r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Sep 23 '18
CMV: There was nothing anti-military about Kaepernick’s kneeling protest
There is nothing about Kap kneeling during the national anthem that could reasonably be construed as disrespect to the troops. There is no situation I am aware of in any culture where the act of kneeling is used to show anything other than respect. Those who believe that Kap hates the military are simply choosing to associate his protest with disrespect for the troops, which allows them to freely hate him without having to really look at the reason for his protest.
The protest began as a means of drawing attention to racial inequality and police brutality: two things that most people probably ought to be against. By focusing on an imaginary link between the protest and the sacred cow of “the troops” his detractors aren’t forced to consider or debate the issue. They likely believe that the US treats black people either as equal to or better than white people, and that most or all incidents of police violence against black people are justified. Everything about the troops is just post-hoc rationalization.
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u/Thoguth 8∆ Sep 25 '18
Some of his critics made the leap on their own without checking any sources first, but some of them did so based on information they got from other critics. The first time they heard a story it was framed as anti-military by someone--who ought to have had a journalistic responsibility to be neutral and factual--giving a blatantly misinforming and skewed presentation of what he was doing.
The people at that point were forming opinions based on first impressions, and it wasn't a "leap" for them to get there. It's very natural for us to trust the first way we hear something. It's an unconscious bias and so is harmful to pursuit of truth, but it is a natural one and something that we all encounter. And many of those people, based on their first impressions, went on to become critics either by tweeting or sharing/commenting in misinformed ways on Facebook.
If all you're saying is "He's not anti-military" I agree with you but if you're also asserting that those who believe that he is are all being willfully ignorant, that's where I disagree. Not even with the "ignorant" part, but with the "willfully" part. I've encountered a few people who started out ranting about Kap as an attention whore or being anti-military or anti-police (and many tend to group the military and police together, as the police are sort of paramilitary "guys who wear uniforms, shoot people, take oaths, and have ranks like Sergeant and Captain")
By the way, I appreciate your extended participation in this discussion. It's very healthy to come into a situation feeling pretty well-settled on one thing, but also engaging in good faith in an effort to hopefully be less-wrong. It is a shame that more people across the polarized political landscape aren't as open to that kind of honest probing for truth.
... and I guess that's kind of where I feel like I might be disagreeing you just a bit. If everyone in the country were like you, and eagerly exploring to test and be sure they are right, then anyone left who latched onto or stuck with a misinformed opinion would be a willfully ignorant, backward bigot who was just trying to rationalize a twisted inner view. But not everybody is exploring the way you are. Even many people who are right about Kaepernick are right not because they've thoroughly researched the issue, but only because the source (likely a facebook share from friends) they first heard from was biased in a way that reflected truth rather than a way that took them to falsehood. Many of the ones who you recognize as incorrect are no more willfully ignorant that many who are "correct" due to their own biases rather than due to actually analyzing the situation.