribed posture, is an act of defiance.
Fun fact: Colin Kaepernick originally simply sat on the bench during the anthem, refusing to stand and making no noise about it. That went on for a few games until some opportunistic reporter noticed and snapped his picture to milk a fake story out of it, which is when it became that fake "story". Then a teammate suggested he could take a kneeling position to make it clear he wasn't disrespecting anything while still refusing to follow the robot stand-up edict.
The fact that the jingoists and demagogues like Rump tried to make them the villain for doing that --- daring to defy The State ---- amply demonstrates exactly the authoritarianism we're warning about. Doesn't get much more obvious than that.
Threats of "get that sumbitch off the field he''s fired".... ejecting fans who refuse to sing God Bless Merka..... forcing a random man to kiss a flag....... we sit, and we wait, for anyone to defend it, knowing that no such defense is even possible.
Coming from the guy who refuses to admit he's a leftist, all the time espousing leftist ideals...that's utterly meaningless.You have not proven you support individual liberty. Since you made that claim first, it's incumbent on you to prove it first.Horseshit. You don't mind authoritarianism at all -- when it's your flavor.Liberalism? Yes, modern Marxist liberalism. Regurgitated Soviet propaganda.
Now cry some more about definitions. No one cares about your petulant foot-stamping.
Apparently they do, they're here aren't they. Including you. I get it that you're flustered because you can't think of a counterpoint but while you're sitting there stunned, Liberalism means power derives from the consent of the governed, and staunchly resists authoritariansim. And that's what I'm doing here. You're welcome. You can join us when you're ready.
You've run away from this before but here it comes again:
---- Link?
Aaaaaaaand cue crickets. BUH bye now BUH bye.
NOTE: Your say-so is not credible proof. I know you have trouble with that simple concept. Narcissists usually can't understand why people don't just immediately and unquestioningly believe them.
Suit yourself, I led you to the water, I can't control you saying "that's not water".
I didn't think you had the stones to admit it, and I was right.
Typical leftist -- taking credit for something he admitted he's too chickenshit to do.>> "I attempted to get up to use the restroom, rather urgently, during the 7th inning stretch as God Bless America was beginning. As I attempted to walk down the aisle and exit my section into the tunnel, I was stopped by a police officer. He informed me that I had to wait until the song was over. I responded that I had to use the restroom and that I did not care about God Bless America."Nothing to see here, move along...." Right?
"As soon as the latter came out of my mouth, my right arm was twisted violently behind my back and I was informed that I was being escorted out of the stadium. A second officer then joined in and twisted my left arm, also in an excessively forceful manner, behind my back. I informed them they were violating my First Amendment rights and that I had done nothing wrong, with no response from them.
"I was sitting in the Tier Level, and of course this is the highest level of the stadium and I was escorted in this painful manner down the entire length of the stadium. About halfway down, I informed them that they were hurting me, repeated that I had done nothing wrong, and that I was not resisting nor talking back to them. One of them said something to the effect that if I continued to speak, he would find a way to hurt me more.
"When we reached the exit of the stadium, they confiscated my ticket and the first officer shoved me through the turnstiles, saying 'Get the hell out of my country if you don't like it.' --- Brad Campeau-Laurion, baseball fan
The Wankees later came to a settlement with the fan and changed their policy. Because some Liberal stood up to Authoritarianism. You're welcome.
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events.
Would you feel better if they spent that $6.8 million on television ads for their outreach efforts?
They already do, and sure, that's fine. Nobody FORCES a TV viewer to watch an ad.
This has been going on since late 2001, with both baseball and football....Where have you been?
Former Arizona Republican senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issued a report a few years ago that found that since 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Pentagon has shelled out at least $6.8 million for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and other sports leagues to “honor” troops with cheap stunts at sporting events.
Would you feel better if they spent that $6.8 million on television ads for their outreach efforts?
They already do, and sure, that's fine. Nobody FORCES a TV viewer to watch an ad.
Yes, they already spend on TV ad outreach and PR. That was not my question. Would you prefer that the $6.8 million be redirected to increase TV ad outreach?
The Pentagon is given a budget for these things. They decide how to break up that budget. Smartly, they take a multi-pronged approach. Even if they cease the partnership with pro sports, they wouldn't spend less money. They'd just use the money on another vector for their outreach program.
So what are you really complaining about? Are you offended that the military makes an effort to have a relationship with the American people?
