Colin Kaepernick Dissent is a Form of Patriotism - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1518 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/02/20 Category Politics Essay Level High school Tags: Patriotism Essay Did you like this example? The Star-Spangled Banner a patriotic symbol of America, and of our freedom. In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick kneeled on the sidelines during the playing of our national anthem, creating controversy and raising questions on his patriotism for this country. His decision to kneel during this time was meaningful to him and was his way of standing up for what he believed in- whether the media, fans, players, or coaches agreed with him or not. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Colin Kaepernick: Dissent is a Form of Patriotism" essay for you Create order His stand against the national anthem, and his reasoning for kneeling was based on his belief of America and was aimed to draw attention to police brutality and violence against those of other colors and races. Kaepernick was speculated in the media for quite some time and ended up as a free agent later because of his peers disagreeing, and not wanting him on their team because of his stand. Kaepernick has had to reiterate his actions to show that it’s not about his lack of love for this country, or lack of patriotism, but the overall principles of American freedom and â€Å"justice for all†. What Kaepernick did, and his stand for Black Lives Matter, has spread nationwide and has reiterated an old lesson: courage. His continuance of kneeling stirred tension between his image and the public- becoming a significant factor in his damaged public image. His stand for what he believed in soon spread onto social media- twitter memes, burning and trashing of Kaepernick jerseys and gear. Because of his stand, â€Å"†¦the NFL had experienced something new: an athlete engaging in a prolonged social protest movement.† (Hunter) The public’s criticism towards his actions led to â€Å"†¦accusations that Kaepernick is unpatriotic and un-American.† Donald Trump stepped in once or twice saying, on twitter, that â€Å"I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it’s not going to happen.† (CITE) Many people’s concerns stemmed from their thought that his stand was solely for a â€Å"hashtag campaign† and that he was an ill-informed athlete just trying to gain social media attent ion. Unintentionally, his stand created a hashtag â€Å"#TakeaKnee† throughout social media, to spread awareness- both positive and negative awareness- to Kaepernick and his kneeling. For the NFL itself, they had to restate their idea that the National Football League is a patriotic symbol in America and that one player taking a stand doesn’t change their mission in patriotism. Although he received a lot of backlash, he had supporters such as military veterans that agreed with his statements, and football players (NFL, high school, college) who also kneeled during the anthem to show their viewpoint. His self-defense mechanism that he used to state his point was that of bolstering and his attempt to â€Å"†¦reinforce an existing fact, object, or relationship† (CITE) His efforts were to try to influence others that disagree with his idea, or to shine light onto the idea, for those whom aren’t aware of the problem. Although difficult to change people’s minds on a subject as heavy as patriotism and Black Lives Matter, his stand to create awareness was in fact a very monumental one. Kaepernick has been put in a place where his dissent has been backlashed and hated upon, because of his different set of views and opinions about the way the nation is run. Because of his stand, he has had to repeatedly give informal speeches of debate, trying to defend himself and his viewpoint on America. An apologia is used â€Å"†¦when people believe they need to defend themselves, admit wrongdoing, or justify their actions,† (CITE) which is exactly what situation Kaepernick is in, needing to explain his stand and why he believes in what he does. He explains it’s not a lack of patriotism and hating America, it’s taking a stand for those who aren’t heard, and those of different race and skin who are oppressed. While his unique stand for patriotism is different than most, the American flag is a symbol of freedom, and grants us the right to stray from the norms without betraying America as a country. His stance was to create understanding and to inform others of oppression and his view of the state that this nation’s in. The LA Times’ article â€Å"Colin Kaepernick shouldnt stand up if he doesnt want to† appealed to critics of Kaepernick’s by using the persuasion of pathos. The article uses overly emotional language to show justification for what Kaepernick is standing for and argues that if the nation was built on disagreed opinions by founding fathers, how is it that citizens now aren’t supposed to go against the structure of today’s nation. The quote: Oh, for goodness sake. Is it actually possible that 240 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence the message still hasnt sunk in that in this country, unlike some others, citizens are free to express their opinions? Even when the opinions in question are unpopular or unpatriotic or even, for that matter, wrong? And that the rest of us are free, as well, to express our agreement or disagreement? (Colin) This form of pathos is to create a feeling of shame and guilt among the intended audience, making them think about the fact that every individual citizen is able to express themselves, and their opinions, in the way they deem necessary to get the point across. The â€Å"oh, for goodness sake† (Colin) adds emphasis in a way to make it seem obvious and for the audience to see how they’re clearly irrationalizing his stand. The writers of this article didn’t show credibility through the rhetoric of ethos, instead, they showed how readers (those who disagree with Kaepernick’s views) can justify his reasoning and his entitlement to his own opinions. From his statements and beliefs, sportscasters and social/political figures have, to an extent, used an ad hominem approach to Kaepernick and his beliefs. (Purdue) Their attack on his character rather than his stand and the meaning behind it, is seen through tweets, interviews, and articles. He’s degraded as a person because of his strong belief in police brutality and Black Lives Matter. Kaepernick’s courageous stand persuaded and influenced others in the NFL and lower level sports to stand up for what they believe in and show that they have a voice. It has shown players that their voices and opinions matter and that they can use them to make a stand. George Atallah, the assistant executive director of external affairs for the NFL, states that â€Å"†¦the thing that [Kaepernick’s] done probably more effectively than any team community relations staff or owner or coach could do for other players, is [point out] that they do have the ability to affect the national dialogue.† (Colin Kaepernick has done more) His influence on other athletes along with the acknowledgement by a superior in the NFL, reiterates how influential and persuasive his argument is. In 2017, Kaepernick was placed in Time Magazine as one of the planet’s â€Å"100 Most Influential Individuals† â€Å"†¦because of his bold and courageous confrontation of per ceived inequalities in our social-justice system.† (Orr) No matter your viewpoint on him and his stance, you can see on either end of the argument, he is inarguably an extreme passionate and dedicated person for standing up for his beliefs and for others that aren’t speaking up for themselves. After his stance, a fellow NFL player, Michael Bennett spoke out about his personal experience where he felt that his skin color was the sole reason he was put into the situation. He was handcuffed with guns pointing at him after the Mayweather-McGregor fight, while walking out of the event. After explaining who he was, a professional athlete who isn’t a threat to society, he was then released with no justification for the â€Å"abusive conduct† that he endured (Colin Kaepernick has done more). Kaepernick’s teammate, after noticing his sitting during the first preseason game of 2016, approached him curiously to see why he was sitting, and after talking to Colin, was moved by his stance and decided to show his respects for the Black Lives Movement with Kaepernick. Many African Americans that have experienced or are aware of the issues pertaining to police brutality among African Americans, respect Kaepernick’s stance and are influenced by his movement, by also kneeling during their games to show support. First, only four players kneeled or sat for the national anthem, and then in just nine games on NFL Sunday in 2016, over 130 players kneeled during the national anthem (Garber) because of the influence of Kaepernick and his courage to stand up for his beliefs. The majority of players who do kneel are African American because they understand the movement on a personal level, however, players like Aaron Rodgers, although not kneeling, respect Kaepernick’s courage and his movement by acknowledging his awareness of the profiling of African Americans and that his teammates do have to deal with situations like that (Colin Kaepernick has done more).

