People can certainly disagree with me, but as one black person of many, this just reads to me like it does when other people say it - the idea of the American flag is more important than the real concerns of black people.
Well, put me on that list of people that disagree with you. Dissing the very concept of America is
not the same as showing support for black people. Especially since (American) black people are an important and positive part of what makes America what it is.
The meaning, the "idea" that I ascribe to otherwise meaningless symbols like flags and anthems are that they are a stand-in for the "net value" of the country/state they represent. Median value? Goodness quotient? I not describing good. Basically, my fondness and/or respect for a particular state symbol is almost totally dependant on my opinion of the state itself. And perhaps more importantly, my opinion of the people that make up that state. Clearly, this requires one to be able to recognize that some Americans are real pieces of shit, while others are pretty awesome, and come to some hand-wavy conclusion about how that all balances out.
Do I think the USA is perfect? Ha! Of course not. There are shitbirds everywhere you look. Do I think America is, on balance and throughout its history,
more of a good thing than a bad thing? I do. It's not as much of a slam dunk as I wish it was, but I do still think pretty highly of "America". ie, its people, its founding principles, its history, its restaurants, its moms, its music. All that crap, all rolled up.
That's what people are acknowledging when they "salute" a flag or stand for an anthem.
So, when some millionaire jock decides to publicly and pointedly disrespect one of the primary the symbols of America, in my mind he is disrespecting the overall *concept* of America, the people of America, essentially
everything about America. That's tarring with a
ludicrously wide brush. It's such an utterly non-specific "protest" that it has no real meaning other than to just be, literally, anti-American in the broadest sense possible.
I kind of doubt Kaep
is rabidly un-American. I feel it's more likely that he's upset about a particular dismaying aspect of America that he recently heard about on the twitter. (He's so socially aware. It's dreamy!) The issue of blacks getting shot by cops in a seemingly offhand way is one that I whole-heartedly agree needs to be addressed, like yesterday. Fuck bigoted white people. Fuck cowardly cops. However, America isn't
just the shitbags like them. That flag isn't just their flag. That anthem isn't about them.
So in the end I find his inability to translate his outrage into something just a
bit more specific than giving the finger to
every American, living or dead, and to all that they aspired or stood for, more than a little lazy. And counterproductive. And frankly, insulting.
TLDR: I agree with Kaep's grievances, I disagree with his "fuck all' you all" method of expressing them. Fuck you too, Kaep. Fuck you too.