What do you think of Jerry Jones' threat to bench players who do not stand for the anthem?

He wouldn't say it if Dak Prescott did not stand.

Thanks for the question, Sydney.

"If you want to protest racial injustice - can't you find a way to do it that doesn't offend soldiers and a lot of other people?" Quite simply, no. "Protest" is, by definition, an act that makes those people being protested against uncomfortable. It "offends" them. Blacks and women protesting for the right to vote offended whites and men who didn't want blacks or women to have the right to vote. Protesting Jim Crow laws offended people who didn't want to use the same bathroom, drinking fountains, or restaurants as blacks. Protesting segregation offended people who didn't want to go to school with or live next door to black people (and other races). Protesting the Vietnam War offended people who thought it was disrespectful to the government and the troops. If I am an authority figure who is promoting a bad policy, I--and the people who agree with me--are naturally going to be offended if anyone protests me and my policy. Muhammad Ali famously protested our involvement in the Vietnam War, especially the disproportionate number of young black men drafted to serve in the early years of the war. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called ***** people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

"No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.

"But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…

"If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years...No Viet Cong ever called me a ni**er.”

Many people will still find this kind of talk to be offensive, but totally miss his point, focusing on the messenger instead of the message. He was RIGHT: “Why SHOLUD they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called ***** people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?" Why, indeed.

"Considering that many have fought in wars and lost family, limbs and life, isn't it reasonable that military families would feel offended by this?" "The reviews are mixed", so to speak. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/25/milit... “It brought me to tears,” said Brian Sullivan of Plymouth, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who watched with regret as more than a dozen New England Patriots knelt during the anthem at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. “There’s enough divisiveness in our country. Don’t bring it to sports.”

BUT

“The majority of our veterans here have no problem with people kneeling down for the anthem. They think there’s just as much respect in that,” said Jack Downing, president of Soldier On, a nonprofit organization based in Northampton that aids homeless veterans. “Unfortunately, we have some political leadership in this country that wants to divide us by race, by belief, by geography, whatever works to their benefit.”

The owners of the teams are the players' bosses. As such, they have the "right" to either demand their employees stand for the anthem or to allow them to follow their own consciences. If I were a Cowboys football player who would rather kneel, I think I'd tell the press before hand, "For this and every subsequent game, it should be noted that I am standing out of obedience to the orders of my boss; but on the inside, I am kneeling in solidarity with my fellow athletes who choose to kneel to protest police brutality in our country." I think "forcing" people to act patriotically is about as unpatriotic as it gets.

Trump has been very effective, though, in deflecting the conversation away from the real reasons for the protests and toward a totally false narrative.

about time

blacks are filthy diseases.

US soldiers fought to uphold the US Constitution and the country, not the flag.

In our age, “nationalism’s chief symbol of faith and central object of worship is the flag,” wrote historian Carlton Hayes.

The American Character stated: “That these daily rituals are religious has been at last affirmed by the Supreme Court in a series of cases.”

First, if Jones' players sit, they will still play. He cares more about winning and money than he does America. Second, of course it is offensive. That's why it's being done, it's drawn TONS of attention. The problem is the message is starting to get lost because people are extremely offended by this and aren't even willing to open up a dialogue about it. I'm glad the NFL is looking into it now and deciding what will be best moving forward.

Well within in his right his team he's the owner.

My husband spent over 20 years in the US Army defending those guy's right to take a knee, to protest.

How many years have you spent?

Some soldiers are offended? Too bad. They'll get over it.

He’s the boss. I don’t blame him if he does.