The Empty Nike Controversy

I find this whole discussion to be somewhat silly but it's getting so much attention that I feel compelled to say a quick word.

New Testament Christians don't show reverence to the flag and don't participate in patriotic rites and ceremonies. While I don't 'take a knee' I don't stand for the national anthem and I will not say the pledge of allegiance. That's fairly basic to me but I realise Evangelicals in their confusion and distortion of the Scriptures believe the exact opposite is not only right but mandatory and something that should be performed with great zeal and a spirit of devotion.

They seem to think that if you just slam a cross on top of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, then all is well. The story of Daniel's friends and the fiery furnace seems to be something missed, they can't find an analogy or make a connection. Maybe it's too nuanced for them as our empire's symbols are (usually) represented by cloth instead of a statue.

That said, Kaepernick's motives are quite different. There are valid reasons for Black people to be upset in this country and with its police. I say that without hesitation and I also think a kind of soft-racism is fairly prevalent in White middle-class society.

However Kaepernick represents a kind of sick element found among the minority demographic. I understand that for many poor minority kids the military and sports are one of the few ways to get out, a means of escaping the cycle of poverty. Yet, I consider it rather ironic that the 'way out' is to serve the very system that oppresses them.

Join the legions and become part of the empire's kill machine. Or, become a modern gladiator. You can get rich to be sure if you're one of the lucky few, but what are you? You're 'cashing in' on one of the most decadent and frankly obscene elements of the grand system. You're an athlete but primarily you're an entertainer, serving the proclivities of the empire's bourgeoisie and a rather sick and wasteful aspect of its economy. The NFL in some ways perfectly symbolises the system that's oppressing his people. To become a player in the league is morally dubious on many fronts but for someone who is angry with the system as such, to be in the NFL is not a position of integrity.

Kaepernick took a stand and he's lost millions of dollars as a result and yet to stand with Nike?

Give me a break.

He's still chasing the dollars and there's no integrity when it comes to Nike. That company in many ways represents the worst of America's global empire. It was exposed back in the 1990's as a corrupt and evil corporation running sweat shops in the Third World. It's global capitalism at its worst, exploiting the poor, intimidating critics and leaving a wake of corruption and pollution behind it. Kaepernick doesn't like the American system. Bravo, it's nice to see someone with a conscience but then to stand with Nike and take money from them? Sorry, but you won't have my respect. He clearly hasn't thought it through.

The news department in the local Christian radio station is run by a guy that knows little about the news but is clearly a sports fanatic and you can tell he's upset about the Nike endorsement and Kaepernick. Who cares? Again, Christians should have been disgusted with Nike twenty-five years ago. Where have they been?

Of course if Kaepernick was getting into trouble because he wanted to wear a cross on his uniform or something to that effect, acts of protest would be heroic and if Nike then gave him an ad platform, the company would be championed and praised.

From every angle it's such a lame issue and yet I must say that it comes up often. It seems like for a lot of people I know this is the news story they focus on the most.

That too is quite a commentary on the state of our society.