Can someone tell me just what in the wide world of sports is going on in this country? I am so confused by the news these days. Admittedly, it's likely because I don’t
pay close enough attention.
But c’mon, can you blame me? It’s all just re-runs of the
most generic non-reality show ever, but not as entertaining. It’s the same
stuff over and over. Everyone’s offended and outraged by something someone else did. And every
Offended Group, in turn, must defend their offendedness by doing something at
least as offensive to the offending party.
Lather, rinse, repeat... ad nauseam.
It’s to the point where the actions are so trivial
that I just can’t summon the interest to pay attention.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the issues are vitally important. Concepts of equal rights for
all humans, and ensuring and defending those rights, are of existential
criticality to our (so-called) republic.
But those issues aren’t really being discussed.
Rather, we’re stuck on a dumb su-su-pseudo-debate about what symbols mean and whether they're appropriate for high school girls' beer pong games. I used to think
symbols were really important, that they could help communicate noble ideals
like Purity and Valor and Justice. But I think we’re now living in a
post-symbol society. We lack the ability to decide on what
a symbol represents, or once decided, to agree on what is really meant by that representation, or to acknowledge that a symbol can have different meanings to different people and just move on.
This whole NFL players kneeling thing is a good example.
For years we’ve been taught that it’s a great sign of
respect to kneel in front of something. It goes all the way back to at least 2011
when the world was introduced to Wess DeRoss, king of Dragonopia on the hit
HBO kids cartoon Thronger Games.
In case you haven’t seen it, the show (which
is HBO’s biggest money maker since “Sopranos In the City” -- the touching tale of a Mafia man looking for
love in New York) follows the life of a little boy and his pet dragon, Puff
Daddy, as they navigate the tricky politics of their fantasy world.
It’s full of hilarious hijinks and poignant moments of
honesty. But one recurring theme through all 16 seasons has been that you show
respect by “bending the knee” to your liege lords. Failure to bend the need, in
fact, is a sign of disrespect bad enough to get you dragon-torched!
But now The Internet is in a monkey shit fight about
whether kneeling is disrespectful. It’s as if they’ve never even heard of Degeneras
Cardigan, Breaker of Winds and Mother of Dragsters, whose magical unicorns head-spear anyone who doesn’t bend the knee.
I mean, get with the program, The Internet.
If you ask me, we all need to follow the example of
Noble King Geoffrey Bratlian, The Kind. He never had a bad word to say about
anyone. He always tries to see every issue from every perspective. Check out this
quote from Season 6, episode 12 “Death of a Mockingjay”
 |
| Noble King Bratlian, The Kind |
First of all, if you can
learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of
folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his
point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
Now that’s the kind of understanding we need more of
on The Internet.
So, I guess the solution is for everyone, including
NFL players, to go back and read all 12 volumes of the “The Ballad of Fire and
Ice” and report back to me whether John Frost ever made it all the way to Chirstmastown.