Colonialism From The West And West Indies - 1061 Words

Introduction Colonialism from the West began during the 15th century as the Spanish and the Portuguese began conquering ‘new’ lands in the Americas and the West Indies. Colonialism expanded (as countries such as France and Great Britain started doing the same) and continued over the next 400 years, ending in the 20th century as the first world war started. The rise of the large colonies was primarily due to the exploitation and degradation of the indigenous peoples including the wide use of slavery justified during the process of Othering(e.g. sciences demonstrating and emphasising biological/moral/cultural differences). This essay seeks to address how aspects of our everyday lives are still shaped/being shaped by these colonial times, looking into areas many try to separate as individual issues but do in fact have a root cause in colonialism. First, I will look at how the english language has become so widespread, and how throughout the world, we find influence of British colonialis m within place names and landmarks. Next, I will take a brief look at how ‘British culture’ has been influenced by our own colonialism, before looking at the relationships between ex-colony hosts and their former colonial countries, more specifically at the relationships between Portugal with Angola and Guinea. Language Ignorance can largely explain why many British holiday makers are appalled when they stretch their legs beyond ex-British colonies, into rural villages and discover thatShow MoreRelatedRole Of The Dutch Colonial Rule1410 Words   |  6 Pagespolitical and economic control, and that spilled over to an internal colonialism in Indonesia in contemporary times. 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Leadership-Born or Made free essay sample

Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Can all managers go on to be leaders? Explain For ages, attempts have been made by many psychologists, scholars at demystifying the quality known as leadership. Even then, there is not been single clear answer to the question if leaders are born or made. ( zenger 2002) We disagree with the concept that leaders are born, based on our literature review. It depends less on the traits a person is born with and more on what skills that person learns. There have been many instances, where highly knowledgeable, educated and motivated people have lacked the skill to lead others. Therefore they don’t do very well in the leadership positions. They along with others, assume that these individuals just weren’t born leaders, which is completely wrong . They failed to be a leader because they didn’t persevere long enough and they didn’t learn from their failures. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership-Born or Made or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The debate of leadership through nature versus nurture has been a long standing debate. While the genes certainly has its influences on us, but nurture determines the impact of a gene. (clark 1997) For instance , a person may have a charismatic nature . This nature alone will not go on to make him a leader. There are certain skills which when learned, with the inborn ability can make a good leader. To understand this we need to first dwell upon the skills and characteristics that constitute leadership. By definition, a leader is one who goes ahead and guides others and shows the way. Followers should be there, if someone is to be called a leader. These followers are attached to their leaders for any number of reasons, and they can have a greater or lesser degree of influence over their leaders, but without at least one follower, directs or indirect a person is not a leader. A leader excites camaraderie and promotes unity, and guides vague notions in to concrete actions. (Plachy 1978 )It is not enough just too order some one to do something. A person in a position of power is not automatically a leader. The president of a company may be a wholly ineffective leader but an adequate manager what distinguishes a leader from a manager is vision. Leadership is a skill that can be learned. Leadership focuses centrally on the character of the leader and his interpersonal communication skills ,focus on results, and should be able to lead organisational change. An awful lot of leadership cannot be taught. Thats because leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80 percent of their craft on the job. They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behaviour. They choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders about how to handle situations. Leaders improve by getting feedback and using it. The best leaders seek feedback from their boss, their peers and their subordinates. Then they modify their behaviour so that they get better results. Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance. The only failure they recognize is the failure to learn from their experience. A Leaders Growth is never Done. Leadership learning is a lifetime activity. Youre never done because theres always more to learn. There are always skills you need to improve.